A look at Johnny Cueto's big-league debut using PITCHf/x data.
http://tinyurl.com/3mon4k
Posted by Mike Fast
Johnny Cueto is a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher from the famous Dominican
baseball city of San Pedro de Macoris. He was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in
2004. He pitched in Rookie ball and A-ball in 2005 and 2006, and in 2007 he
shot through the Reds' system, starting 14 games at Sarasota (A-ball), 10 games
at Chattanooga (Double-A), and four games at Louisville (Triple-A). Among the
three stops in 2007, he compiled a 12-9 record with a 3.07 ERA in 161.1 innings
. He allowed 146 hits and 34 walks and recorded 170 strikeouts.
Johnny Cueto,这位22岁的小家伙，是从知名的棒球小镇San Pedro de Macoris,多明尼加
,来的。04年的时候被红人队签下。05,06年分别在新人联盟和低阶1A投球，然后在2007年
，他一路从1A升到3A，累积12-9、ERA:3.07，在161.1局中三振了170人，只投出34次保送
。
This spring, Cueto joined the big-league team for spring training and earned a
spot in the major league rotation behind returning anchors Aaron Harang and
Bronson Arroyo and alongside newcomers Josh Fogg and Edinson Volquez. For his
first major-league start, he faced off Thursday afternoon against the Arizona
Diamondbacks and Doug Davis.
今年春天，Cueto获得春训的邀请并在轮值圈中挣得了一席之地。他首次的先发是对上响尾
蛇队的Doug Davis。
His debut performance was stellar. In seven innings of work, he allowed only a
single baserunner—a home run by Justin Upton to lead off the sixth inning. He
struck out 10 and walked none, and he threw 68 of 92 pitches for strikes.
初登板就让人眼睛为之一亮。七局三振了10人，只让一个人上垒—Justin Upton的支全垒
打。
What was Johnny Cueto throwing that so baffled the Diamondbacks? Let's take a
look at the PITCHf/x data from the game. Doug Gray of RedsPitchfx.com brought
to my attention that the PITCHf/x data collected from this game appears a
little skewed. Nonetheless, I believe I was able to properly identify the
pitches that Cueto threw. For a good primer on Cueto's stuff, read the scouting
report that Kiley McDaniel posted at Saber-Scouting last week.
到底Cueto投的是什么魔球？我们来看看PITCHf/x这项数据吧。其中虽然是有些误差，但我
想应该还不至于会影响到我们的判读。如果想更深入了解Cueto的stuff，这里有一篇
Kiley McDaniel做的scouting report。（网址：http://tinyurl.com/6kkwms）
His main pitch on Thursday was a four-seam fastball running 94-97 mph (48
pitches). He also threw a slider 87-90 mph (20 pitches), a change-up 85-92 mph
(16 pitches) and a two-seam fastball 96 mph (one pitch). PITCHf/x data is
missing for seven pitches. Against right handers, Cueto relied on mainly on his
fastball (64 percent) and his slider (23 percent). Against left handers, he
split his pitches between fastball (38 percent), change-up (33 percent) and
slider (25 percent).
他的主要球路是94-97的四缝线速球，加上87-90的滑球（20球）、85-92的变速球（16球）
、96的二缝线速球（1球），还有七球没有纪录。Cueto以速球和滑球对付右打，以速球、
滑球和变速球对付左打。
Cueto never went to a three-ball count, and he went to 2-0 only three times in
22 hitters. He mixed his pitches fairly well at all counts. He didn't throw his
slider when he was behind in the count, but since that only happened eight times
, it's hard to say whether that's a real trend.
全场Cueto没有投到三坏零好过，而且只有三次投到2-0。各种球路混合出现。球速落后时
没有投过滑球，但这只是一场比赛，还不能确定Cueto的投球有这种倾向。
He got six strikeouts on the fastball, one on the change-up, and one on the
slider. The strikeouts of Eric Byrnes and Mark Reynolds in the second inning
came on a pitches not recorded by PITCHf/x, but Nick Piecoro of the Arizona
Republic indicated those pitches were a slider and a fastball.
Where did Cueto locate his pitches?
他的第三颗好球有六颗是速球，变速球和滑球各一。Eric Byrnes和Mark Reynolds的三振
没有纪录，但Nick Piecoro认为那是滑球和速球。
Cueto他是怎么投球的呢？
Against the left-handed hitters—Orlando Hudson, Stephen Drew and pinch hitter
Jeff Salazar—Cueto preferred to throw his four-seam fastball mostly on the
inside edge, where he got several foul balls. Hudson put two fastballs into
play, one a fly ball to left field and the other a ground ball to first base.
Against the right-handed hitters>—Chris Young, Chris Burke, Byrnes, Reynolds,
Upton, Robby Hammock and pitcher Davis>—Cueto pounded the zone with his
fastball, particularly the outer half of the plate, to very good results. He
threw 28 of 39 (72 percent) of his fastballs to right handers for strikes,
including an impressive eight swings and misses. Only three right handers put
his fastball in play: Robby Hammock flied out to center field, Upton homered to
left field, and Byrnes grounded out to the shortstop.
速球：
对于左打，Cueto大多塞内角速球，制造了些界外。Hudson把两颗速球打进场形成左外野飞
球和一垒滚地。
对于右打，Cueto以速球攻击好球带的每一点，特别是在外角，得到了很好的效果。有72趴
的速球是好球，包括了八个挥棒落空。只有三个右打把球打进场内，其中一个是Upton的全
垒打。
Cueto's change-ups to left-handed hitters were mostly out of the zone down or
away. Nonetheless, he garnered a couple swinging strikes, fooling Jeff Salazar
on back-to-back pitches. Drew drove a change-up to deep left field that was
caught by Adam Dunn in the fifth inning. To right-handed hitters, he mostly
kept the change-up in lower part of the strike zone.
变速球：
Cueto用好球带之外的变速球来吊左打，造成了些挥棒落空。Drew把一颗变速球打到左外野
深远处。对付右打，Cueto则能把变速球压低。
He only threw a few sliders to left-handers, who didn't have much luck with
them. To right-handed hitters, he targeted the outside corner with the slider.
Right handers managed to put four sliders into play. Chris Burke hit a fly ball
to center and popped up to the second baseman, Reynolds lined out to left field
, and Hammock grounded back to the pitcher.
滑球：
滑球主要是拿来攻击右打者的外角。有四位右打把滑球打进场内。Cueto不常用滑球来对付
左打，但效果不错。
Cueto only threw one two-seam fastball, at least among the pitches for which
we have detailed data. It was the first pitch to Hudson in the first inning,
and Hudson swung and missed.
Cueto只投了一球二缝线速球，结果是Hudson的挥空。
I mentioned some of the pitches put into play by the Diamondbacks against Cueto
. Here is the full chart.
这是响尾蛇打者击球的落点图；
Obviously, Johnny Cueto pitched an excellent game, and Reds fans must be
excited about his future. They hope his career will be a long one filled with
more excitement, and I hope you enjoyed this quick look into his pitching
repertoire.
显然的，Cueto投了一场好球，所有的红人迷应该都会感到兴奋。他们会期待Cueto有个长
久的大联盟生涯（面包师傅不要乱来...），而我希望大家都能对Cueto的投球武器有个更
进一步的认识。