"And this is the face a monkey makes..." Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Bruce Chen gets the nod for the visitig Royals in the final game of a three-game series, as the A’s look to avoid the sweep. Let’s take a look at Chen and put together a plan of attack.

Basics
6’2″ 210 pounds
34 years old
Pitches: Four-seam Fastball, Sinker, Curve, Change, Cutter
History vs. Athletics:

Pitches (Listed by frequency)

Within the last couple of season Chen has added a cutter to his list of pitches. He likes throwing it early in a count and off of his fastball. His fastball averages 87 MPH, and can top out at 89 a times. It has a little wiggle back to the arm side, but nothing special. His cutter will average close to 84 MPH. It has some glove side run and will dive hard at the end, just like a cutter is supposed to do. He will use this to keep hitters off balance but also to try and keep the ball out of the middle parts of the plate. Between those two pitches, you comprise a little of 60% of the pitches he will throw.

His changeup is his is third most frequent pitch. It averages 77 MPH and he likes to roll it over, causing it to fade hard in on lefties, almost a Braden-like screwball/changeup hybrid

He will also throw in a sinker now and then. It is nothing all that outstanding and he tips off his use by drastically changing arm angle, going from a high 3/4rds to near sidearm arm slot. It averages 85 MPH.

Very infrequently he will use his curveball. It is slow and big. Not exactly like Livan Hernandez’s, but it is very much along those lines. This one will come in at 74 MPH.

He induces a lot of foul balls but not a whole lot of whiffs. And that is his game. Much like the other pitchers the A’s have seen, Chen wants you to put the ball in play and induce weak contact.

Chen trusts all of his pitches in all counts. He works strictly away to LHH and will throw the cutter in on the hands to RHH to set-up the changeup away. Chen is unusual, however, in that he owns reverse splits. It is not a massive split, but still one either way and interesting to see:

Whatever it is, Danny is not impressed. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

In game two of a three game series, and Bacon Tuesday at that, Danny Duffy gets the start for the visiting Royals. Let’s look at his Pitch f/x and put together a scouting report, shall we?

The Basics
6’3″ 200 lbs.
23 years old
Pitches: Four-seam Fastball, Sinker, Curveball, Change, Slider
Record Against the A’s:

Quick Hit: Duffy got his first taste of the majors last year at 22 years old. He has the repertoire of a typical lefty, but has been working on a cutter to add to the list. Unlike his rotation counterpart Mendoza, Duffy very much is a power pitcher. He has a live arm and can pump the fastball up in the mid-to upper-90′s. While he does posses the stuff to miss bats, he also posses the ability to miss the strike zone too often. He is also a heavy fly ball pitcher. A lot of that is attributed to the fact that he leaves the ball up in the zone often.

Once you get him in the stretch, he can be long to the plate. His fastball will help him make the play at second close, on attempted steals, but his high leg lift and pronounced drive to the plate and long arm action also hurt him.

He is particularly hard on lefties, possibly why we do not see Seth Smith and/or Josh Reddick in the lineup tonight, as he struck out lefties almost twice as much as right-handed hitters. However, he has walked right-handed hitters twice and much and has allowed 11 homeruns to righties as well.

He will work lefties away, away, away. But he will consistently throw his sinker in on the lefties. As for the righties, he will work the middle of the plate, but try and keep the ball down. He will throw his fastball in all counts and will lean on it when he falls behind a batter to try and get back into the at-bat.  When he gets ahead in the count and is trying to put the batter away he, again, throw his fastball, but will turn more to his off-speed options (mainly his curveball).

Pitch f/x (listed by frequency)
As you would expect from a power pitcher, Duffy leans on his fastball heavily. He has thrown it 62% of the time (55% last year). It averages 94 MPH, but he can get it up to 95-96 when he needs and/ or wants to and it has some arm side run.

His curveball is big and beautiful, but he can leave it up in the zone. It average 76 MPH, so you can imagine that his curveball thrown off of the fastball can be devastating.  He will throw it on the first pitch of the at-bat, but usually reserves it for striking out lefties. He will not throw it once he gets behind in the count.

