Johnson’s slider certainly isn’t the hard, biting one we were accustomed to in the Cy Young days, and it shows. Davis’ slow, looping curve ball only seems to work if it fools the hitter and they whiff or are out in front, because otherwise…

And that BA for Webb’s changeup borders on obscene.

Welcome to the ’Pit, too.

Some light on the reasons for this can be found here, which gives the breakdown by pitch-type for our ace, in various ball and strike counts. The data is up until about August last year, but the principle is clear: his change-up is his strikeout pitch, something he’s much more likely to throw with two strikes than one or none.

Now, looking at the NL splits shows how much harder it is for batters to hit with two strikes. The overall league average drops to .185: put another way, with two strikes, everyone hits like Chris Burke. :-) So, since Webb goes to his change-up in these situations, it’s not surprising the OBA drops.

That said… .106? Wow. That’s filthy.