At 61.1 innings pitched so far the lack of any solid return from John Lackey so far is concerning. You might try to remind me that he only gave up 2 runs in his last game, but with 1 strikeout and 4 walks I'm not buying it. His K/BB at 1.17 so far looks like a number we might see from Livan Hernandez.
So far in 2010 he has lost his solid K/9 and become absolutely brutal with his control. He has a career K/BB of 2.62, but this year is at a terrible 1.71. I took a look earlier this year at an increase in "cutters", but this is starting to look like a classification change by the Pitch F/x system.
There may be an increase in pitches that move like his "cutter", but not sure if this is a change he has intended to make or perhaps a mechanical change. This change though has made pitchers that have a 9 inch rise, but less horizontal movement compared to the rest of the fastballs.
Against lefties this cutter is missing the zone in on hitters and appears to be causing most of the trouble. He is walking 6.43 batters every nine innings versus lefties while only having a 3.86 K/9 against them. In his career he has a 2.20 K/BB against lefties so he is much better than this.
With a 4.00 K/BB against righties I tend to think his health is fine, but this small control issue is causing big problems so far. Keep an eye on his lefty match ups and hopefully he sticks to pitching his four seam and curve ball down and away to lefties where he has been most successful.
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