His changeup is a pretty decent pitch. Of all his pitches last year, it record the highest swing/whiff percentage at 25.22%. At an average speed of 84 MPH he, like Mendoza, sit in that golden 10 MPH difference range. A good arm action makes it hard to pickup when he throws it, something to his advantage. Again, he will throw this pitch in any count, but he prefers to throw this in counts when he is ahead on lefties. He likes to keep this pitch away from the hitters, so with his arm side fade he will start it off the plate to lefties and bring it back to the corner.

Both his sliders and sinkers are pretty much “show me” pitches, ones used to keep the batters from diving out over the plate. The sinker is much better than Mendoza’s and averages just under 93 MPH. He will throw this in on lefties to keep them from cheating. He uses his slider to much of the same on right-handed hitters. Averaging just under 81 MPH it is a nice compliment to the changeup. His slider was his second most whiffed at pitcher per swing at 55.56% last year, just behind the curveball.

Approach:
Duffy is not a pitcher that you can be patient with and hope that he works himself into trouble. Yes he will walk his fair share of guys, but he will attack the batters. Much like Zito, you can get a sense of how good his stuff will be that night in the first couple of innings. His stuff is good and while not all of his pitches will grade as plus-plus, they are all close to being above average. If you get something you can handle early in the at-bat, go after it, because chances are you will not see much if you wait for the perfect pitch.

His motion does leave him vulnerable, though. The long pronounced delivery to the plate, very long arm action, and slight collapse on the back leg will cause him to leave balls up in the zone. If you are lucky enough to get a hanging off-speed pitch, do not miss it. As again, chances are he will not miss twice.

Will the Athletics be able to figure out this man? Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

The Athletics are finally done playing the Mariners…for now. That means a new team comes to town, and that team happens to be the Royals. The Royals come to town having taken two of three from Teh Slegna. Luis Mendoza (above) is slated to take the mound in the first game of a three games series. We will take a Pitch f/x look at Mendoza and put together a plan of attack and look at how the line up should be, in my opinion. Let us get started, shall we?

Luis Mendoza

The Basics
6’3″  235 lbs.
29 years old
Pitches: Four-seam Fastball, Sinker, Curve, Change

Quick Scouting Report: At his size of 6-foot-3 235 pounds, one would think Mendoza would be a bit of a power pitcher. In fact, he is more of a right handed Jason Vargas. He comes from a high 3/4rds arm slot, could almost be considered overhand. Out of the stretch he is slow to the plate. This is mainly caused by a long arm action. Hides the ball from righties fairy well, will show the ball to lefties.

At 29 Mendoza has bounced around the majors. Signed in 2006 by the Red Sox, he was part of trade that sent him to Texas that same year. In 2007 he made the jump from AA to the majors and saw most of his time from the bullpen while collecting one start. He did get 11 starts in 2008, but went 3-8 with at K/9 of nearly 5 and a BB/9 of nearly 4. Since then he’s been the picture of AAAA bouncing between AAA and the majors. While at AAA he his used as a starter, but in the majors he is a bullpen/six starter/long relief arm. His career BB:K is as close as 1:1 as your can get.

As I said above, Mendoza is a right-handed Vargas. He certainly does not have amazing stuff, but he wants you to hit his pitch. He favors his “sinker” (quotes intended) which averages 92 MPH. I put “sinker” because if there was ever a get-me-over sinker, it would be Mendoza’s. He uses it to keep the ball off the fat part of the bat and induce weak contact. When you see it, it looks more like a 92 MPH changeup. It will dive down, more than it will in. His fastball is his go to pitch when he is in negative counts and needs a strike. It averages 93 MPH, which favors the batter. It should be easy to sit on the sinker and react to the fastball. His curveball is big and loopy, tops out at 81, and loves to throw it to righties when he is ahead in the count. In fact, when he gets to 0-2 on RHH, that is what he will throw 95% of the time. His changeup is almost exclusively an pitch he will throw to lefties. At 83 MPH he does a good job of having his off speed pitches in that 7-10 MPH difference.

Lineup
Mendoza does not have any glaring platoon splits. You can run a fairly normal lineup out there and not be affected. However, like Vargas, hitters should be looking to go the other way. If you can work the count in your favor you can guess with a high degree of certainty that you will get a fastball. If you are a left and down in the count, sit changeup. Righties, sit curveball.