I looked at the fastballs from the Reds projected five starters in 2009 (with Leake I used his AFL data and his 1 spring start with the Pitch F/X system running).  Here is the average fastball, with velocity and movement vs a pitch with no spin.

The guys slated at the 1-4 spots in the rotation get similar movement on their fastballs, though at varying velocities and of course arm angles and release points. However Mike Leake is getting a much different type of movement than the others, both in terms of sink and run.

• IP -9
• H – 3
• ER – 0
• BB – 0
• K – 9

Thats the line that Aaron Harang put up on Easter Sunday as the Reds beat the Pirates 2-0. I figured this would be the perfect time to break down his game.

First lets look at his selection of pitches.

Harang mixed up his pitches very well. These pitch labels are using the MLB pitch types, so they might not be 100% accurate, but they are pretty close. Either way, there was a good mixture of pitches. Lets look at how hard he was throwing each pitch.

Harangs fastball wasn’t going to blow anyone away as it averaged just over 88 MPH and topped out at 91.6 MPH. His change up wasn’t much slower, averaging 85 MPH. This next chart is the key to why Harang was able to be so dominant on Sunday.

In total Harang was able to throw strikes 75% of the time and he was also able to throw every pitch for strikes at a high rate. The hitters couldn’t sit on any pitch and Harang was able to keep them guessing wrong. Here is what he looked like to all of the batters.