Untangling the Webb

As the Rockies have proven this season, Brandon Webb is human. He’s no superman with his super sink on his fastballs.

Don’t get me wrong, Webb is a solid pitcher and his Cy Young Award was well deserved. He’s been pitching well for a team that has looked confused since their World Series victory over the Yankees in 2001, although now the Diamondbacks have some nice young talent coming up. Power hitters hit few balls out of the park when facing Webb. His natural sink on his pitches makes him a ground ball pitcher. It seems the Colorado Rockies know how to beat this pitcher.

As was seen yesterday, even though the Rockies did lose thanks to the clutch pitching of Jorge Julio and Jeremy Affeldt, the Rockies put 5 runs on the board against Webb. The most notable hit was that of second baseman Kaz Matsui’s opposite field slap of the ball giving him a two run double and capping off the 3 run 7^th inning, which gave the Rockies the lead at the time. In the 7^th inning, the success of Rockies was contingent on hits that were up the middle or hit the other way. If it works for the current last place team in the National League West, it must be good.

I think more teams should try this philosophy. I’m sure it’s not the first time it’s been mentioned, but as long as you don’t expect to clobber a homerun against him and just try to make contact up the middle or the other way with a level swing, beating Brandon Webb might be easier. Of course those hitters that are notorious pull hitters such as Barry Bonds and Carlos Delgado probably will not have as much success against Brandon Webb because they make their mark by pulling. Bonds does have a .300 batting average against Webb, but that’s in only 10 at bats and Webb has walked him 15 times. 10 at bats, 15 walks, even if Webb got out Bonds in each at bat it’s a .600 on base percentage. Delgado has a .273 batting average in only 11 at bats against Webb. Kaz Matsui, on the other hand, a guy who slaps the ball around and doesn’t depend on pulling the ball has a .474 batting average in 19 at bats. David Wright, another hitter that has a natural swing going the other way, holds a .400 batting average in 15 at bats against Webb.

This approach might be the ticket to beating Brandon Webb. Just make contact. Don’t go up to the plate assuming home run because if that’s the case, you’ll have no success, unless you’re lucky. Brandon Webb have very good control of his pitches, so don’t expect him to hang too many out there to be hammered, but just make contact with the pitches in the strike zone.