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Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Scott Kazmir has been a revelation over the past two years. After throwing just 1.2 innings in 2011 and 2012 combined, the lefty returned to throw nearly a full season last year. And thus far in 2014, he has continued his dominance. Through six starts, he has a 2.11 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio over twice as good as his career mark (5.00 compared to 2.26).

So how has he done it? To begin with, he’s changed his pitching philosophy. At his peak in Tampa Bay, he worked heavily off his fastball. As you can see in the graphs below, Kazmir would throw his fastball anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of the time. He would play off that with his changeup and slider but was primarily reliant on his velocity. Now, though, he’s introduced a curveball while simultaneously using his changeup more consistently often.

Kazmir’s pitch usage from 2010 (left) and 2014 (right).

Interestingly, though, his curveball is still a subpar pitch. It generates essentially three-quarters of the spin of the average lefty’s curve, which means that its break is not particularly sharp or deceptive. Rather, it appears to serve as more of a sequencing tool that enables Kazmir to more effectively use his fastball and slider—still his two best pitches.

The spin on both his slider and fastball are above the major league average for left-handed pitchers, indicating that even with the new pitch he remains a power pitcher. That means, then, that he remains reliant on his velocity—so it’s fortunate that his fastball and slider velocity are both in the same range as in 2010.

His fastball velocity in 2014 has sat in the 88-92 mph range, and in 2009 and 2010 he also sat in the same area. His slider, though, has actually gotten faster over the years. In 2013 and 2014, he has actually gotten it up over 85 mph; in the past, it sat comfortably between 80 and 82.

Whether or not he can keep this up is a legitimate issue, though. Throwing a slider puts extra strain on the elbow, and Kazmir has suffered from assorted elbow, shoulder, and back issues throughout his career. Additionally, the fact that the curveball is basically just a showpiece means that it will likely lose its effectiveness as the season goes on and hitters recognize this. However, it’s clear that Kazmir has developed as a pitcher without losing much of his stuff—which is certainly a boon for the A’s.

NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 5/06/14

By Seth Victor
AriBall.com

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