Jack Morris comments re Johan Santana's change-up, Will Carroll joins in--Davidoff, Newsday

(Newsday): "Last week, we featured comments by 254-game winner Jack Morris, who, as a Twins broadcaster and Minnesota resident,

• opined that Johan Santana had to be careful about falling in love with his changeup.

Will Carroll, who writes the popular "Under the Knife" column for Baseball Prospectus' Web site, read the item and was kind enough to both reach out to us and reach out to his BP teammate

• Dan Fox, who charts pitches for MLB.com using the sophisticated Pitch-f/x system at Coors Field.

According to Fox, MLB.com charted 11 of Santana's outings last year, including his relief effort in the All-Star Game. Of 1,033 pitches, Santana threw 61 percent fastballs, 27 percent changeups and 12 percent sliders,

• which comes close to Bill James' full-season tally (58-29-11).

Not surprisingly, Santana used the changeup far more against righty hitters (he threw it 33 percent of the time) than lefties (7 percent).

• Just as Morris suggested, Santana does love using the pitch for strikeouts. Of 269 situations that Fox charted in which Santana had a hitter at 0-and-2, 1-and-2 or 2-and-2, he threw the changeup 123 times.

Of the 86 strikeouts Fox witnessed, the changeup produced 53 of them.

• Interestingly, of the 11 home runs Santana surrendered on non-full, two-strike counts on Fox's watch, just two came on the changeup, with eight from fastballs and one off a slider."

From Newsday article by Ken Davidoff, "Hillman Off to Nice Start with Kansas City," 4/6/08

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