Joba’s Chamberlain’s Velocity Higher in 2008 Than 2009

February 10, 2010   ·   Bronx Baseball Daily   ·   Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees

The other day I went through the PitchFX data for Joba Chamberlain to see what we could find. So I compiled a list of all of his appearances in 2009 separating the data to find his velocity early in the season, later in the season, and then as a reliever.

I found that his velocity as a starter stayed consistent throughout the season at 92.47 MPH even though he struggled a lot after August started and he passed 110 innings for the first time as a major leaguer. His average velocity jumped to 95.19 MPH as a reliever, a difference of 2.72 MPH on average.

His ERA went down, but I feel it’s doubtful velocity was the contributing factor as it was consistent when he was a starter even when his numbers were. Instead it was more likely to be other factors. What those factors were are hard to say without doing a lot more research, but it is safe to say that velocity was at least not a major factor.

But I still find Joba’s velocity interesting, that happens when he can throw upwards of 100 MPH, so I decided to look back at his 2008 numbers.

So let’s take a look at where his velocity was at early in 2008 as a reliever:

 

Date-Opp.	Top Speed	Fastball Avg.
Starts season as reliever
Apr 1 – Blue Jays	96.8 MPH	94.17 MPH
Apr 3 – Blue Jays	98.3 MPH	95.44 MPH
Apr 6 – Rays	99.5 MPH	96.20 MPH
Apr 10 – Royals	99.6 MPH	97.50 MPH
Apr 19 – Orioles	98.5 MPH	97.25 MPH
Apr 20 – Orioles	97.9 MPH	96.30 MPH
Apr 22 – White Sox	99.8 MPH	97.32 MPH
Apr 24 – White Sox	97.5 MPH	96.04 MPH
Apr 27 – Indians	96.2 MPH	94.97 MPH
Apr 28 – Indians	97.0 MPH	95.13 MPH
May 2 – Mariners	97.1 MPH	94.73 MPH
May 6 – Indians	97.0 MPH	94.90 MPH
May 8 – Indians	97.8 MPH	96.11 MPH
May 10 – Tigers	96.7 MPH	94.86 MPH
May 13 – Rays	98.6 MPH	95.86 MPH
May 14 – Rays	99 MPH	97.07 MPH
May 17 – Mets	97.3 MPH	95.58 MPH
May 21 – Orioles	99.6 MPH	96.36 MPH
May 24 – Seattle	97.7 MPH	95.28 MPH
May 28 – Orioles	99.5 MPH	96.07 MPH
Average	98.07	95.86

His average velocity of 95.86 MPH in the beginning of 2008 was less than one-MPH faster than his average velocity out of the bullpen at the end of 2009,  95.19 MPH—a 0.67 MPH difference. That is comforting because of an injury I’ll talk about in a minute.

First let’s take a look at his velocity in 2008 as a starter:

 

Becomes a starter
June 3 – Blue Jays	99.1 MPH	95.24 MPH
June 8 – Royals	100.2 MPH	96.22 MPH
June 13 – Astros	98.4 MPH	94.57 MPH
June 19 – Padres	98.8 MPH	95.12 MPH
June 25 – Pirates	99 MPH	95.34 MPH
July 1 – Rangers	97.8 MPH	94.81 MPH
July 6 – Red Sox	99.4 MPH	94.94 MPH
July 11 – Blue Jays	98.4 MPH	94.79 MPH
July 19 – A’s	99.6 MPH	95.22 MPH
July 25 – Red Sox	99.6 MPH	95.51 MPH
July 30 – Orioles	99.4 MPH	94.86 MPH
Aug 4 – Rangers	98.2 MPH	94.80 MPH
Average	98.99	95.12

Interesting, in 2008 his average as a reliever, 95.86 MPH, was barely higher than as a starter, 95.12 MPH, just 0.74 MPH different. That’s a lot different than 2009 when there was a 2.72 MPH difference between his velocity starting vs. relieving.

Then there was the rotator cuff tendonitis:

 

Put on DL w/Shoulder Tendonitis	Comes back as a reliever
Sept 2 – Rays	95.8 MPH	93.25 MPH
Sept 6 – Mariners	97.1 MPH	93.83 MPH
Sept 10 – Angels	95.3 MPH	93.82 MPH
Sept 13 – Rays	96.2 MPH	94.20 MPH
Sept 15 – White Sox	97.2 MPH	95.41 MPH
Sept 17 – White Sox	95.8 MPH	94.63 MPH
Sept 19 – Orioles	95.9 MPH	93.52 MPH
Sept 21 – Orioles	96 MPH	94.07 MPH
Sept 23 – Blue Jays	95.8 MPH	94.04 MPH
Sept 28 – Red Sox	93.7 MPH	92.36 MPH
Average	95.88	93.91

Joba spent almost a month on the DL with tendonitis in his shoulder that many beat writers thought might have been more severe, but the Yankees were trying to make the playoffs and wanted him back on the mound. But his average velocity out of the pen in September of 2008 was 1.95 MPH slower than his previous average out of the pen.

It’s very possible that Joba came back and was not quite at 100 percent. Did that carry over to 2009? Let’s take a look:

 

2008 Total Avg.	Top Speed	Fastball Avg.	ERA
Relief	98.07	95.86	2.28
Starter	98.99	95.12	2.76
Post-Injury as reliever	95.88	93.91	2.38

 

2009 Total Avg.	Top Speed	Fastball Avg.	ERA
Pre-Aug (before 110 innings)	95.77	92.43	3.58
Post-Aug	95.55	92.53	7.69
As reliever	96.46	95.19	2.46

Only Joba knows if he was 100 percent in 2009, but his velocity was down as a starter compared to 2008. Making it harder to know if there was a lingering injury is his velocity as a reliever in 2008 compared to 2009. In 2008 his average was 95.86 MPH and then it dropped post-injury. But then in 2009 his average out of the pen was very close to his pre-injury number out of the pen in 2008.

It’s possible that he didn’t feel 100 percent at the start of 2009 and never really trusted himself to let loose all the way until he went in the bullpen at the end of the season. Because of this, it will be interesting to see if his velocity comes back as a starter in 2010.

Again though, we get a similar conclusion as we got the other day. Joba’s numbers don’t seem to change when his velocity changes. So as interesting as this is, it’s not the reason for his struggles at the end of 2009, or at least this is too small a sample size to tell.

Something was going on from August until the end of September last season and it probably didn’t have much to do with his velocity. Any ideas?

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