Athletics Nation: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
Around SBN: The 2009-2010 Card Chronicle Big East basketball preview

A Preliminary Look At Dana Eveland

(Ed. Note: Before I get into my topic for this post, I want to lay out a disclaimer. I am just now learning how to manipulate/play with all the pitch f/x data, not to mention I haven't worked with spreadsheets since my junior year in college. Also, I realize that only comparing two Eveland starts is a small sample size, but I didn't know how else to compare early Eveland 2009 to late Eveland 2008 in another way. Anyway, without further ado...)

Star-divide

After viewing the recent post at BeyondTheBoxscore about Pitch f/x data, I wanted to take a look at Dana Eveland's only start this season. Since I'm new to this process, it was easiest for me to compare his 4/8/09 start to his 9/24/08 start. Again, I apologize for any formatting errors etc., but as it's early in the season for not only the A's, but also myself, I hope you'll forgive me.

I first wanted to take a look at Eveland's release point to make sure nothing funky was going on. In graph form Dereleasepoints_medium

via img5.imageshack.us

Eveland seems pretty consistent here. I didn't see any significant changes from his last start of 2008 to his first in 2009. So without any real commentary, let's move on. Next on the list is Eveland's pitch velocities. The first bar in each couplet of this graph is 2009 and the second is 2008. Depitchvelocity_medium

via img26.imageshack.us

Unfortunately, something weird was going on with Eveland's fastball classifications from last year, so the only data I had was labeled as "Fastball". Of course, this says nothing about whether they were 4 seam or 2 seam, so I have to aplogize. What's interesting to note is that his changeup, slider, and cutter velocities were all up this year (esp. the changeup, which was about 6 mph faster than last year's start. However, curveball and "fastball" velocities were just about the same. As far as his changeup is concerned, he is probably going to want a greater velocity difference between his fastball and changeup going forward. My last graph is, for lack of a better word, a disaster. I basically took the average movement on each of his pitches and tried to graph them against each other. Sadly, I'm still a noob at this, so it is kinda hard to decipher. Basically, the shapes correspond with the pitch, and the color differentiates the year. Depitchmovement_medium

via img5.imageshack.us

The big changes I see here is the cutter (diamond shape) and the curveball (square). The cutter especially has a huge variance in movement. I'm not sure whether this is mlb's fault or whether Eveland really is getting more movement on his cutter this year. Of course, he only threw 8 cutters in his '09 start and 32 in his '08 start, so it could be a sample size issue too. Anyway, I'll leave the exciting analysis for everyone else. Hopefully this post wasn't too terrible, and hopefully as the season goes on, both my graphing skills and the A's thrive.

2 recs  |  Comment 2 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Based on the release point data

I can only conclude Eveland has shrunk some this year.

Good work on a first attempt. Maybe you were a little amped up in your first graphing post of the season, explaining some of the messiness. Still lots of potential to contribute quality stat work to a club already stacked with pitching analyzers on one of the strongest blogs in SB Nation. Go AN!

"No matter what I talk about, I always get back to baseball." - Connie Mack

by GoA's on Apr 12, 2009 6:47 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about Oakland Athletics.

Community Guidelines ANcillary Terms
Start posting about the Athletics »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Ph3spec_small
Having fun with Pythagoras, or, who got lucky during 2009
Dsc00764_small
DLD - 11/07/2009 - How to Keep Yourself Occupied in the Off-Season
527918550406_0_bg_small
2010 Off-Season Blueprint
Depaulbluedemons_small
Community Prospect List #15
Super_grover_small
2010 Offseason Primer

Recent FanPosts

Depaulbluedemons_small
Zonis's Off Season Charter
Bill_king_small
AFL Rising Stars Showcase Tonight on MLBN @ 5PM
Me_at_att_park_small
Greener Grass, Episode 4: The Biggest Off Season (Potential) Decision Doesn't Involve Free Agents
Oaklandathletics_small
Hardy to Minnesota. What's with the early offseason trades?
Tyler_at_maya_school_small
Happy 6th Birthday, AN!
Oaklandathletics_small
facebook Members: Keep the A's in OAKLAND
Bill_king_small
Organizational Statistics: Winter Leagues

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SPONSORS


Managers

Tyler_at_maya_school_small Tyler Bleszinski

08-_the_author_small 67MARQUEZ

Baseball_small baseballgirl

Poochini-butt_in_box_2_small Nico

As_kings_cal_small louismg

Editors

Countdown_small Taj Adib

Ziegler160px_small Flashfire

527918550406_0_bg_small notsellingjeans