Doug Fister Fun Fact

by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 28, 2010 7:49 PM PDT in Seattle Mariners Stats

Let's somewhat arbitrarily use Doug Fister's 13th start - July 7th, against the Royals - as the splitting point.

Through July 7th: 75.6% fastballs
After July 7th: 65.4% fastballs

Further:

	Strike%	Contact%	K%	BB/HBP%	GB%
Through 7/7	64.9	91.0	11.6	5.3	50.9
After 7/7	66.1	86.9	16.9	5.8	50.9

Through July 7th, Fister had 39 strikeouts in 84.1 innings. Since July 7th, Fister has 38 strikeouts in 50.2 innings. That's a far more acceptable rate, and you have to assume that it has at least something to do with the fact that he's been throwing fastballs less often than he was earlier in the year. Only once in Fister's last nine starts has his fastball rate exceeded 75%, after doing it nine times in his first 13.

Is it a meaningful change? We'll see. Is it a change at all, or just a statistical blip? We'll see. It is interesting, though, to see Fister suddenly striking some hitters out, and it makes me more confident in his ability to keep getting starts and doing his job without the whole sky falling down on his adorable little repertoire.

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Hmmm

I seem to remember his FB% last year was closer to his post-7/7 numbers this year. Yes, according to Fangraphs, 61.4% fastballs last year with 21.5% change-ups! It seems like he forgot earlier this season that his fastball isn’t that good, and he should throw it as seldom as he can get away with.

Mariners/D Broncos/BSU Broncos fan in Seattle
The first rule of Lookout Landing is...

by appleshampoo on Aug 28, 2010 8:13 PM PDT reply actions

Everything about Fister is adorable. He's learning to pitch.

He’s not Felix or Lee, but he can be effective if he learns to use what he’s got to his advantage. I’m thinking he’s figuring it out and that is exciting.

by TrustBaseball on Aug 28, 2010 9:06 PM PDT reply actions

D'awww Fistah d'awwwww.

by w00tah on Aug 28, 2010 9:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Cliff Lee came

he planted his beautiful seed and then he flew away.

by Slow Country on Aug 28, 2010 11:53 PM PDT reply actions

I really like Fister.During the last off season I thought that Fister would be our number 4 starter easy and had him favored over Snell and Vargas.

Vargas was a nice surprise and didn’t think he would do as well as he did, but I also thought RRS would have ace like moments this year. There is something about Snell and I just don’t like him.

It pisses me off when the Mariners gets shut out on a 1 run game. Forget power hitter where are we going to get decent contact hitters from? Ichiro, Guti, and then who? I’m tired of this mediocre hitting at best. Next year is going to be rough but hopefully we can get Ackley and Smoak to come up and get some at bats and not have a unbearable year next year.

Any chance Lopez and Kotchman raised their trading value the past month? I might be wrong but I feel like they’re doing better than they were at the start and dare I say more clutch?

Lopez had two great plays today which is always great to see and I heard the announcer say Kotchman had a .400 plus batting average with runners at third with two outs. Probably a small sample size but still.

by LeftArrow2 on Aug 29, 2010 4:28 AM PDT reply actions

It's good to see his strike rate remain constant while throwing more offspeed stuff

Maybe being able to get those pitches over for strikes has given him more confidence to use them.

“Any chance Lopez and Kotchman raised their trading value the past month?”

It doesn’t matter if they have….to be able to trade them, the M’s would have to tender them contracts in the offseason, with raises to go with them, making them less attractive for another team. I could see the M’s possibly picking up Lopez’ option, but Kotchman will certainly be non-tendered.

by nathaniel dawson on Aug 29, 2010 9:53 AM PDT up reply actions

MMmmm I love making comments before fully thinking things through.

Should have realized that

by LeftArrow2 on Aug 29, 2010 8:02 PM PDT up reply actions

He's as awkward and gangly as a teenaged puppy

Quick question. How is his HR% since early July? One concern I guess would be that if he has poor command of his offspeed stuff he’d be more prone to dingers. If not then we got us a two/three win pitcher for the minimum!

De Gutibus non disputandum est

by Bearskin Rugburn on Aug 29, 2010 12:30 PM PDT reply actions