Greinke Struggles With Curveball, Changeup

Following up a Cy Young Award-winning performance in 2009, former Royals and current Brewers pitcher Zack Greinke regressed in 2010.

Greinke has admitted that it was tough to focus while slogging through another losing season in Kansas City without a chance at the postseason.

His fastball was as good as it’s ever been, and his slider was one of the better ones in the game. But by looking at how batters performed against him last season, it’s obvious that Greinke struggled with two of his offspeed pitches.

Opponents clearly got the better of the Royals hurler on both his curveball and his changeup in 2010.

According to STATS, Greinke allowed the highest batting average of any pitcher in the majors against both pitches last season (among those having at least 60 at bats end with a particular pitch).

Greinke allowed opposing batters to hit .365 in at bats ending with his curveball.

Randy Wolf didn’t fare much better, allowing the second-worst average in the majors at .333.

By comparison, both Boston’s Jon Lester and Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee tied for the league lead by only allowing opponents to hit .133 against their curveball.

Greinke also allowed batters to swing for a .336 batting average against his changeup.

Arizona’s Ian Kennedy had the most success with his changeup, holding batters to a .117 average.

Tags: Cliff Lee, Ian Kennedy, Jon Lester, Randy Wolf