First of all, if you aren't aware of this site yet, I highly recommend you should be.  There's a link to a (pretty humorous) wiki once you get to your game and pitcher, to help explain the tables.  While it is all unofficial, it gives you an excellent overview of a pitcher's performance; from speed to spin to location to break.  We'll borrow a couple of their tables this morning to examine Livandez's complete game from last night.

There are a number of things we assume about Livan Hernandez, partly because he has an extensive track record and partly because we've now seen him throw a few innings for the Twins.  In no particular order, those things are:

1. He doesn't get a lot of movement on his pitches.
2. He doesn't get a lot of velocity behind his throws.
3. He's largely an average pitcher who can eat innings.
4. He likes to eat.

Looking at his Pitchfx graphs from Wednesday's performance against the White Sox, we see what we already knew:  most of those assumptions are true.

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I just wanted to show you what I'm working on.

I won't be able to compile all the data tonight, but this is essentially what I've been working on the last couple of days.  I'm breaking down pitch selection--from number of pitches, to how many swings, to which pitches a hitter likes and which ones he can't hit.  Hopefully as this experiment grows throughout the season we'll be able to pick up on some strengths, weaknesses, and maybe see what opposing teams see when they game plan for the Twins.

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