Tonight will be Josh Beckett vs Edwin Jackson in TB.
We know Beckett is 2 seam fb, 4 seam fb, curveball and changeup. See these posts for Beckett data.
Here is Edwin Jackson:
4 pitch guy: Fastball, curveball, slider and changeup. The slider and curveball are fairly similar. Not an impressive curveball and has decent downward tilt on the slider. Here are his average speeds:
FB: 94
CB: 80
SL: 85
CH: 88
While he has 4 pitches, he really only uses three. His curveball is just for show:
| Stand | FB | CB | CH | SL | Grand Total | ||||
| Left | 312 | 60.7% | 32 | 6.2% | 137 | 26.7% | 33 | 6.4% | 514 |
| Right | 317 | 61.0% | 39 | 7.5% | 21 | 4.0% | 143 | 27.5% | 520 |
| Grand Total | 629 | 60.8% | 71 | 6.9% | 158 | 15.3% | 176 | 17.0% | 1034 |
Versus LHB, he is a FB/CH guy. He could afford to throw a breaking ball more to lefties. LHB have a .789 OPS while RHB are at .648.
Here is his pitches by count, broken down by batter hand:
Looks pretty confident with that slider versus the righties. I wonder why he doesn't use it more against lefties. If he can learn to throw that slider down and in to lefties, he might be more effective against them.
