Pitching Style
Zito's fastball has hovered between 84 and 88 mph. He augments it with a circle changeup and a curveball that he uses as a strikeout pitch. His curveball was voted the best in the Major Leagues in a player poll conducted by ESPN The Magazine. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees once stated that he had never seen anything like Zito's curveball, commenting: "It's such a high one, and it drops three to four feet. You might as well not even look for it because you're not going to hit it."
Since mid-2004, Zito has added a two-seam fastball and a cutter-slider hybrid to his arsenal. In the 2009 season, this cutter-slider became a prominent part of his repertoire, being used more frequently than his changeup. Zito's diminished velocity at the start of the 2007 season (his fastball velocity slowed to 83–85 mph) and loss of command are the key reasons for his recent struggles, as he more often got behind in the count and had to rely more on his fastball. During the 2009 season, Zito made changes to his delivery, lowering his arm slot from an over the top angle to a three quarters delivery. This change helped his fastball velocity go back up to the 86–89 mph range as well as sharpening the break of his curveball. However, in 2011, he was once again in the 84–87 mph range with his fastball. In 2012, Zito has relied most on his two-seam fastball and cutter, and he has reduced his reliance on the four-seamer.
In the 2012 season, Zito had the slowest four-seamer in MLB among starting pitchers, at 84.6 mph.
Addressing his finesse pitching style, Zito said, "My fastball is set up by my offspeed, that's no secret. So if I can command my fastball to both sides of the plate and throw most of my offspeed for strikes, I'll get them to miss the barrel. That's what I'm going for."
Read more about this topic: Barry Zito
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