ALDS Game 1: McHugh Versus Morales

Dallas Keuchel: Newest owner of Yankee Stadium

Collin McHugh: Newest Mayor of Kansas City

Okay, he wasn't as dominant as Keuchel in his playoff start. Although, if you remove two home runs your left with a 2-hit performance. Just one strikeout but still effective. So, what happened in those two at-bats against Kendry Morales.

Second Inning

Pitch One: 92 MPH middle away for a called strike

Pitch Two: 72 MPH Curve middle way for a ball

Pitch Three: 83 MPH Change low and away for a ball

Pitch Four: 90 MPH Fastball up and in

So pitch three was perceived around 82-81 probably. Pitch four was perceived at 92 at least. Thats about a 10 MPH difference in effective velocity. Exactly what you want. And, to top it off, that's actually one of Kendry Morales' weaker hitting zones compared to league average.

Both of these charts are from the catcher point of view. So you can see that the up and in pitch is not his best friend. It's one of his worse areas based on run values.

Fourth Inning

Pitch One: 93 MPH fastball down and way for called ball

Pitch Two: 94 MPH fastball middle away for called strike

Pitch Three: 83 MPH Change dead middle

Pitch two was really perceived around 92-93 MPH while that changeup was dead center at 83 MPH. Still a good 10 MPH difference. Again based on effective velocity, good pitch sequencing. However, this is Morales' neutral zone and dead center. No pitch directly in the middle is a good pitch. Definitely a missed location.

Based on this map he's around average in that area. But that location is dangerous.

In both at-bats, McHugh selected pitches appropriately based on effective velocity. However, both locations are traditional trouble locations and one that results in higher run values. While Morales was around league average for both locations, they are still high value locations.