Brett Myers started three games for the Phillies in the postseason and his
team won each time. This was a far cry from the way Myers was pitching before
the Phillies sent him to Triple-A at the beginning of July. In his first 17
starts of the season, he posted an ugly 5.84 ERA, with some poor peripherals
showing this wasn't a fluke.
Brett Myers 在季後賽為費城人隊先發了三場比賽，三場比賽費城人隊最後都獲得勝利。
在費城人隊於7月初將 Myers 送回3A磨練前，他的投球內容完全不同。球季的前17場先發
，他的自責分率是不理想的5.84，糟糕的投球數據說明了不是運氣不佳所造成的。
After a few weeks in the minors, Myers was called up and pitched much better,
posting a 3.49 ERA with a significantly better walk rate in his 14 starts
down the stretch. What did Myers change that made such a difference? Many
times you hear a manager say that a pitcher needs to work on a few things,
but what really is going on? I'll shed some light on what Myers was working
on and how his stuff changed in his return.
在小聯盟磨練數週後，Myers 重新被叫上大聯盟，投球表現也較為進步，重返大聯盟後的
14場先發，Myers 的自責分率為3.49，保送率也大幅下降。Myers 做了什麼改變呢?你常
常聽到總教練說一位投手還有一些地方需要再加油，但是到底是哪些東西呢?我將說明
Myers 做了哪些努力以及他的球威在重返大聯盟後有何改變。
Myers' stuff
Myers 的球威
Let's start with an overview of Brett Myers' repertoire. Myers is one of the
few pitchers in the big leagues who throws (at least) five pitches
frequently: four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, curve and change-up. Here is
a look at his movement chart.
我們先從 Brett Myers 的概觀能力看起。Myers 是大聯盟中少數擁有(至少)五種經常使
用球種的投手之一，這五種球種分別為: 四逢線快速球，伸卡球，滑球，曲球與變速球。
下面是他的球種位移量圖。
Myers' fastball is very over-the-top, with little horizontal movement but
good "rise." When he is right, he is throwing this pitch in the lower to mid
90s. He also throws a sinker that has better horizontal movement than it
actually sinks and he throws this pitch in the upper 80s, touching 90 on the
gun.
Myers 的快速球相當優異，具有少量的水平位移與出色的"上飄"效果。當他狀況不錯時，
快速球的球速維持在 90mph 出頭到 95mph 左右。他同時也會投伸卡球，他的伸卡球水平
位移優於垂直位移，球速為 85mph 到 90mph。
His main off-speed pitches are his curve and slider. His curve is mostly 12
to 6, with very good vertical drop. Myers' curve is more lollipop than hard
curve: He throws it in the upper 70s. His slider is in the mid 80s with very
little horizontal movement but also not a lot of vertical "rise." Frequent
readers can probably guess which of these two pitches I like better, but here
goes: Because Myers doesn't get a lot of movement with his slider, it isn't
going to be a very effective strikeout pitch because he can't start the pitch
on the outer corner and have it tail away from right-handed batters. While
his curveball drops off the table, his slider doesn't slide off it. Myers
also throws a circle change-up that is kind of an average pitch around 83 mph
with more horizontal movement and less vertical movement than to his fastball.
Myers 主要的慢速球種為他的曲求與滑球。曲球的變化方向大多為12到6點鐘方向，具有
絕佳的垂直下墜。Myers 的曲球比較接近快速曲球: 曲球球速大約在 75~80mph。他的滑
球球速則在 85mph 左右，具有少量的水平位移，垂直"上飄"也不多。經常性的讀者應該
可以猜出我比較喜歡哪一個球種。由於 Myers 的滑球不具備大量的位移，而且無法將滑
球投在好球帶外側，並且逐漸偏離右打者，所以滑球無法做為有效三振打者的球種。雖然
Myers 的曲球具有不錯的下墜幅度，但是他的滑球卻"滑"的不夠多。除此之外，Myers
還會投圈指變速球，這個球種具有平均的水準，速度大約 83mph，和快速球相比具有具有
較多的水平位移，垂直位移較少。
Now, depending on whom you talk to, Myers also throws a splitter and a
cutter. Where are these pitches on Myers' movement chart? Well, he might have
thrown a few splitters this year, but not a lot. If you look at his
change-ups, you can a few that have migrated very close to his four-seam
fastball. These pitches move more like you would expect a splitter to move
and are a little faster than most his change-ups.
Myers 也會投快速指叉球與卡特球。那麼者兩種球路在 Myers 的球種位移量圖的哪裡呢?
他今年投了少量不算多的快速指叉球。當你觀察他的變速球時，有時會發現少數幾顆球會
很接近他的快速球。這幾顆球的位移比較像你所認為的快速指叉球，而且球速比他大部分
的變速球要來的快一點。
But because there are not many of these pitches, my classification algorithm
has lumped them in with his change. This seems to fit other reports perfectly
as well. The story behind Myers' cutter appears to be similar to the story
behind CC Sabathia's cutter: He calls it a cutter, but it behaves like other
pitchers' sliders. So if you hear Myers, or pitching coach Rich Dubee, refer
to Myers cutter, it is what others refer to as his slider.
