Game Breakdown: Kyle Lotzkar

Kyle Lotzkar Curveball
While I have done these kinds of articles in the past, from here on out I plan to have one every Monday for a different player. Today I will be looking at Kyle Lotzkar. He has split his time between Bakersfield and Pensacola this year with these stats:

Tm	W	L	ERA	IP	H	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	K/BB
Bakersfield	3	0	2.39	26.1	22	2	10	27	1.22	2.7
Pensacola	4	2	3.47	46.2	40	3	26	56	1.41	2.2
Total	7	2	3.08	73	62	5	36	83	1.34	2.3

Scouting Background

Pitches: Lotzkar throws a fastball, curveball and a change up. His fastball works in the 91-93 range and can hit 95. His curveball is considered an above-average to plus pitch (see below). His change up is a solid pitch.

Mechanics: His mechanics are much cleaner than they have been in years past, though there is still some ever so slight hyper-abduction. You can see video below.

Game Information

The game profiles below is one of Lotzkar’s better games of his career. He allowed 2 runs in 7 innings without a walk and with 10 strikeouts. You can see the box score for the game here.

Game Breakdown

Here is the pitch by pitch breakdown. Please note that this game was watched online, so some of the fastballs (likely a few of them) could have just as easily have been change ups since the radar gun was not shown on screen and I could only note velocity when it was mentioned by the broadcasters.

Pitch	Type	Target?	Result	Position	Notes
1	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Inside Middle
2	FB	Missed	Swinging Strike	High outside
3	FB	Missed	Ball	High outside
4	FB	Missed	Ball	Low Inside
5	FB	Hit	Fly out	Low Middle	Lazy fly to left
6	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Low Outside
7	FB	Hit	Pop up	Low inside	Pop up 3B
8	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Low Middle
9	FB	Hit	Foul	Inside Middle
10	FB	Missed	Ball	High Inside
11	Camera	Missed	The	Pitch	strikeout.
12	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Middle Low
13	FB	Missed	Ball	Low Outside
14	CV	Hit	Called Strike	Low Outside
15	FB	Hit	Foul	Middle Inside
16	CV	Hit	Swinging Strike	Low Outside	strikeout.
17	FB	Hit	Ground Out	Middle Inside	ground out 2B
18	FB	Hit	Pop up	Middle Inside	pop up 2B
19	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Middle Low
20	FB	Hit	Triple	Middle Low	Triple to RCF gap
21	FB	Missed	Called Strike	Low Outside
22	FB	Hit	Foul	Low Outside
23	CV	Hit	Foul	Low Outside
24	FB	Hit	Fly out	Low Inside	Lazy fly to left
25	FB	Missed	Ball	Middle Outside
26	FB	Missed	Ball	Middle Outside
27	FB	Hit	Foul	Low Inside
28	FB	Hit	Foul	Middle Inside
29	CV	Missed	Swinging Strike	Low Outside	strikeout.
30	FB	Missed	Ball	Low Inside
31	CH	Hit	Swinging Strike	High Middle
32	FB	Hit	Foul	Middle Low
33	CV	Missed	Ball	High Inside
34	CH	Hit	Ground Out	Low Inside	Nice play at 1B by Guzman
35	CV	Hit	Ball	Low Outside
36	FB	Missed	HBP	Middle Way Inside	Hit batter
37	FB	Hit	Home Run	Low Middle	HR just over the LF wall
38	FB	Missed	Ball	Way outside and low
39	CH	Hit	Fly out	Inside Low	Fly out CF
40	FB	Hit	Foul	Low Inside
41	CH	Hit	Single	Low Inside	Infield Single 2B
42	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Low Outside
43	FB	Hit	Single	Low Middle	GB Single LF
44	FB	Missed	Ball	High outside
45	FB	Hit	Swinging Strike	Middle Low
46	CV	Missed	Ball	Low Inside
47	FB	Hit	Foul	Low Middle
48	CV	Hit	Swinging Strike	Low Inside	strikeout.
49	FB	Missed	Ball	Way high inside
50	FB	Hit	Swinging Strike	Outside Middle
51	CV	Hit	Foul	Outside Low
52	CV	Hit	Fly out	Outside Low	Fly out CF
53	FB	Hit	Called Strike	Outside Middle
54	CH	Hit	Swinging Strike	Outside Low
55	CH	Hit	Swinging Strike	Middle Low	strikeout.
56	FB	Missed	Ball	Way high outside
57	FB	Hit	Single	Outside Middle	Single LF
58	FB	Hit	Fly out	Middle High	Fly out LF
N/A	Pick	off	attempt		Safe
N/A	Pick	off	attempt		Out – Inning over
59	CV	Hit	Called Strike	Middle low
60	CH	Hit	Foul	Low Outside
61	FB	Missed	Ball	High Middle
62	FB	Hit	Swinging Strike	Low Outside	strikeout.
63	FB	Missed	HBP	Middle Inside	Hit batter
64	CV	Hit	Called Strike	Low Middle
65	FB	Missed	Foul	High Inside
66	FB	Missed	Swinging Strike	High Inside	strikeout.
67	CV	Hit	Ball	Middle Outside	Passed Ball
68	FB	Hit	Foul	Low Middle
69	CV	Hit	Called Strike	Low Outside
70	CV	Hit	Swinging Strike	Low Outside	strikeout.
71	FB	Missed	Ball	High Middle
72	CH	Hit	In play	Low Middle	Low liner SS Single
73	Camera	Missed	The	Pitch
74	CV	Missed	Ball	Low Outside
75	FB	Hit	Single	Low inside	Low liner LF – runner to 3B
76	CV	Hit	Foul	Low Outside
77	FB	Hit	Foul	Low Outside
78	CV	Missed	Swinging Strike	Low Outside	strikeout.
79	FB	Hit	Swinging Strike	Middle Inside
80	FB	Hit	Foul	Middle High
81	FB	Hit	Swinging Strike	Middle Inside	strikeout.
82	CV	Missed	Ball	Low Outside
83	CV	Missed	Ball	Low Outside
84	FB	Hit	Foul	Low inside
85	FB	Hit	Fly out	Low Middle	Fly out CF

Statistical Breakdown

Again, I would just like to note that some fastballs, and likely there were a few, were probably change ups and that the numbers would be skewed some in regards to the fastball/change up data.

Pitch	Selection	Strike Rate	Ball	Called K	Swing K	Foul	In Play
Fastball	66%	73%	13	8	7	13	12
Curveball	24%	65%	7	4	5	3	1
Change Up	10%	100%	0	0	3	1	4

Overall Impressions

This was a game that showed some of the best that Lotzkar has to offer. He was able to throw all of his pitches for strikes and kept the hitters off balance for most of the day. Lotzkar did hit two guys with fastballs in the game, but for the most part he was able to control the strikezone. His curveball is clearly his go to pitch and if you watch this video, you will be able to see why.

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In the game used for the article, Lotzkar didn’t struggle with his control, but he has had battles with it this season. In Pensacola he has a walk rate of 5 per 9 innings this season, so he has strides that he needs to make in that department. He is also already at a career high in innings pitched with 73 due to the numerous injuries he has suffered in the past. On the 40 man roster and having already used an option Lotzkar will only have two more season in the minors before running out of options. With his control and his needing to build up stamina, he may use all of that time before making it to the big leagues for the long haul. If he can stay healthy in that time though he could be a strong starter for the Reds in the future.

2013 Season Review: RHP Kyle Lotzkar

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