After Andy Pettitte’s start on 4/29, the left-hander complained about release point issues. He explained that problems in his release point and the inefficiency of his cutter were causing him to struggle. After Sunday’s start on 5/5, Pettitte ran into the same issues. He had this to say after the game.

“It’s a struggle,” Pettitte said. “The issue is everything. Everything I’ve got to do as a starting pitcher, I’m not able to do right now. … My release point is floating around a little bit. … It’s been a long, long time since I haven’t had a feeling for my pitches.”

Yesterday, Brad covered his cutter, and today I want to take a look at his release points.

Instead, I’d like to just present Pettitte’s release points from his six 2013 starts.

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(Syndicated from An A-Blog for A-Rod)

After allowing just 7 ER in his first 4 starts of the season, and going at least 6 innings in each of those starts, Andy Pettitte has struggled mightily in his last 2 outings, the second of which came yesterday Sunday against Oakland.  In 9.1 IP over both starts, Pettitte has allowed 10 ER on 14 H and 5 BB, with just 5 K to show for his effort.  According to Andy, his cutter has been the source of his struggles in the last week.  He just hasn’t had any kind of control over the pitch let alone command, and a quick look at the pitch location plot is proof of that:

That’s pretty brutal right there.  Either in the good middle part of the hitting zone or so far off the edges of the zone that it doesn’t even warrant a swing.  The cutter is Andy’s groundball pitch, the one he uses to keep his pitch count down and get quick outs when he needs them.  Without command of the pitch, it’s no surprise to see that his GB rate in each of his last 2 starts has been below 40%.  It also doesn’t help that his 2-seamer command hasn’t been that great either:

Normally that’s a pitch that Andy will throw to both sides of the plate and throw for strikes pretty consistently.  In these last 2 starts he’s only been able to throw it to one side of the plate and with a similar “good to hit or not even close” distribution as his cutter, cutting his strike % down from near 67% to 58.6%. When you’re working with lower velocity like Andy is at this stage in his career, your command needs to be on point.  Andy’s was earlier in the season when he was cruising through his first 4 starts.  He’s hit a snag here in the last week and he needs to find that command to get himself right again.

It’d be easy and not unfair to question Andy’s health and how that may be affecting his performance.  He did skip a start and miss over a week with back tightness last month, and we know back problems tend to linger.  Andy’s ability to pitch through back problems at age 40 is surely not what it was at age 30, and to a certain degree it would be understandable that he struggle if the back is giving him trouble.  Andy himself swears that’s not the problem right now, though, and I’m willing to believe him.  If this trend with the cutter continues over another start or two, that feeling might change.

(Pitch plots courtesy of Texas Leaguers.  Pettitte photo courtesy of the AP)

Andy Pettitte‘s performance in 2012 was short and sweet. For a 39 year old pitcher turning 40, short was expected, but the 2.87 ERA and 3.48 FIP were a shocker after a year on the retirement shelf.

The lefty has continued his success in his 3 starts so far, giving the Yankees 22.1 innings, allowing just 5 earned runs. Since returning from retirement, Pettitte has now pitched 97.2 innings and he’s looked less like a number three pitcher in the rotation, and more like a 1b. His 2.67 ERA over the last 2 years has been stunning, and the Yankees have to be thrilled with the results.

With the injury weaknesses and back of the rotation struggles this April, Pettitte has stood out and carried the team with dominate performances over three games. His importance in the early part of 2013 continues to be key for the team, but there are some signs that the south paw’s results could be due for some regression.

No one expects Pettitte to continue pitching to a 2.01 ERA, but he’s shown some odd tendencies thus far. His K% has dropped to just 14.1%. The most glaring pitch has been the changeup, which he uses to neutralize right-handed batters. In 2012, the changeup drew a 13.3% whiff rate, and he thus held right-handers to a .242/.308/.372 tripleslash. In 2013, the whiff rate has fallen to just 6.7%, and right-handers are batting .290/.323/.452.

While there is small sample size occurring in the early numbers this year, the 75.1 regular season innings that Pettitte pitched in 2012 were also limited enough to question. At this point, the left-hander is drawing much fewer strikeouts in the early going, and is only holding onto his low ERA by allowing a ridiculously and unsustainable low 10.4% line drive rate. This after allowing another well-below career average 14.9% line drive rate in 2012. His left on base rate has likewise sky rocketed, and in 2013 it’s way up to 89.6%.

This doesn’t mean that Pettitte is doomed, especially not with just 3 starts to his name, but with his start tonight, I will now stay mindful of the low strike out rates and signs of struggle against opposite handed hitters. With back spasms already complicating his season, relying on Pettitte is asking for trouble, both in terms of his health and probable regression. This isn’t to say that he’ll collapse, but relying on him for 7+ quality innings every start is hard to imagine, and the Yankees will soon need for the back of the rotation to pick up some of the slack. Phil Hughes‘ last two starts were promising, but Ivan Nova (or his replacement) will need to carry some of the load with the 40 year old Pettitte adjusting to his aging body.