What's Wrong with the Kansas City Royals' Zack Greinke?

Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke used a historic April to propel him to the American League Cy Young award last year. I don’t think anyone expected Greinke to repeat his April performance this year.

Greinke is off to a slow start in KC

Through three games this year, not only has Greinke not repeated his 2009 April performance, but has really struggled so far. Look at Greinke’s first three starts this year as compared to last year:

2009: 3-0 16 H 0 ER 5 BB 26 K’s .219 BAA .566 OPS 13% STS 20 IP

2010: 0-2 20 H 7 ER 6 BB 14 K’s .286 BAA .764 OPS 6% STS 17.2 IP

So what do these numbers tell me? These numbers tell me Greinke’s stuff isn’t nearly as sharp as it was last year.

Only six percent of his strikes are swings and misses. That is down by over 50 percent from last year. Greinke’s average velocity is down by almost a mile per hour (93.7 to 92.6), but I don’t think that is the answer why he is struggling.

Like Jon Lester in Boston, I just think Greinke is missing his spots by inches. And when you miss your spot by inches against major league hitters, you are going to pay for it.

But I also think there might be a non-statistical reason for Greinke’s slow start. Last year Miguel Olivo caught all but two of Greinke’s start’s. This year, it’s Jason Kendall doing the catching.

Olivo is a really good receiver of the ball and handles pitchers pretty well. I really wonder if Greinke misses throwing to Olivo? As we all know, Kendall isn’t the greatest signal caller in the game.

I am sure Greinke will turn it around soon. He is too good of a pitcher not to. He will get his first crack at turning it around Wednesday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays.

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