Junichi Tazawa: the new kid in town Options

[Sprowl]

Junichi Tazawa has some funky stuff: here's the link to his pitchfx charts. A few brief but obvious notes: he didn't crumble under the pressure: he gave up a few cheap hits, but it didn't affect his composure. When he knew Damon was bunting, he jammed him with a high inside fastball. One other observation: Tazawa got a wide but short strike zone -- that gave him a few extra called strikes on the edges, but cost him as many or more pitches at the knees.

Tazawa's repertoire is mysterious: he throws both 2-seam and 4-seam fastballs (velocity 91-93, just as advertised), as well as a hard-biting curve. The curve was good (2 swinging strikes, 2 foul balls) and bad (A-Rod's home run). Its reputation as an out pitch looks justifiable. The fourth pitch, which he threw only in the first of his innings, had low effective spin, like a Lidge slider or a gyroball, but it runs rather than cuts, like a forkball, changeup, or slow splitter. In movement it is fairly close to Buchholz's unique changeup, but a little faster and with less vertical rise. I think we will need to see him in a different stadium before we can be sure, since Yankee Stadium (both the Toilet and the Bidet) has often had unreliable data for horizontal break.

Your impressions of the new kid in town?

This post has been edited by Sprowl: Aug 8 2009, 12:45 AM