Analyzing returned St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jeff Suppan’s four-inning outing on Tuesday evening
By Ian Walton
In his first start for the Cardinals since 2006 and following his release by the Milwaukee Brewers, Jeff Suppan allowed only one run in four innings pitched on Tuesday evening against the Seattle Mariners in what must be considered a successful outing during a 4-2 Cardinals victory.
After loading the bases in the first inning with two outs, Suppan coaxed a fielder’s choice groundout by Josh Wilson. A double by Rob Johnson in the second inning was promptly followed by four straight strikeouts. A home run by Milton Bradley in the fourth was the only other hit he surrendered before being pulled from the game following a double of his own and a run scored in the bottom of the fourth.
Having spent the better part of the season in Milwaukee’s bullpen, Suppan was understandably stopped at 73 pitches. Forty-six of those pitches were thrown for strikes and he ended up with four strikeouts against two walks and four hits.
As can be seen above, Suppan had good command of his fastball (FF) against right-handed batters, hugging close to the lower and outside edges of the strike zone in many cases. His curveballs (CU) all missed low. One can see a few changeups (CH), cutters (FC), and a slider (SL) thrown in, according to PitchFX.
Against left-handed batters, Suppan was less selective with his fastball, leaving many more in the center of the plate. In aggregate, Suppan threw 30 of his 41 fastballs for strikes on the night. His changeup predictably worked the outer half of the plate while a few of his curveballs managed to land for strikes this time. In total, only five of his 14 curveballs thrown were registered as strikes however (with one a missed swing).
As per normal, Suppan hid his pitch selection well upon release as can be seen above. His curveballs, fastballs, and changeups all left from the same location, which was an important deception along with his ability to change speeds. Despite a fastball that topped out at 89 MPH, he averaged a seven MPH difference between his fastball and changeup and a 14 MPH difference between his fastball and curve.
Suppan seemed to fall right back into Dave Duncan’s standard game plan, inducing plenty of ground balls by pitching to contact. He tallied six groundouts on the night as opposed to only two fly outs. Only five of his 46 strikes were swung upon and missed.
In conclusion, while not spectacular in his short outing on Tuesday night, Jeff Suppan likely exceeded most expectations and represented a notable upgrade over recently demoted starters Adam Ottavino and P.J. Walters. To review:
Positives
- Fastball thrown for strikes, with good command shown against RHB
- Ten of 12 outs recorded by strikeout or groundout
- Release points and pitch speeds led to reasonable deception
Negatives
- Too many pitches to LHB thrown in the center of the plate
- Ineffective curveball often landed low and didn’t fool anyone
Brooks Baseball generated the graphs used in this article.
A splendid breakdown, Ian Walton! To my comparatively untrained eye, the most obvious observation, off the bat (if you’ll pardon the pun), was the beautiful ratio of ground balls versus fly balls. While Jeff was with Milwaukee, the mix was generally half n’ half (which explains part of the problem that festered there). I am yet mystified by what Dave Duncan did to right his ship! Being handicapped with “viewing” the game by means of ESPN’s Gamecast, I wasn’t able to tell when he threw the curve. Now, with your findings, I am trying to imagine how much more effective Jeff will be by heightening the curve (a la Wainwright).
I felt like Suppan had a good influence on the team as a whole. He had good motion on some of his pitches.
Bottom line………He will need to improve dramatically in order to pitch in August. Lets hope he has it in him, and Duncan the wisdom to help him realize it. The variable here is……..how bad is Seattle? They look pretty heartless you must admit. I give him no better than a 1/4 chance of starting a game in August. That’s with help.
Watching Halliday struggle with location today reminded me so much of our guys trying to avoid being hit, fearing a single run. It was uncharacteristic of him. NY hits.
MH has given up on his positive stance adjustments……………that wouldn’t end well. He is likely to go from 2 to the 6th spot by July if he continues to struggle……………………….Colby seems happy and confident. His personal self image and confidence seems to effect his approach somehow. His desire to express something ???????? I don’t know what???????? seems to morph his stance and hitting position. I’m already seeing subtle changes from game to game. Lets hope RC can keep on it. Also, let us hope that the changes that facilitate the morphing aren’t fueled by subconscious desires to have RC move to St Lou for the season, to continue to their successful Father/Son tandem…………….. if so, I’m thinking 10,000$ dollars a week RC…..+ expenses…………….. 5% paid to me …..his agent………..
