Sherrill's New Slider
Sherrill has a new slider. The sweeping kind. I noticed this at the beginning of this year, but didn't mention it at the time because I wasn't sure if he used two sliders or something else was going on. Mid-way through the year Sherrill's slider movement indicate that he's using something entirely different from last year.
Full-breakdown after the break:
So how exactly has his slider changed?
According to Fangraphs the slider's vertical movement has changed from 1.4 to -1.5 a change of approximately two more inches down. One inch might be pitch fx equipment error but 2? Now to check the horizontal movement. It was at -4.5 last year and -3.6 the year before. It now sits at -7.3 almost double the movement.
In order to create this much more movement slider velocity has to drop. It drops by ~2-3 mph while the rest of his pitches stay pretty steady edging up slightly in some cases with the exception of his curve (this pitch too has more movement with a similar ~2-3 drop in mph). Sherrill has made a conscious decision to sacrifice speed for much more movement.
So has this new pitch been effective? The linear weights show that his slider has improved from -0.15 runs above average per 100 pitches to 1.35 runs above average per 100 pitches. His slider in total has been worth 2.1 runs above average, much better than the -0.3 he had last year.
Part of this gain is probably due to better set-up of the slider as his fastball has increased ~half a run above average per 100 pitches. More likely the increased success of both pitches has allowed both pitches to become much more effective.
The new sweeping slider with more movement has contributed to Sherrill's 0.9 WAR in just over half a year compared to his 0.4 WAR for all of last year
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23 comments
Comments
Jeez
Some of the stats out there that people keep absolutely astounds me. Nice write up.
by Johnny_S on Jul 24, 2009 8:48 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I might be wrong but I believe this a exactly what a fan post should be!
"We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow." ~ Earl Weaver
by Graham71681 on Jul 24, 2009 12:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
haha yes
it tells you that somebody has WAY too much time on their hands, measuring exactly how much sherrill’s slider has changed
by twistedlogic on Jul 24, 2009 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Regardless of what
he has changed, George has been much better this year…especially since DD issued those idle threats of him not closing. Seriously Dave, who was going to get that job??
by sickuvitall on Jul 24, 2009 12:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes
he did vastly improve after Trembley threatened him. But he still makes me nervous… “keeps things exciting,” ugh. I’m excited to see who we’ll get for him.
I liked this fanpost!
by O Nina on Jul 24, 2009 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Use the Rec button underneath teh Ads bu Google
it will make sure this stays in the Recommended FanPosts for a while longer
"We're not the other teams' farm system." - Andy MacPhail
by duck on Jul 24, 2009 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wow, my typing = teh suck
"We're not the other teams' farm system." - Andy MacPhail
by duck on Jul 24, 2009 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He's been much better about "making things interesting" lately
Dude’s got a 1.17 WHIP. He’s not letting ppl on base like he did last year (1.50)
by U2boy417 on Jul 25, 2009 6:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm going to guess Jim Johnson
and Danys Baez was going well at the time, too…but not Chris Ray.
"I hate making excuses. If I suck, then I suck. And I suck. That's the way I'm playing. If you suck, you suck. You have to take responsibility in this game. Right now, that's the way I feel. Yes, I suck." - Jose Guillen/quote of the year
by getxstoked on Jul 24, 2009 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I still believe the O's were mucking with his mechanics or something early in the year
I don’t have tapes with before and after, but I am thinking that his turn around had more to do with getting back to what worked rather than threats.
by drj on Jul 24, 2009 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Please
email this post to the front offices of the Dodgers, Marlins and Angels.
1933 was a bad year
by Senatorrosewater on Jul 24, 2009 2:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Wow
I’m kinda amazed at the response I got. I sorta wish I had written this up months ago when I first noticed this. Thank you very much, I’m deeply honored.
I’m pretty sure that part of the impetus for the transition to the sweeping slider may come from the O’s pitching coach who seems to value movement over speed. I’m not 100% totally sure about that but I do remember that Kranitz had Cabrera throw two-seamers last year which seems to indicate that may be where his pitching philosophy lies.
Anyway thank you and if there are any pitchers that you would like me to take a look at I’ll take a look
by OsandRoyals on Jul 24, 2009 8:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
O's and Royals?
Stay strong, man.
I will lead these Peoples to the promised land, also known as "Slightly Ahead of the Blue Jays." ~WietersRunDry
by Stacey on Jul 24, 2009 9:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Royals part may fall off soon.
This year has been a struggle to pay attention because almost every time there’s real news its of the awful WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???!!? kind. Maybe if they got a medical staff I’d be more optimistic but as of this moment my confidence in Dayton is practically nil.
The O’s on the other hand. Well they have one pretty good GM. He’s built a legit farm system, picked up some pretty good players on the cheap like Lou Montanez. Mets fans would love to have him as their GM
by OsandRoyals on Jul 24, 2009 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Seriously. Those are some intense teams to be rootin' for.
"He's a gazelle." -Adam Jones on Nolan Reimold.
by LenaO on Jul 25, 2009 4:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Its a great post
but you also posted it at a time when everyone was getting real tired of all the garbage posts we’ve been seeing lately. We arent usually this nice as a community, so dont get too used to it.
Matt Wieters can get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop in under one lick.
by daveh873 on Jul 24, 2009 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
A little help
I’m looking at Fangraphs and I just don’t understand which charts you were looking at to find this information. Could you point me to where to find it?
The reason I ask is because my cousin is a middle reliever for the Cards and I thought I’d check out his values to see exactly what is causing his suck level to go up greatly this season. The few times I’ve seen him on TV it looks like his slider has no bite, but I can’t tell if it’s just me or if that’s really the way it is.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
by Gorilla Bird on Jul 25, 2009 7:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Sure
Under the Player’s profile for pitchers there are tabs. For the article I mainly used the pitch type values which is under the pitch type tab. just go one down. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6291&position=P#pitchtype
The movement numbers along with velocity are under the pitch fx tab which is a dark grey tab immediately under the player’s name and to the right. http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=6291&position=P For more pitch fx data use Brooks Baseball which is a very nice tool that shows graphs of pitch fx data for specific starts http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/
by OsandRoyals on Jul 25, 2009 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Just going to throw it out there.
I don’t think this “new” slider is a result of any tinkering with the grip, changing of the arm angle, or trying to throw it differently. I think it’s all a result of his attempt to remain closed longer which he started doing pretty much right after Trembley made his vague threats. When you keep your front shoulder closed longer, it has the biggest impact on your breaking pitches. In general staying closed makes your breaking balls sharper and causes curve balls and sliders to break further and more vertically (as you describe above), whereas when you open up early your slider flattens out and doesn’t break as much.
While I think the reason he tried to stay closed longer was to hide the ball more (which he’s certainly doing), it has had an equally beneficial impact on his slider.
by O'sFan21 on Jul 26, 2009 6:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Interesting
I haven’t gotten the chance to really watch Sherrill too carefully so it certainly sounds plausible. Presumably that’s the mechanical change that Kranitz made with Sherrill that led Tremble to give him his job back.
I thought I saw the discrepancy between the slider movements pretty close to when Trembley called him out. I’ll take a look, probably later this week, and see when he started throwing the new slider. It could be that he started throwing the new slider before and the mechanical change made the slider more effective. Anyway, I’ll take a look and either post it as a comment. Is there any way to contact you in case I find something interesting to see your take on it?
by OsandRoyals on Jul 27, 2009 1:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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