Daisuke Matsuzaka Scouting Report

We can all read his linescore, but I decided to look at what he did from a pitch to pitch level.

No. of Pitches: 73
Fastballs: 51 (70%)
Curves: 10
Sliders: 5
Forks: 3
Change: 4

His offspeed pitches were inconsistent today, and with the pitch count rules being enforced he probably knew he had to challenge hitters with his fastball, which was quite good:

Fastball: 51 overall
87 MPH: 2 (3.9%)
88 MPH: 0 (0.0%)
89 MPH: 2 (3.9%)
90 MPH: 4 (7.8%)
91 MPH: 10 (19.6%)
92 MPH: 16 (31.4%)
93 MPH: 15 (29.4%)
94 MPH: 2 (3.9%)
Average: 91.7 MPH

Balls: 17 (33%)
Strikes: 34 (67%)

Swings at strikes: 26 (76%)
Misses: 8 (31%)
Foul: 9 (35%)
In play: 9 (35%) Only one real line drive, a line out to center. 0 hits allowed.

As you can see, he sat at 92-93 MPH most of the day. He topped out at 94. Both 94 MPH fastballs were with 3 balls on Jorge Cantu. They were both up and the zone and blew right passed him for the strikeout. Most of Daisuke's 93 MPH fastballs were at the tail end of the 2nd when there was a runner on third. The 87 ones were probably 2 seams. Matsuzaka has spent a lot of the offseason and preseason working on the pitch because it is such a large part of the American game. They could have also been his cutter. There were three things I really liked about what I saw. He was not afraid of challenging peple with his fastball. It was his go to pitch. Secondly, he had great control with the pitch. He could put it where he wanted it. Only one of the fastballs thrown missed the target completely. Everything else was right about where he wanted it. He also did not leave it down the middle. From mlb.tv, it's very hard to see the kind of movement he had on the pitch. They had problems getting good looks on it despite him throwing it most of the time. Finally, he was not afraid to come in with it. About half of the fastballs went to the inner portion of the plate. He was fearless. He went up in the zone when he was ahead. They knew the fastball was coming, but his command was the difference.

Velocity: 65
Movement: 40
Control: 65
Overall: 65

I've watched Daisuke Matsuzaka in the past. These are things he does a lot. He sits at 150 KPH in Japan (93) touching 155 most starts (96). He  topped out at 100 MPH in the Olympics.

Daisuke's offspeed pitches were all similar. His curveball and slider had good movement, but the control was weak last night. His forkball is real slow and is very rare. My guess is that this is the pitch some people call the gyro, it kind of breaks down and away like a cutforkball (?). He also used a few changeups, pretty much a show me pitch.

His slider was 80-83 on the gun. All but one had excellent movement. He threw a backdoor one once to get Luis Garcia (L) to poke to third. One of them hung and was lined foul. The hitter was way out in front of it respecting his fastball. It might have been a cutter that missed, it was the one pitch at 83.

Movement: 55
Control: 50
Overall: 55

It's a good pitch. He did not use it much last night. It's probably the pitch he uses most often after his fastball during the season. I've seen him just dominate with it in the past.

His curveball and slider are similar. The curve is a power curve, the two pitches are similar to Mark Priors'. His slider is a short hard one. His curve is about the same velocity 79-82 and has very good downward movement. He used it in two ways. He started a few hitters off with it as a get me over pitch. The rest of the time he'd throw it as a wipe out pitch. It's a very good pitch but his control on it was not there. The one hit was off a hanging curve. It was a looping liner to LF.

Movement: 55
Control: 35
Overall: 45

Like I said his power curve was inconsistent last night. All of his offspeed pitches were last night and he still got by on fastballs. Like I said earlier, he's been a little better with it in the past.

His change and forkballs are used to the same effect. They are used as a show-me pitch as something soft. Everything else in his repetoire is a hard pitch. His forkball was very inconsistent and he had little control on his change. These are feel pitches and he has been complaining about the MLB baseballs being used. It probably if anything affected his confidence in the pitch so he decided to use them sparingly.

Stamina: 80
Pitchability: 65
Durability: 70

He has excellent stamina, everyone knows that. His durability in the past has been limited to one injury. Who knows if the pitch counts will get to him. Most of the time he pitches every 6th day, not 5th because Japan has at least 1 offday a week and sometimes back-to-back ones. I really like Matsuzaka's pitchability. He knows what he is doing with his fastball. He can throw it in any count to any spot. He also has the same arm action for most of his pitches. He reminds me a lot of Prior with a little less consistency on the breaking pitches. The thing they both do well is command a low 90s fastball that is hard to pick up.

Remember, all of his teams home games in Japan are available for free to watch on the Internet. The most impressive Japanese starter I've seen is Sugiuchi (scheduled to pitch after Watanabe tonight). He's got electric stuff from the left side. An excellent change. A good curve and a low 90s fastball. He's a better strikeout pitcher than Matsuzaka.