Power Pros Forum

No need to comment on all the players listed. Just a 4 or 2 to those you feel deserve it.

To filter pitchers for Fastball Life, I ran separate formulas for Movement, Stuff and Value (see below for more details). Some guys graded well in all three, others graded poorly in all three, and the majority didn’t register at all. There were also a few Jekyll & Hydes – these are the guys I need help with:

Poor Movement – Good Stuff – Good Value
> Options: Fastball 4 or Neutral.
Colby Lewis
Evan Meek
Henry Rodriguez
John Axford
Jonathan Broxton
Kenley Jansen
Ryan Perry
Tyler Clippard

Poor Movement – Good Value
> Options: Fastball 4, Neutral or Fastball 2.
Carlos Fisher
Chad Billingsley
Chris Resop
Dan Cortes
David Robertson
Jake McGee
James McDonald
Jeremy Jeffress
Michael Dunn
Octavio Dotel
Tony Sipp

Good Stuff only
(For these guys, “stuff” might have more to do with breaking balls (Spin 4) or Special Abilities.)
> Options: Fastball 4, Spin 4 or Neutral.
Angel Guzman
Arthur Rhodes
Bill Bray
CC Sabathia
Craig Breslow
Damaso Marte
Dan Wheeler
Daniel Hudson
David Price
Doug Slaten
Eric O'Flaherty
Fernando Nieve
Joaquin Benoit
Kiko Calero
Kip Wells
Kris Medlen
Kyle McClellan
Mike Gonzalez
Nelson Figueroa
Phil Coke
Randy Wolf
Ryan Franklin
Takashi Saito
Ted Lilly
Tim Redding
Tom Gorzelanny
Travis Wood

Notes:
> Movement is vertical and horizontal break of the fastball compared to league average.
> Stuff = Effectiveness – Control. In other words, a pitcher with good control (low BB/PA) but poor results (low SO/PA + high H/PA) has weak stuff. A pitcher whose results outpace his control has good stuff.
> Value came from the w/FB values provided by Fangraphs.com. Weighted values can be misleading, because a pitcher’s most valuable pitch might be his 3rd or 4th best pitch in reality (a set-up pitch or some rarity used to surprise hitters two or three times per game).

If you think all of these guys should be neutral, that's cool too. I have identified enough "definite" Fastball Life 4 and Fastball Life 2 pitchers to maintain the ratio of the 2008 default rosters.

One thing you may also need to consider which was my main focus with creating players with such a dilemma was to consider each pitchers reliance on his fastball and breaking ball. A pitcher such as Andy Oliver of Detroit for example. His breaking balls are quite lacking so I gave him spin 2 but ended up giving him fastball life. His other negative attributes such as fat pitch can off set this as well as choke artist. Jeremy Jeffress I gave fastball life 4 to him, Clippard though I think
I gave him fastball life 2

I'm a bit uncertain on the Value stat you have here, is this how often they use fastballs in comparison to other pitches, or is it something else entirely?

Edit: 6000th Post!

Fastball runs above average per 100 pitches.

I looked at some video of evan meek, and his fastball dosen't move at all. I'd say neutral for him.

Excellent. Thanks! It appears Meek and the others in that group get good results with their fastballs due to velocity + control or secondary stuff. I just might make that entire group neutral.

First group I'd say stick with neutral. Second group should probably be either Neutral or FB Life 2. Third Group you might want to consider breaking into seperate groups, with pitchers that have top speeds above a certain amount(95 mph?) getting FB Life 4, and guys below the amount getting Spin 4.

Agree, agree and agree. Case closed.