Joba Breakdown

Over at RiverAveBlues, they did an awesome Pitch f/x breakdown of Joba's start yesterday.

They said they won't do this for every start, and that kind of bummed me out, because I love looking at this stuff.

Joba's slider and changeup come from more or less the exact same release point, and his slider, changeup and fastball are on the same plane until right before it reaches the plate. That's pretty dirty, obviously.

However, his curve (like most curves) can be be differentiated from the other pitches right after release. This is why the Yankees tell their young pitchers to scrap their curves and teach them sliders. I'm not sayin Joba should scrap his curve, but you can see why a fastball, slider, change combination is ideal, and Joba has that and just throws a curve in there as well. This may be why Brett Myers, who relies on a curveball, gives up too many homers, or maybe why Barry Zito is no longer a good pitcher.

One last thing about Joba's velocity. In 2007 when he first came up strictly relief, he threw 97 average fastball velocity. Last year between starting and relieving he threw 95. Early in the spring there were concerns about his velocity, but this shows there should definitely not be any more concerns. On a cold wet day, before Joba's arm is even at full strength, he was sitting right around 92-93, even touching 96. It's not the same as when he relieved, but it shouldn't be, and doesn't need to be in order for Joba to be an extremely capable starter. When he needs he can gear it up to the high 90s, but in the 3rd inning against Miguel Olivo, there is no reason to max out.

So please, don't let any bozo who prefers Joba in the pen fool you into thinking that is a good idea if he talks about Joba's velocity. A lot of pitchers would kill for consistent mid 90s velocity as a starter, and as the Pitch f/x shows you his stuff is crazy good as a starter.