All the percentages are from Fangraphs. A couple things about how I put all this in tables. I started with 2006 because it was the year before Farrell was hired as the pitching coach, so it gives us at least some barometer of how much pitchers were throwing of each pitch. I also chose Red Sox starters that gave the Sox at least 100 IP as a starter in at least one year. I used shades of red to differentiate between years where a pitcher gave less than 100 innings as a visual way of warning about SSS. The darker the red, the lower amount of innings thrown. I didn't include Wakefield for obvious reasons, and I included Tavarez & Penny's numbers for pre and post Red Sox tenure to see if their usages changed when they were not playing for the Sox. Also, Lackey is in there for similar reasons. For players who only played partial seasons before moving to a different club, I used their splits with the Sox only that year. Finally, Fangraphs does not differentiate between 2 and 4 seam fastball.
Also, there are many things these numbers don't tell us. So its important to add some context before drawing any hard conclusions. I'm not sure how helpful this data is, but I thought it would be interesting to just see if people notice any general trends. Anyways, I'll start with the curve:
Red Sox Starters' Curveballs 2006-2010
| Pitcher | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Schilling | 5.30% | 9.50% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Beckett | 21.20% | 25.10% | 23.70% | 25.50% | 18.70% |
| Lester | 11.90% | 15.40% | 17.20% | 19.30% | 13.90% |
| Matsuzaka | N/A | 5.10% | 4.10% | 0.70% | 1.70% |
| Penny | 19.40% | 12.60% | 16.00% | 17.50% | 16.90% |
| Tavarez | DID | NOT | THROW | CURVE | W/ SOX |
| Buchholz | N/A | 15.40% | 21.40% | 11.40% | 7.80% |
| Lackey | 21.70% | 20.10% | 24.50% | 24.70% | 23.50% |
- Curve usage is down from last year across the board with exception of Lackey.
- One other observation: After Farrell was hired, curve usage increased for Schilling, Becket, and Lester.
Red Sox Starters' Cutter Usage: 2006-2010
| Pitcher | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Schilling | 7.00% | 3.10% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Beckett | 0.20% | 0.20% | 2.10% | 5.10% | 11.10% |
| Lester | 2.00% | 22.00% | 22.00% | 19.60% | 21.40% |
| Matsuzaka | N/A | 14.60% | 15.00% | 16.30% | 10.30% |
| Penny | DOES | NOT | THROW | A | CUTTER |
| Tavarez | DOES | NOT | THROW | A | CUTTER |
| Buchholz | DOES | NOT | THROW | A | CUTTER |
| Lackey | STOPPED | THROWING | CUTTER | IN | 2008 |
- As discussed in the other thread, Beckett's cutter usage is up and has been rising the last few seasons.
Red Sox Starters' Slider Usage: 2006-2010
| Pitcher | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Schilling | 1.40% | 7.40% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Beckett | DOES | NOT | THROW | A | SLIDER |
| Lester | 15.90% | 1.90% | 0.20% | N/A | N/A |
| Matsuzaka | N/A | 17.20% | 23.10% | 20.10% | 18.60% |
| Penny | 0.40% | N/A | N/A | 3.30% | 2.60% |
| Tavarez | 14.70% | 14.70% | 18.90% | 50.60% | N/A |
| Buchholz | N/A | 6.50% | 7.60% | 10.50% | 15.60% |
| Lackey | 7.90% | 13.70% | 13.80% | 13.30% | 9.00% |
- Buchholz slider usage has increased every season, and is up again this year.
- Did Penny learn to throw a slider when he came? Because he only threw a few in 2006, and then threw 3.3% here and kept throwing it when he left.
Red Sox Starters' Fastball Usage: 2006-2010
| Pitcher | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Schilling | 61.90% | 53.80% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Beckett | 69.00% | 63.10% | 66.90% | 60.80% | 58.20% |
| Lester | 64.70% | 54.20% | 57.00% | 54.50% | 52.50% |
| Matsuzaka | N/A | 52.70% | 52.20% | 53.80% | 60.30% |
| Penny | 73.90% | 71.70% | 69.50% | 72.40% | 46.90% |
| Tavarez | 71.10% | 64.50% | 55.40% | 34.90% | N/A |
| Buchholz | N/A | 52.90% | 47.40% | 54.80% | 57.40% |
| Lackey | 57.70% | 62.10% | 59.80% | 58.60% | 62.40% |
And finally, change-up usage:
Red Sox Starters' Change-up 2006-2010
| Pitcher | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Schilling | 0.40% | 5.90% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Beckett | 9.50% | 11.50% | 7.40% | 8.60% | 12.10% |
| Lester | 5.50% | 6.50% | 3.70% | 6.60% | 12.20% |
| Matsuzaka | N/A | 4.70% | 3.80% | 5.60% | 10.00% |
| Penny | 5.30% | 15.60% | 4.40% | N/A | 5.20% |
| Tavarez | 6.70% | 16.40% | 11.30% | 12.40% | N/A |
| Buchholz | N/A | 25.20% | 23.60% | 23.30% | 19.20% |
| Lackey | 4.70% | 4.00% | 1.40% | 3.30% | 5.10% |
- Change-up usage increased for Schilling, Beckett, and Lester after Farrell arrived.
- Change-up usage is up across the board this year, except for Buchholz, who seems to have replaced change and curve usage with more sliders.
Anyways, I figured I'd post this and see if anybody else notices something, or can add some useful context. Just taking a quick glance at this stuff, it seems that with Victor taking over as full time catcher, he is calling less curves and more change-ups. I wonder if that is something unique to his calling style, or if something else is going on.
