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MLB Pitchers: Top Ten Effective Curveballs
Harry PavlidisApr 8, 2008
Who has the most effective curveball? Taking all the curveballs together, the average outcomes in terms of Home Runs allowed, Swings and Whiffs, B:CS ratio were calculated.
First, the benchmarks - league averages.
Swing Rate 40.8%
Whiff Rate 25.3 %
B:CS 2.1:1
HR% 4.6%
So, if you're better than average on all these, you throw strikes, get hitters to swing and miss, and don't give up homers.
Who makes the cut? Ten pitchers. Some superstars, some not. Here is their PFX chart - I'm using the absolute value of pfx_x to show lefties and righties together.
Here are the numbers for each pitcher
| name | thrown | HR% | Swings% | Whiff% | B:CS | mph | pfx_x | pfx_z | spindir | spinrate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruddy Lugo | 156 | 0.0% | 45.5% | 28.2% | 1.5 | 75.5 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 226.6 | 1093.7 |
| Juan Gutierrez | 38 | 0.0% | 47.4% | 27.8% | 1.5 | 76.0 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 219.7 | 1009.8 |
| Pedro Martinez | 42 | 0.0% | 54.8% | 39.1% | 1.7 | 71.1 | 7.3 | 5.7 | 228.6 | 990.7 |
| Justin Germano | 306 | 0.3% | 42.5% | 26.2% | 1.4 | 68.1 | 7.9 | 7.6 | 226.3 | 977.2 |
| Roy Halladay | 192 | 0.0% | 42.2% | 39.5% | 1.9 | 77.8 | 7.3 | 3.2 | 244.9 | 865.3 |
| Bobby Seay | 105 | 0.0% | 41.0% | 34.9% | 1.3 | 76.8 | 6.8 | 3.0 | 115.3 | 802.7 |
| Ben Sheets | 144 | 0.0% | 45.1% | 26.2% | 1.9 | 80.1 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 225.8 | 694.6 |
| Eric O'Flaherty | 22 | 0.0% | 40.9% | 44.4% | 1.2 | 80.2 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 153.5 | 688.5 |
| Manny Parra | 70 | 0.0% | 54.3% | 31.6% | 1.5 | 76.2 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 144.7 | 627.3 |
| Victor Santos | 22 | 0.0% | 45.5% | 30.0% | 1.4 | 76.1 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 220.9 | 601.1 |
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