[...] my take on the outing: Jeff Suppan solid in Cardinals return | The Cardinal Nation blog __________________ BJHL: GM of the Manhattan Crime Occasional Contributor to The Cardinal [...]
The 1/4 for Soup in August is about right since Penny and Lohse should be back by then. On the off chance we get lucky and that duo does come back healthy and Soup is pitching well what happens? We’ll be in first if that is the case. Would we break up a winning team in a trade? If not, who from the original pitching staff would go? I think I’m waaaay ahead of myself here!
Also some credit to Brian for wearing his Hawaiian shirt !
Jeff’s success came as a very pleasant shock to me! It’s probably my heightened hope in the afterglow of yesterday’s success, but I can’t prevent the gut feeling that the next Hawaiian Shirt Day will be at least as successful.
Tonight, we will face Seattle’s most effective lefthander (who is death on lefthanded batters). But then, of course, we have quite an effective lefthander of our own. Whereas Vargas’ 3.08 ERA is definitely not mediocre, Garcia’s 1.49 is superior! Furthermore, we now have good reason to believe that Jaime will have the run support that he has been denied in more than a few of his outings. Aye, while the Reds will continue to have a red-hot Dodger team to contend with, we ought to have no problem with a sweep of the second-sorriest club in the Major Leagues. When the clock strikes midnight, we should be in sole possession of what is rightfully ours – first place!
Its liable to be an interesting lineup 57…………. You’re being a bit optimistic about about offensive output I think……………. we’ll know soon enough.
I’m expecting a barrage of hits from murderers row tonight. Holliday will have 2 knocks, Albert 2, and Luddy 3 tonight. All three look to my untrained eye to be getting close to breaking bad on somebody’s buttocks. I’m predicting 6 runs tonight for the red birds…
Don’t leave that Colby kid out of the murders row talk. I believe he is suddenly hitting lefties about .280 on the season. Albeit, not great lefties lately, but tonight he faces off with a better one. Here’s hoping he rips the guy a new one. If he fails to look like Musial, I will send negative vibes in his general direction.
As to the article. The curves may have been ‘ineffective’ but he didn’t hang any and get creamed. Coming in low is better than high. Will be interesting to see if he gets better with it next time.
F. Lopez 2b
Holliday lf
Pujols 1b
Ludwick rf
Freese 3b
Rasmus cf
Molina c
Garcia p
Ryan ss
I’ll be damned. He is staying with it…………. I hope all the positive speculations are correct RC and BB………………. I will say this………the tension will start to mount pronto of Ludwick wears another of’er……………… Garcia is young and memories of his last start are sometimes hard to shake for kids. If he looks like he is struggling with location, and they start being selective…..that’s trouble.
Our Murderers’ Row:
15 HR Pujols
13 HR Rasmus
11 HR Ludwick
Derrick Goold had some great things to say about the kid today…
http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2010/06/dgs-1010-nothing-left-for-rasmus-to-show/
I can’t resist copying and pasting the following portion…
“For kicks, here is what Rasmus has done since getting fitted for new contacts and since getting a refresher course in the batting cages from his father:
Pre-contacts (17 gms) .189 BA, .283 OBP, .340 SLG, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 23 Ks, 7 walks in 60 PA
New contacts (12 gms) .419 BA, .479 OBP, .907 SLG, 6 HR, 14 RBIs, 7 Ks, 5 walks in 48 PA
He should have been arrested for murdering that down and in pitch last night.
Hey, blingboy! You’ve heard me say it before; “I love it when Colby goes golfing!”
The last time out, Westy, Jaime showed a helluva lotta poise and spunk, despite the lack of run support and despite the Arizona announers calling him, “goofy and squirrely”. Despite the fact that he is a youthful rookie, I think the young man who has been thrust into the position as our 3rd Starter is looking like a seasoned Major Leaguer…
Agree with Chief about the shirt, good one Brian. I wonder if anyone remembered the turkey sandwich
I think they were referring to Brendan Ryan 57 when the were talking “eccentric”.
