Brett Myers started three games for the Phillies in the postseason and his
team won each time. This was a far cry from the way Myers was pitching before
the Phillies sent him to Triple-A at the beginning of July. In his first 17
starts of the season, he posted an ugly 5.84 ERA, with some poor peripherals
showing this wasn't a fluke.
Brett Myers 在季后赛为费城人队先发了三场比赛，三场比赛费城人队最后都获得胜利。
在费城人队于7月初将 Myers 送回3A磨练前，他的投球内容完全不同。球季的前17场先发
，他的自责分率是不理想的5.84，糟糕的投球数据说明了不是运气不佳所造成的。
After a few weeks in the minors, Myers was called up and pitched much better,
posting a 3.49 ERA with a significantly better walk rate in his 14 starts
down the stretch. What did Myers change that made such a difference? Many
times you hear a manager say that a pitcher needs to work on a few things,
but what really is going on? I'll shed some light on what Myers was working
on and how his stuff changed in his return.
在小联盟磨练数周后，Myers 重新被叫上大联盟，投球表现也较为进步，重返大联盟后的
14场先发，Myers 的自责分率为3.49，保送率也大幅下降。Myers 做了什么改变呢?你常
常听到总教练说一位投手还有一些地方需要再加油，但是到底是哪些东西呢?我将说明
Myers 做了哪些努力以及他的球威在重返大联盟后有何改变。
Myers' stuff
Myers 的球威
Let's start with an overview of Brett Myers' repertoire. Myers is one of the
few pitchers in the big leagues who throws (at least) five pitches
frequently: four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, curve and change-up. Here is
a look at his movement chart.
我们先从 Brett Myers 的概观能力看起。Myers 是大联盟中少数拥有(至少)五种经常使
用球种的投手之一，这五种球种分别为: 四逢线快速球，伸卡球，滑球，曲球与变速球。
下面是他的球种位移量图。
Myers' fastball is very over-the-top, with little horizontal movement but
good "rise." When he is right, he is throwing this pitch in the lower to mid
90s. He also throws a sinker that has better horizontal movement than it
actually sinks and he throws this pitch in the upper 80s, touching 90 on the
gun.
Myers 的快速球相当优异，具有少量的水平位移与出色的"上飘"效果。当他状况不错时，
快速球的球速维持在 90mph 出头到 95mph 左右。他同时也会投伸卡球，他的伸卡球水平
位移优于垂直位移，球速为 85mph 到 90mph。
His main off-speed pitches are his curve and slider. His curve is mostly 12
to 6, with very good vertical drop. Myers' curve is more lollipop than hard
curve: He throws it in the upper 70s. His slider is in the mid 80s with very
little horizontal movement but also not a lot of vertical "rise." Frequent
readers can probably guess which of these two pitches I like better, but here
goes: Because Myers doesn't get a lot of movement with his slider, it isn't
going to be a very effective strikeout pitch because he can't start the pitch
on the outer corner and have it tail away from right-handed batters. While
his curveball drops off the table, his slider doesn't slide off it. Myers
also throws a circle change-up that is kind of an average pitch around 83 mph
with more horizontal movement and less vertical movement than to his fastball.
Myers 主要的慢速球种为他的曲求与滑球。曲球的变化方向大多为12到6点钟方向，具有
绝佳的垂直下坠。Myers 的曲球比较接近快速曲球: 曲球球速大约在 75~80mph。他的滑
球球速则在 85mph 左右，具有少量的水平位移，垂直"上飘"也不多。经常性的读者应该
可以猜出我比较喜欢哪一个球种。由于 Myers 的滑球不具备大量的位移，而且无法将滑
球投在好球带外侧，并且逐渐偏离右打者，所以滑球无法做为有效三振打者的球种。虽然
Myers 的曲球具有不错的下坠幅度，但是他的滑球却"滑"的不够多。除此之外，Myers
还会投圈指变速球，这个球种具有平均的水准，速度大约 83mph，和快速球相比具有具有
较多的水平位移，垂直位移较少。
Now, depending on whom you talk to, Myers also throws a splitter and a
cutter. Where are these pitches on Myers' movement chart? Well, he might have
thrown a few splitters this year, but not a lot. If you look at his
change-ups, you can a few that have migrated very close to his four-seam
fastball. These pitches move more like you would expect a splitter to move
and are a little faster than most his change-ups.
Myers 也会投快速指叉球与卡特球。那么者两种球路在 Myers 的球种位移量图的哪里呢?
他今年投了少量不算多的快速指叉球。当你观察他的变速球时，有时会发现少数几颗球会
很接近他的快速球。这几颗球的位移比较像你所认为的快速指叉球，而且球速比他大部分
的变速球要来的快一点。
But because there are not many of these pitches, my classification algorithm
has lumped them in with his change. This seems to fit other reports perfectly
as well. The story behind Myers' cutter appears to be similar to the story
behind CC Sabathia's cutter: He calls it a cutter, but it behaves like other
pitchers' sliders. So if you hear Myers, or pitching coach Rich Dubee, refer
to Myers cutter, it is what others refer to as his slider.
