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
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