I thought it was YOU who reported what the announcers said about Jaime: It must have been blingboy. He quoted the announcers, describing Garcia as “goofy and squirrely”…
Not me 57, I was the one with the lefty infielder. Garcia is so not goofy and squirrely its not funny.
Word from the Cardinals’ clubhouse this week is that Brad Penny (strained lat) has had his return delayed and Kyle Lohse (forearm surgery) is set to make his first throws Monday. Now, making throws is different than pitching. Lohse will simply play catch at a minimal distance and with limited effort. He’s eying July 23rd as a target day for him because that’s the day he can come off the DL. But don’t misread that as his expected return. It’s too, too early to know really when he’ll get off a mound, let alone in a rehab-start game.
This was all predictable. Penny’s camp is watching current developments I’d guess. He knows that any possible trades would be to contending teams that might offer some long term stability All the Cards can do is wait at this point. His cash-out value may be more lucrative to them than his playing contributions.
The fact that he “is so not goofy and squirrely” is what got me fired-up when I heard it, blingboy!
I wasn’t the only one wearing the Hawaiian shirts. Matthew Leach and RB Fallstrom (AP) also joined in. Suppan says he has 50 of them, which he accuses his wife of trying to get rid of.
I was the only one to wear one (a different color) today. I told Soup I was trying to keep the mojo going for Jaime. He liked it. The reality is that after having been on the road for two weeks, I have only two clean shirts left.
FWIW, the Arizona broadcasters must have been confused about Garcia. I have seen Jaime enough to be convinced that he is very quiet and reserved. I’ve only spoken at length with him twice or so, but he was very professional each time. I understand he can be emotional on the mound, but it doesn’t seem to carry over to the clubhouse.
Regarding the lineup, TLR said he will consider it series by series.
After talking with Lohse yesterday, I can verify what WC says is right on. I have less insight into the Penny situation.
It was me……………it was Brendan………………. possible my habit of making long……………lines created some confusion.
It sounds like Garcia would be a perfect fit for the Cards clubhouse scene, as I understand it. Maybe fitting in well is a contributing factor to his success. Wynn also seems like he’d fit right in.
…sounds like Brian reached into the closet for the proverbial “cleanest dirty shirt”!
Can’t wait to see what Garcia does with Ichiro, one of the great hitters in the game.
I don’t know very much about Brendan’s personality, Westy, but I can say that I like his threatening batting stance and his confident fielding prowess. I’ve also noticed that he hits very well whenever he is sporting that good-looking moustache (like last year) and that he hits very poorly whenever he comes to the plate clean-shaven (like during the beginning of this season)…
Let us hope that the “high average, singles hitter” Suzuki doesn’t do to Jaime what he did to Wainwright, off-the-bat yesterday. What a shocker!
BB, I agree that hanging his curveballs would have been worse, but these tended to miss so low that no one was chasing them. He was just giving up balls.
Did I say “Wainwright… yesterday”?. I meant “Wainwright… Monday”. My bad…
Westie, next time you plagiarizer word for word without attribution at least put quotes around it so we know it is coming from someone else. I’d expect better from someone in grad school.
‘Tis no disgrace for a brilliant Rookie to give-up a double to Ichiro Suzuki. Seasoned Aces have been known to give up home runs to him…
I can’t believe Albert actually swung at that…
Holiday…… set up to hit the pitch away…..can’t get there…….his leg kick is killing him…….Pujols went up looking for something……………………it wasn’t there……..apparently.
You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie, Westy. He went up… and away!
Does our Rookie know how to induce double-plays?
Garcia needed that double play to aid his pitch count. He needs to be aggressive but fears the obvious.
I absolutely LOVE your psychoanalyses, Westy! Please never, EVER refrain from them!
Show him where he can stick his .170 against lefties, Colby!
No! Not down and away, but down and close! Remember your golf stroke, Colby!
Suppan’s fourteen curveballs on the night in chronological order:
Ball
Ball
Ball in dirt
Ball
Foul bunt
Ball in dirt
Foul
Foul
Ball
Swinging strike
Foul
Ball
Ball
Ball
As I wrote: ineffective.
Thank you, Nutlaw. Is there any way that you can apprise Jeff of your findings? I really believe that, even if all of them had remained balls, they would have been more effective if he had heightened and lengthened them. If he cannot, then he really ought to be told to remove the curve from his arsenal.
