Pitchers who have "good command" are not necessarily the ones who throw the most strikes. They are the ones who hit their intended spot -- or come very close to it -- on a consistent basis.
This postseason, our scouts began logging the intended spot -- where the catcher set up -- in order to measure who had the best command in its truest sense. Who hits their intended target the best? It isn't Josh Beckett. As good as the Boston right-hander has been, he has often made hitters miss or look bad on pitches that were not where he wanted them to be. Beckett can afford to be less accurate because his stuff is so good.
A Command Rating is a way to measure how well a pitcher hit his intended spot. In essense, the "rating" gives pitchers full credit for hitting the spot, half credit for missing slightly (whether for ball or strike), and no credit for missing the intended target by more than a foot.
Here are the command ratings from the 2007 postseason so far:
ROCKIES PITCHERS |
 |
RED SOX PITCHERS |
||||
| Pitcher | Command Rating |
Command Grade |
Pitcher | Command Rating |
Command Grade |
|
Corpas, Manuel |
58 |
A |
Schilling, Curt |
57 |
A |
|
Francis, Jeff |
57 |
A |
Okajima, Hideki |
56 |
A- |
|
Fogg, Josh |
55 |
A- |
Lopez, Javier |
53 |
B+ |
|
Fuentes, Brian |
52 |
B |
Matsuzaka, Daisuke |
49 |
C+ |
|
Morales, Franklin |
50 |
B- |
Papelbon, Jon |
48 |
C+ |
|
Speier, Ryan |
48 |
C+ |
Lester, Jon |
48 |
C+ |
|
Affeldt, Jeremy |
48 |
C+ |
Delcarmen, Manny |
46 |
C |
|
Hawkins, LaTroy |
47 |
C+ |
Timlin, Mike |
45 |
C |
|
Jimenez, Ubaldo |
41 |
D+ |
Beckett, Josh |
44 |
C- |
|
Herges, Matt |
39 |
D |
Wakefield, Tim |
42 |
D+ |
|
Gagne, Eric |
32 |
F |
||||
TEAM AVG. |
52 |
B |
TEAM AVG. |
49 |
C+ |
|
Here is Josh Beckett's complete Command Report from Game 5 of the ALCS. Notice the 26 times he hit his spot, Beckett allowed no well-hit balls. Of the 34 times he missed his spot slightly, four were put in play hard. Beckett missed wildly (major missed), but still threw a strike 13 times.
We can find out more than just overall command of pitches. Sometimes, pitchers are really good at hitting a particular spot, but not so good at hitting another. Rockies Game 1 starter Jeff Francis has shown outstanding command of his fastball on both sides of the plate in the postseason, while Game 2 starter Ubaldo Jimenez has been much more likely to hit his spot with fastballs inside than he has with fastballs away.
Click here for a more detailed breakdown of who commands their pitches best -- depending on what pitch and location they are attempting to hit.
Graphically, the Command Report can isolate where pitchers had problems. Perhaps this snapshot of Ted Lilly's rough outing in the NLDS says it all. Lilly had no command of his fastball when trying to go down-and-away. It was a major factor in his short outing and the Cubs loss that day. Conversely, Kyle Kendrick's command of the same pitch was outstanding.