Tsuyoshi Wada Pitching Data
Last week, I asked readers for suggestions on which pitchers to look at in my velocity charts series. Based the responses I got, here’s the order I’m going in:
- Tsuyoshi Wada
- Toshiya Sugiuchi
- Top closers: Kyuji Fujikawa, Takahiko Mahara, Hitoki Iwase
- Tetsuya Utsumi
- A look at Nippon Ham’s secondary pitchers: Sakamoto, Tadano, and Sweeney
You can see all the velocity charts I’ve done so far here.
So let’s take a look at Wada’s most recent outing, a loss to the Rakuten Eagles in which he was outdueled by Satoshi Nagai. Here’s Wada’s velocity chart:
And a break down of his pitches:
| result/pitch | Changeup | Curveball | Fastball | Forkball | Slider | Grand Total |
| Ball | Â | 1 | 20 | 11 | 10 | 42 |
| Double | Â | Â | Â | Â | 1 | 1 |
| Flyball Hit | Â | Â | Â | Â | 1 | 1 |
| Flyout | Â | Â | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Foul | 1 | Â | 23 | 7 | 4 | 35 |
| Foul Bunt | Â | Â | 1 | Â | Â | 1 |
| Groundout | Â | Â | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Home Run | Â | Â | 1 | Â | Â | 1 |
| Line Drive Hit | Â | Â | 1 | 1 | Â | 2 |
| Lineout | Â | Â | Â | Â | 1 | 1 |
| Sacrifice | Â | Â | 1 | Â | Â | 1 |
| Strike Looking | Â | 1 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 21 |
| Swinging Strike | Â | Â | 10 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
| Walk | Â | Â | 1 | Â | Â | 1 |
| Grand Total | 1 | 2 | 77 | 28 | 25 | 133 |
I was surprised to see how much Wada relies on his fastball, and how many strikes he gets with it. I didn’t see this game, but I’m inferring that he uses his slider and fork to set up his fastball. He also only threw three off-speed breaking pitches.
26/04/2009 at 6:16 pm Permalink
Patrick, I was only joking. Please don’t waste your time with Ham’s non-Darvish pitchers. In particular, the less we all know about Sweeney the better.
26/04/2009 at 6:55 pm Permalink
You sure?
26/04/2009 at 7:03 pm Permalink
Hey Patrick, If you’re not going to to Nippon Ham’s secondary pitchers, then why not do Hayato Terahara of the BayStars. I would really love to see a chart of one of his starts this year.
26/04/2009 at 7:42 pm Permalink
Terahara is a great call. He’s a favorite of mine and has been on my to-do list since I started the site.
26/04/2009 at 10:49 pm Permalink
Patrick – Yes, I am sure. I would, though, be interested in some stats on Fujii. Every time he pitches he makes me wonder what the hell he is doing, so some charts on one of his starts might be helpful.
27/04/2009 at 7:49 am Permalink
Here’s a video of Sweeney juggling, courtesy of Deanna: http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2009/04/road-trip-fighters-vs-buffaloes-skymark.html
28/04/2009 at 3:05 am Permalink
Patrick – Tempting as that link is, I think I’ll take a pass. I see more than enough of Sweeney on my television. I’ll bet, though, that he might be a better juggler than he is a pitcher. It’s tough to imagine he could be much worse at anything.
I really do appreciate the effort you are making to make me sorry for my humorous little post. Also, I appreicate your work on this blog (sincerely). I am much too lazy to get all this information through Japanese language sources.
By the way, regarding Sweeney and Ham’s idiot manager, I was pleasantly surprised to see Nashida make a rare (for him) sensible move over the weekend, taking advantage of a rainout to skip Sweeney’s turn in the rotation. Even though Sakakibara did not do well and Ham lost, I thought it was the right decision.