Have you noticed all the grounders that Jaime has induced? So far, there has been only two balls to reach the outfield (one, a double and the other, a line-out)
Two hits…………..both two strike counts by players that weren’t looking for more. We have one…they have one.
Colby is starting to revert back to the old stance in very small increments.. He didn’t press his hands hands back and down. He is also starting to release the abdominal stretch from his new stance by bending over more. He is Morphing………………………. he loves the snap and speed of the Ankiel special. In my opinion this is more complicated than endorphin addiction, even though that is its foundation.
No doubt Nut. Maybe somebody knows if low curveballs is easier to fix than hangers.
57, Westy has plenty of chances to play the shrink here on the Blog. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now I’m the only one without any psychiatric issues.
Yep, after 3 complete innings, the lefties are both firing one-hitters…
blingboy, you ought not have brought that to the Doctor’s attention!
Almost ALL the Cardinal outs have been in the outfield (only one in the infield). That does not bode well for Vargas…
Now is a great time for a double-play. I swear, there are times that I think Carpenter deliberately sets-up situations like this, just to demoralize the opponents!
Holliday will not have anybody in scoring position so maybe we’ll see a thunderous seeing eye grouder go through to get us going.
‘Twas a grounder, all right, but not in the right place. Only yielded one run, which ain’t nuthin’ that we can’t overcome…
Here! Here! When there is no one on base, Holliday best becomes his own RISP, hey?
After 4 innings, Jaime has done well. All he needs is some run support. Judging by all the fly-outs and line-outs induced by Vargas, getting a few bombs ought not to be too much of a problem.
Hopefully he will not think of that.
That was a miss play by Albert………he stops that ball if he tries and gets an out. Bad throw by Lopez. Garcia pitched well enough to get out of that inning. 58 pitches.
C’mon guys, ya gotta hit ‘em where they AIN’T!
I notice that Vargas does not stride toward home plate, but off to his left. Looks odd.
I forces him to throw across his body.
Albert just provided a case-in-point…
Yeah, good call, CFS!
Vargas’ inducement of practically no ground-outs will eventually get him in a lot of trouble with our boppers….
And the sac fly as expected.
Now, THAT (another one way out there in the outfield) is what we call a “productive out”!
Now, we’re hittin’ ‘em where they ain’t!
Dodgers are work the Reds again…………..
Go Dodgers. I noticed the Phillies and Halladay got crushed yesterday. Today with 99 year old Jamie Moyer they are winning. He’s in the eighth around 100 pitches. He ought to donate his arm to science. (Not now of course)
Garcia versus Suzuki! What a battle royal! And our seasoned Rookie strikes him out! Hey! Hey!
What? A passed ball by Molina?
Cut off man.
Judging by Vargas’ style and his growing fatigue, the 2 runs given-up by Jaime don’t make no never-mind no how!
I don’t exactly know how Colby’s throw went well over the head of Albert the cutoff man between second and the mound and still bounced well in front of the plate.
Garcia at 82 pitches after 5.
We are watching different feeds BB. On the Seattle feed Molina appeared to catch it high and a step or two up the first base line
Here’s hoping that he will not allow another run and that our boppers will give him a win. It’s good that the lead-off man will be none other than our Lead-Off man…
Jaime certainly finished strong! He deserves what Flip, Matt and Albert are capable of providing…
They probably let Garcia pitch the 7th but with a quick hook condition. I’m waiting for the murders row to break the law a little.
Once we get past Matt, our Murderers’ Row begins…
Since our boppers are impotent tonight and unable to give Jaime a win, perhaps the bottom of the order will prevent him from being hung with a loss…
No crimes here…………….they are abusing MH. He is easy pickings. Lets be honest. This guy is going 8 innings and we don’t have a clue. You can’t sit around and pray for mistakes.
You were right about the short-leash quick-hook, Westy! There is a chance for Jaime to secure a win after all!
Come what may in this game, 7 innings and 2 earned runs is another quality outing. May Ludwick, Freese and Rasmus provide what he so richly deserves – a win!
David Freese is not only 3 for 3 tonight; the rookie is also our batting leader (.319)!
