Pitching Style
Burnett throws four pitches. His main pitches are a four-seam fastball and sinker at 91–94 mph, as well as a knuckle curveball at 80–83. Less frequently, he also throws a changeup to left-handed hitters at 87–89 mph. The curve is especially good for swinging strikes with its 44% whiff rate for Burnett's career. The changeup has also been good for getting groundouts — it has a ground ball/fly ball ratio of better than 5:1.
Burnett has faced considerable control problems in his career. He has led the major leagues in wild pitches twice and hit batters once. However, Burnett has also been a good strikeout pitcher; he led the American League with 231 strikeouts in 2008.
Burnett is also the active leader in fielding errors by a pitcher with 33 as of August 2012.
Read more about this topic: A. J. Burnett
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“Where there is no style, there is in effect no point of view. There is, essentially, no anger, no conviction, no self. Style is opinion, hung washing, the calibre of a bullet, teething beads.... One’s style holds one, thankfully, at bay from the enemies of it but not from the stupid crucifixions by those who must willfully misunderstand it.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)