但是由於數量不多，所以我將它們都歸類成他的變速球。Myers 的卡特球情況與 CC
Sabathia的卡特球情況類似: 他稱為卡特球的球種卻很類似其他投手的滑球。所以如果你
聽到 Myers 或投手教練 Rich Dubee 提到 Myers 的卡特球，這就是其他人所認為的滑球
。
Myers' start to the season
Myers 的球季起步
So what was wrong with Myers in the beginning of the year? After a April 27
start against the Pirates, it appeared to Dubee and manager Charlie Manuel
that Myers' fastball wasn't as fast as he would like it to be and he was
throwing too many sliders (cutters). In fact, that appeared to be a problem
throughout the first half. Here is a table of Myers' pitches and how he used
them.
今年球季初 Myers 到底是哪裡出了問題呢?在4月27日面對海盜隊的先發後，投手教練
Dubee 與總教練 Cahrlie Manuel 發現 Myers 的快速球不像看起來的那樣快，而且他投
了太多滑球(卡特球)。事實上，在球寄前半這一直是個大問題。以下是 Myers 如何使用
各種球種的統計表格。
You can see that Myers' fastball was actually slower than his sinker at just
over 90 mph. That is extremely rare and not a good sign. To compensate, Myers
was throwing a few more sinkers than fastballs and was using the sinker to
both left- and right-handed batters. His main off-speed pitch was his slider,
which he also threw about a quarter of the time and was willing to throw to
both left- and right-handed batters. While you can throw off-speed pitches
that break in to a batter, it generally is not done because of the likelihood
of leaving a pitch middle-in to a batter. This is especially true of pitchers
who throw as many pitches as Myers does.
你可以發現 Myers 的快速球比他的伸卡球還慢，只有 90mph 而已。這是非常罕見的，而
且不是個好現象。Myers 使用伸卡球的次數比快速球多一些，不論是面對左打或右打，他
對會都伸卡球。主要的慢速球種則是他的滑球，使用頻率達到1/4，且不分左右打。當你
在面對打者時投出向他們靠近的慢速球種，通常不會有太好的效果因為球很有可能跑到紅
中。對於球種與 Myers 一樣多的投手而言是特別符合。
So how do the numbers look after his stint in the minors? Much better.
那麼投球數據在他從小聯盟回來後看來如何?好多了。
Myers' fastball is back in the low 90s, with his other offerings staying
about the same. Instead of a mix of fastballs and sinkers to both right- and
left-handed batters, Myers went to his fastball much more to right-handed
batters and his sinker more to left-handed batters. Remember that Myers'
sinker has excellent horizontal movement away from a left handed batter but
in to a right handed batter. His fastball, on the other hand, has very little
horizontal movement at all. It is a similar story with his off-speed pitches.
Myers 的速球球速回升到 92mph，其他球種則沒有太大的改變。他不再像之前一樣不論面
對左打或右打，皆是快速球與深卡球混合交替使用，而是對右打者投更多的快速球，對左
打者投較多的伸卡球。別忘了 Myers 的伸卡球具有偏離左打者的優異水平位移，但是卻
會靠近右打者，具有微量水平位移的快速球則完全相反。這和他的慢速球種情況類似。
After he came back up. Myers' main off-speed pitch was his curve, with some
sliders and change-ups mixed in. He almost completely stopped throwing his
change-up to right-handed batters and sparingly used his slider to
left-handed batters. His curve, which has great vertical drop, became his
strikeout pitch no matter the handedness of the batter. What this meant was
that now batters were much more likely to see a ball tailing away from them
than tailing in to them. This is a huge adjustment and something I think more
pitchers could benefit from.
在 Myers 重返大聯盟後，他的曲球成為了主要的慢速球種，偶而搭配一些滑球與變速球
交替使用。他幾乎完全不對右打者投變速球，對左打者也很謹慎使用滑球。不論面對的打
者是左打或右打，具有優異垂直下墜的曲球成為了 Myers 用來三振打者的主要球種。這
代表現在打者將面對較多遠離他們的球，較少偏向他們的球。這是一項重要的調整，我相
信投手可以因此得到好處。
Conclusions
結論
While Myers' fastball returned to form after his trip to Triple-A, what
really made the difference for him was how he used his pitches. His slider,
which doesn't have great movement, took a back seat to his curve ball, which
is an excellent pitch, especially in strikeout situations. While he was a
threat to throw any of his five pitches on any count before going to the
minors, he kept the ball moving away from batters upon returning.
雖然 Myers 從小聯盟回來後，快速球的狀況恢復，但是如何使用各種球種是才是真正造
成改變的因素。不具有優異位移的滑球被曲球取代而退居次要位置，他的曲球是非常出色
的球種，特別是在具有三振打者機會的情況下。雖然在下放小聯盟前他會在任何球數時投
任何球種，但是在重返大聯盟後，他盡量讓球偏離打者。
While hitters had a better idea of what Myers might throw, he was able to
beat them with his stuff because he was using his pitches better. By keeping
the ball moving away from hitters, he kept them off balance and unable to
square him up.
雖然打者因此較容易猜出 Myers 將投何種球路，但是 Myers 仍然能成功利用球威壓制打
者，因為他對於各球種的使用有較好的方法。保持讓球偏離打者可以讓打者失去平衡，並
且無法將他擊倒。