I must have blinked at the wrong time, thought Molina got it on a hop. Couldn’t see how a throw could do that.
Iwamura got DFAed today. Miles isn’t doing much but polishing pine. Just sayin.
We are Koufaxifying another stiff.
Freese’s effort was wasted. C’est la vie!
Game is tight and Colby never gave up his full swing. I feel that is a problem. That is also a trend that has manifest before. The fact that its a tough lefty should hugely impact that valuation.
Reyes? Oh, NO!
Reyes versus Suzuke = a hit… Are we surprised?
All RIGHT! Now, for some hard-throwin’ excitement! Yadier, don’t make him throw any sliders: Let him throw high n’ hard!
When Motte throws a ball, it arrives in Yadier’s mitt at the very instant that it leaves his hand…
The very small failures are beginning to mount.
‘Twas a mistake for Yadier to force Motte to throw sliders at Figgins (they were all balls). But when he was allowed to do what he does best, the result of two strike-outs…
Positive vibes Westy. You can do it!!
Attaboy, Ryan! Now, Flip; don’t blow it!
Flip flopped
We need to do what is necessary to (1) take sole possession of first place and (2) prevent Jaime from being hung with a loss…
That’s precisely the phrase that came to my mind, blingboy!
Hopefully Matt will not be unlucky.
Matt will look VERY BAD, if he fails to get anything less than a walk…
Hard to believe Lopez doesn’t take the walk………..he was being pitched around the whole way. The A’s are much better than Seattle…….and will play small ball. Tony is unable to pull the trigger on anything……………. they wanted to set up the double play by walking Lopez.
We ain’t askin’ for much, Matt. Just a chance to let Albert do his thing…
Flip has been flopping all night, Westy…
What did we expect from Matt, with a RISP?
Some of the worst baseball of the year………..Tony is indecisive………….. Where do you Holiday is heading??????????????? not to five..
They did such a fine job in nearly manufacturing that run, too. Holliday should not be striking out in three pitches when the third is so far in the dirt that it gets away from the catcher. Ugly.
The Cards are just being melodramatic. They will pull it out in the 9th.
Maybe he needs to see the eye doctor too.
When I said, “Matt will look VERY BAD, if he fails to get anything less than a walk…”, I had no idea that he would look worse than anything I could possibly imagine! The pitcher was a rightie, for crying out loud! And all we got from Matt was, “Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Night”. I want to puke!
If Matt were to bat 9th he would hardly ever come up with RISP. He has a good OBP and runs pretty good.
It would be wise for Matt to spend the night in the Clubhouse. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were folks in the parking lot with a bag of feathers, a barrel of tar and a rail…
They will walk Rasmus.
I certainly hope so, Westy..
He’s just unlucky 57.
I’m surprised…..they didn’t give in anyway…………….Oakland brings a bad style to Town.
Imagine that! Jaime goes 7 innings and allows only 2 earned runs and gets a loss! Yeah, it’s a team thing, but I hang this one on Lopez and Holliday…
Good job by Luddy and Stavinoha to try to tie it up. I’d like to see Nick or Randy Winn get a start in LF. Let Matt sit on the pines for a game.
He’s making $100K a game.
I agree, Jumbo. In fact, after a game on the bench, Matt needs to be inserted in the five slot – so that we can take advantage of Freese’s OBP in slot two…
blingboy; at $100K a game, Matt will now endure some well-earned scorn and condemnation. I blessed the day that we signed him long term and did not even wince at the amount that we agreed to pay him. Now, the patience of Matt’s most loyal fans (myself included) has been exhausted.
A player who can not perform due to injury or inability to pull out of a slump is something that cannot be helped. Persisting in trotting that guy out there to fail again and again is something that can be helped, which is why it gets so infuriating. Chris Duncan was badly victimized by that last year. His avg and OBP is slowly falling, his fielding is looking shakier. At some point, the fans will turn on him like on Chris. I hope Tony will start doing a little platooning and move him out of the top of the lineup before that happens.
Aye, blingboy, and that is why I would suggest a day or two on the bench, followed by a stint in the 5 slot. Tony really ought to have made the line-up change (to what it is at present) about fifteen games ago. Tony’s decisions, in this regard, have not been in the best interest of Matt, the team or the fans.