Does Jered Weaver Have the Best Swing-and-Miss Stuff in the AL West?

Earlier this week, I reviewed the top-five individual swing-and-miss pitches from current starters in the American League East and Central. Today, we take a look at the AL West.

The Angels are loaded with talent in the rotation for 2012, but will Jered Weaver have a stranglehold on the top spot, or will Dan Haren's splitter take the crown? What about Felix Hernandez? Sadly, Yu Darvish doesn't qualify for these rankings due to a lack of MLB data, so we'll have to wait to next year to get a better sense of the Japanese sensation.

So, who has the biggest whiff potential in the West? Read on to see how the numbers play out—again, you may be surprised by what follows.

(Note: All statistics culled from brooksbaseball.net's whiff/swing data from 2011. Minimum 200 times thrown.)

5. C.J. Wilson's Curve

The man who once stepped in for Eric Gagne to close out games for the Texas Rangers in 2007, Wilson enjoyed a career year in '11. Good thing too—it garnered him a huge paycheck from the Angels over the offseason. 

One of the mainstays in the repertoire that allowed him to go 16-7 over 223.1 innings with a 2.94 ERA, was his hook. Wilson threw the breaking ball on 617 occasions, avoiding opposing bats 34.5 percent of the time.

4. Matt Harrison's Changeup

Sure, he may resemble the boss elf from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but don't let that fool you. He's a major-league pitcher, and in 2011, morphed into a pretty decent one. His 14-9 record over 185.2 innings (3.39 ERA) helped the Rangers to their second consecutive World Series appearance. 

The former Atlanta Braves farmhand used his change-of-pace to the tune of a 38.87 whiff-rate last season (514 thrown). A solid, middle-of-the-rotation-type arm, Harrison should continue to eat up innings for the Texas staff for years to come as long as his change continues to miss bats at the rate it did in '11.

3. Derek Holland's Slider

Don't let the mustache lead you astray—Derek Holland is one bad dude. I know, I know, he looks like a lost cast member from Eastbound and Down. Fine. But don't tell him that when he's on the mound firing off his wicked slider. 

Texas' Mr. Holland flung the breaking ball towards opposing hitters a whopping 1,036 times a year ago, for a whiff-rate of 39.67 percent. The 25-year-old has plenty of good years—along with a ton of swings-and-misses ahead of him—in the Lone Star State, as he's signed up through 2016.

2. Ervin Santana's Slider

Santana has topped the 200-inning mark four times in his eight-year career with the Angels, and sports a decent career strikeouts-per-nine average of 7.2. The 29-year-old was originally signed by the organization as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic when he was 17 (probably). 

Last season, his slider missed opposing bats at a rate of 40.63 percent out of the 1,340 times No. 54 threw it out there. Not bad for a guy who is essentially his team's fourth starter this year. 

1. C.J. Wilson's Slider

If it weren't for the Angels opening up their wallets for Wilson this offseason, we'd have been faced with four out of the top-five pitches in the West coming from the hands of a Ranger. Fortunately for Los Angeles fans, Wilson landed in Angel Stadium.

When he's not making appearances at Clippers games (see above), or putting on mediocre postseason performances, Wilson is busy rocking the opposition with his nasty slider at a rate of 41.54 percent. If he keeps that up, he just may get a shot at postseason redemption in Anaheim this year. 

So there you have it. To recap, here's the top-10 swing-and-miss pitches among current starters in the American League:

Player	Team	Pitch	Times Thrown	Whiff %
Daniel Bard	Boston	Slider	272	50.48
Chris Sale	Chicago	Slider	400	49.66
Ricky Romero	Toronto	Changeup	629	44.88
Ivan Nova	New York	Slider	340	43.10
Francisco Liriano	Minnesota	Slider	662	42.77
Francisco Liriano	Minnesota	Change	438	42.71
Clay Buchholz	Boston	Change	235	42.61
C.J. Wilson	Texas	Slider	507	41.54
CC Sabathia	New York	Slider	1025	40.85
Ervin Santana	Los Angeles	Slider	1340	40.63

Clearly, extra points go to Sabathia and Santana for having thrown their breaking balls over 1,000 times, while Buchholz (injury-hampered '11) and Bard (converted reliever) take a step back with their low totals. 

But Chris Sale's near-50 percent whiff-rate (albeit a converted reliever as well) on his slider remains the most surprising and impressive to me. Don't be surprised if the 6'6" Chicago lefty opens some eyes this year. 

Apologies to those who've made suggestions concerning relievers—there are many great ones out there, with far higher whiff-rates. But my intent here was to get a feel for the current starting staffs of the entire American League. Hope you enjoyed the info!