Carlos Zambrano - Pitching Style

Pitching Style

Zambrano has six pitches. His most-used pitch is a heavy sinker at 88–92 mph designed to get ground balls. His next-most used pitch is a cutter (88–91), followed by a splitter (80–85). He also throws a four-seam fastball (90–91), slider (79–82), and curveball (high 60s–low 70s). The only major variation in his approach to right-handers and left-handers is that he throws the splitter much more to lefties. That pitch is a favorite with 2 strikes against lefties, while he throws the cutter most often in those counts against righties.

Zambrano is known for being highly emotive on the mound — often in ways that irritate opponents and teammates. He is especially prone to poor reactions when he does not pitch well. He incurred lengthy team suspensions in June 2010 and August 2011 due to unleashing tirades after bad pitching performances. In another incident, he was suspended six games and fined $3,000 by Major League Baseball for arguing with umpire Mark Carlson and firing a ball into the outfield. In other instances, he has quarreled — and physically fought — with teammates for what Zambrano perceived to be poor effort or performance.