5 MLB Pitchers Who Win Without Major League Velocity

MLB fans want to see the hard throwers: Justin Verlander, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Beckett, Tim Lincecum, CC Sabathia, etc. They pay for $60 seats and sit down with their $10 hot dogs and $5 drinks to watch great pitchers who pick up strikeouts and wins, and who accomplish this with fastballs that are regularly in the mid- and upper-90s (I guess they don’t care about seeing the ball).

Velocity contributes to the spectacle; it makes MLB pitching seem that much more amazing. 

Truthfully, though, legitimate fans of the sport enjoy dominance, regardless of the readings on the radar gun. Here are some young starting pitchers who will never throw 95 mph, yet are working on stellar 2011 campaigns.

*All fastball velocities provided by Baseball Info Solutions

**This article was originally published on my personal blog, "Playing Ball with EZ E"

Philip Humber: Chicago White Sox

2011 Stats: 8-7, 3.44 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 90.3 mph Fastball

The fire-baller of this group, Humber entered this season with minimal MLB experience (only 51.1 IP and two career starts). He is one of only a handful of starter in the majors who throw non-fastballs more than 50 percent of the time (54.0 percent). His repertoire includes a slider, curveball and changeup, all of which get significant usage.

Humber throws a lot of strikes and pitches to contact, but has been surprisingly successful in 2011 because of an awesome .256 BABIP. What explains this? Well, the White Sox are a good defensive team (with good range, at least).

That’s part of it, but I think Humber’s unpredictable mix of pitches and pinpoint location have made him great. The speed differential between his fastball and curveball is significant enough to keep opposing hitters off-balance, and, in general, he keeps the ball low in the strike zone. That gets him harmless ground balls, which is why he’s having an awesome season.

Jaime Garcia: St. Louis Cardinals

2011 Stats: 10-5, 3.22 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 89.8 mph Fastball

Garcia’s BABIP is more realistic at .313, which tells us that he is more likely than Humber to continue pitching effectively.

His favorite breaking ball is the cutter (throws it 20.3 percent of the time), which moves inside on left-handed hitters because Garcia is a lefty himself (the other four on this list are righties).

No wonder he has allowed only nine homers all season! He has that cutter to neutralize the NL’s top power hitters.

Garcia’s 120 strikeouts in 2011 are obviously inflated by the luxury of facing weak lineups that include opposing pitchers. He would not fare quite as well in the American League. Still, he's pretty exceptional—only three NL lefties have better ERAs.

Jair Jurrjens: Atlanta Braves

2011 Stats: 12-4, 2.63 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 89.2 mph Fastball

Jurrjens has posted even stronger numbers with only three pitches (fastball, slider, changeup). A low BABIP, impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio and high percentage of ground balls are to be expected.

Jurrjens’ home ballpark is famously a pitcher’s paradise, but the defense that plays behind him is nothing special. His unique advantage lies in that changeup, which accounts for nearly one in four pitches he throws. Out of his hand, it has a strong resemblance to his fastball, but, of course, it drops before reaching the catcher’s glove.

Also, Jurrjens is very “economical” with his pitches; he keeps his pitch count low and averages nearly 7.0 IP per start.

Jeff Karstens: Pittsburgh Pirates

2011 Stats: 8-5, 2.49 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 88.6 mph Fastball

Nothing about Karstens’ early MLB career suggested that he’d ever be considered an awesome pitcher. His velocity and pitch selection have barely changed over the years, so what’s making the difference?

Firstly, his control is exceptional (24 BB in 126.2 IP). Then, it gets a little mysterious. Karstens allows more fly balls than grounders—a bad formula for a soft thrower—and consequently, he’s allowed 18 HR this season. For some reason, though, 17 of those 18 have been hit with the bases empty, leaving his ERA relatively unscathed.

With runners on, his opponents are helpless, to the tune of a .197 batting average! Is he striking out more hitters in those situations? No, the opposite is true! Karstens’ breakout season has been largely reliant on double plays.

In the NL, only the Rockies defense turns more DPs than Pittsburgh’s. That just goes to show that location isn’t just about getting the ball to the catcher’s glove, but choosing a spot that will force the hitter to make weak contact. Karstens has been literally locating his pitches into his fielders’ gloves.

Jered Weaver: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

2011 Stats: 14-5, 1.88 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 89.5 mph Fastball

Simply put, Jered Weaver is the best pitcher on this list. Not to be confused with his brother Jeff, the younger Weaver has everything working for him: three good off-speed pitches, great control, durability (30-plus starts in each of last three seasons) and a good defense to back him up.

The increased use of his curveball over the last two seasons has made Weaver more unhittable, although the slider is really his strikeout pitch. Height is also a factor in baseball, and at 6’7”, Weaver uses a long stride to get close to home plate before releasing the baseball.

In addition, Weaver has developed a great pickoff move to compensate for his lack of velocity. In 2010, runners stole 27 bases in 31 attempts against him. But this year, they are eight of 13.

Beating the Odds

Power arms have several advantages:

1. They can get away with “mistakes” over the plate more often because an extra few miles per hour may be the difference between a long foul ball and a line-drive home run.
2. Their secondary pitches can cause more swings and misses because of the speed differential when compared to their elite fastballs.
3. Hard throwers have an expedited path to the big leagues.

These five guys are underdogs. They aren’t supposed to be No. 1 starters, All-Stars, owned in fantasy leagues or signed to eight-figure contract extensions (pictured).

Have they just been lucky early in the 2011 season? Is the league catching up to them? Here are their numbers over the past week: 0-4, 5.45 ERA, 1.63 WHIP in six starts. Yeah, this group is slumping, but don't be so quick to hate on 'em. I was honored to feature them in my first article as a member of Bleacher Report. 

*I forgot to mention Josh Spence, the San Diego Padres reliever who has allowed only ONE run in his rookie season, while sporting an average fastball velocity of (drum roll, please)...83.4 mph. It's just amazing.