但是由于数量不多，所以我将它们都归类成他的变速球。Myers 的卡特球情况与 CC
Sabathia的卡特球情况类似: 他称为卡特球的球种却很类似其他投手的滑球。所以如果你
听到 Myers 或投手教练 Rich Dubee 提到 Myers 的卡特球，这就是其他人所认为的滑球
。
Myers' start to the season
Myers 的球季起步
So what was wrong with Myers in the beginning of the year? After a April 27
start against the Pirates, it appeared to Dubee and manager Charlie Manuel
that Myers' fastball wasn't as fast as he would like it to be and he was
throwing too many sliders (cutters). In fact, that appeared to be a problem
throughout the first half. Here is a table of Myers' pitches and how he used
them.
今年球季初 Myers 到底是哪里出了问题呢?在4月27日面对海盗队的先发后，投手教练
Dubee 与总教练 Cahrlie Manuel 发现 Myers 的快速球不像看起来的那样快，而且他投
了太多滑球(卡特球)。事实上，在球寄前半这一直是个大问题。以下是 Myers 如何使用
各种球种的统计表格。
You can see that Myers' fastball was actually slower than his sinker at just
over 90 mph. That is extremely rare and not a good sign. To compensate, Myers
was throwing a few more sinkers than fastballs and was using the sinker to
both left- and right-handed batters. His main off-speed pitch was his slider,
which he also threw about a quarter of the time and was willing to throw to
both left- and right-handed batters. While you can throw off-speed pitches
that break in to a batter, it generally is not done because of the likelihood
of leaving a pitch middle-in to a batter. This is especially true of pitchers
who throw as many pitches as Myers does.
你可以发现 Myers 的快速球比他的伸卡球还慢，只有 90mph 而已。这是非常罕见的，而
且不是个好现象。Myers 使用伸卡球的次数比快速球多一些，不论是面对左打或右打，他
对会都伸卡球。主要的慢速球种则是他的滑球，使用频率达到1/4，且不分左右打。当你
在面对打者时投出向他们靠近的慢速球种，通常不会有太好的效果因为球很有可能跑到红
中。对于球种与 Myers 一样多的投手而言是特别符合。
So how do the numbers look after his stint in the minors? Much better.
那么投球数据在他从小联盟回来后看来如何?好多了。
Myers' fastball is back in the low 90s, with his other offerings staying
about the same. Instead of a mix of fastballs and sinkers to both right- and
left-handed batters, Myers went to his fastball much more to right-handed
batters and his sinker more to left-handed batters. Remember that Myers'
sinker has excellent horizontal movement away from a left handed batter but
in to a right handed batter. His fastball, on the other hand, has very little
horizontal movement at all. It is a similar story with his off-speed pitches.
Myers 的速球球速回升到 92mph，其他球种则没有太大的改变。他不再像之前一样不论面
对左打或右打，皆是快速球与深卡球混合交替使用，而是对右打者投更多的快速球，对左
打者投较多的伸卡球。别忘了 Myers 的伸卡球具有偏离左打者的优异水平位移，但是却
会靠近右打者，具有微量水平位移的快速球则完全相反。这和他的慢速球种情况类似。
After he came back up. Myers' main off-speed pitch was his curve, with some
sliders and change-ups mixed in. He almost completely stopped throwing his
change-up to right-handed batters and sparingly used his slider to
left-handed batters. His curve, which has great vertical drop, became his
strikeout pitch no matter the handedness of the batter. What this meant was
that now batters were much more likely to see a ball tailing away from them
than tailing in to them. This is a huge adjustment and something I think more
pitchers could benefit from.
在 Myers 重返大联盟后，他的曲球成为了主要的慢速球种，偶而搭配一些滑球与变速球
交替使用。他几乎完全不对右打者投变速球，对左打者也很谨慎使用滑球。不论面对的打
者是左打或右打，具有优异垂直下坠的曲球成为了 Myers 用来三振打者的主要球种。这
代表现在打者将面对较多远离他们的球，较少偏向他们的球。这是一项重要的调整，我相
信投手可以因此得到好处。
Conclusions
结论
While Myers' fastball returned to form after his trip to Triple-A, what
really made the difference for him was how he used his pitches. His slider,
which doesn't have great movement, took a back seat to his curve ball, which
is an excellent pitch, especially in strikeout situations. While he was a
threat to throw any of his five pitches on any count before going to the
minors, he kept the ball moving away from batters upon returning.
虽然 Myers 从小联盟回来后，快速球的状况恢复，但是如何使用各种球种是才是真正造
成改变的因素。不具有优异位移的滑球被曲球取代而退居次要位置，他的曲球是非常出色
的球种，特别是在具有三振打者机会的情况下。虽然在下放小联盟前他会在任何球数时投
任何球种，但是在重返大联盟后，他尽量让球偏离打者。
While hitters had a better idea of what Myers might throw, he was able to
beat them with his stuff because he was using his pitches better. By keeping
the ball moving away from hitters, he kept them off balance and unable to
square him up.
虽然打者因此较容易猜出 Myers 将投何种球路，但是 Myers 仍然能成功利用球威压制打
者，因为他对于各球种的使用有较好的方法。保持让球偏离打者可以让打者失去平衡，并
且无法将他击倒。