In the final look at the Pitch F/X data from the Futures game, I wanted to look at the pitcher who threw the most pitches, the Red Sox' Anthony Ranaudo. Before saying anything else, we should note that he threw the most pitches in the game because he struggled.
Ranaudo's average release point was the highest release point in the Futures Game thanks to his height. Here are where his points looked like in graph form
As far as comparisons go, because he is so tall, it is hard to find one when it comes to release point, but Joba Chamberlain is somewhat close, as is Jeremy Hefner and Bronson Arroyo.
On average, Ranaudo threw the ba
ll lower than most of the pitchers in the Futures game, especially when it comes to the fastball. Here are where all of his pitches were located.
Perhaps bizarrely, R
anaudo's home run allowed came on one of the low glove side fastballs and not one of the changeups that he threw high above the zone.
For a cleaner look, here are the average locations, along with velocities, of all his pitches:
The fastball is slightly above average for a pitcher coming out of the bullpen, but the main thing the graph shows is the absolute wildness of his changeup. He couldn't even get close to finishing that pitch.
I usually don't do this, because often it is misleading, but there is a reasonably dramatic difference in how he was releasing his changeup and fastball:
Was this why he couldn't get the pitch to the strike zone? Maybe it plays a part, though I would expect that arm speed and the confidence to still throw the pitch hard plays a role as well.
Here are Ranaudo's locations classified by results (balls aren't included obviously):
He gave up a lot of contact overall, and only got one swinging strike. It wasn't a very good outing for him at all. His minor league numbers are really good, so either he just had a really bad day trying to throw out of the bullpen, or perhaps he is getting away with mistakes, especially with the changeup, at the minor league level.
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