Zack Greinke has been nothing short of spectacular this season for the Dodgers
As the proclaimed dynamic pitching duo for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke are solidifying their roles, not just in the rotation for that team, but into baseball history itself. Just recently, these two aces had combined to go just slightly over 8 games (72.2 innings, to be exact) without giving up a single run. Kershaw himself went for back-to-back scoreless games with no walks and at least 10 strikeouts, a feat only previously achieved by Cy Young himself back 110 years ago in 1905. Simlarly, Greinke’s scoreless streak had only been done before by the likes of Don Drysdale back in the summer of 1968.
So how exactly are these two doing it? To answer that question, their pitch zone profiles paint a clear picture:
- Kershaw
For the left-handed ace, the breaking balls seem to be what attacks that strike zone the most for batters of both sides. When throwing the fastball, it appears to be more devastating to right-handed batters, along with his sliders.
- Greinke
This right-hander seems to have more versatility. Examining the hot zones on him, Greinke throws a heavy heater for fastballs, a dangerous cutter, a fairly low but down the middle curve He features a breaking, low and sneaky change-up for the righties, and an equally low and sneaky slider for lefties. There’s not many pitches that Greinke’s arsenal doesn’t feature.
These two are certainly diamonds in the rough for, not only the boys in blue, but for this entire sport. Still, there have been a few questions surrounding the two aces this season. Greinke’s ratios have been dazzling, but his peripherals are not as kind. And Kershaw struggled earlier this season by his standards and is currently dealing with injury issues related to his hip. Regardless, the Dodgers have as strong of a one-two punch as there is in the game, and fantasy owners have reaped the rewards of owning them this year.
James Zeankowski is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from James, check out his archive and follow him @tvwizard85.
