When they said CC Sabathia was a workhorse it was appropriate. Not only was Sabathia pitching over 200 innings, but he physically resembled a stallion. It wasn't the prettiest stallion, but Sabathia was a husky man whose fastball dominated the game and had hitters intimidated.
Now, in 2013, the stallion isn't eating his regular diet of Cap'n Crunch for breakfast. That's one box of cereal every day, basically the same amount it would take a kid about a week to devour. It wasn't just that Sabathia enjoyed eating the Cap'n's cereal, Sabathia was "addicted".Maybe the weight-conscious Sabathia is best for his health, but his baseball numbers are stinking.
Take a look at this stat, for example: home runs. When looking at Sabathia's numbers in 2013, he ranks high on the list in home runs allowed. Sabathia is surrounded by names like Dan Haren, Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana, Ryan Dempster and R.A. Dickey. Sabathia has surrendered 14 home runs in 14 starts. That's an average of one home runs per start.
Unacceptable.
Sabathia alone has surrended about 20 percent of the team's homers overall. With his 14 home runs surrendered, Sabathia is tied for fourth in the majors. The Yankees pitching staff has given up 65 home runs, 14th in baseball. Though Yankee Stadium has hitter-friendly dimensions, he's getting hit harder away from home this season. Eight of his 14 home runs have come on the road, while only six have been hit at The Stadium.
Sabathia's physical change appears to have also affected his velocity. The guys over at Graphfans.com did an excellent job charting Sabathia's velocity over the years. In 2011, Sabathia was hitting the mid-90's frequently. Now, in 2013 he can barely hang around the 90's. As a result, Sabathia can't blow the ball by hitters and they are seeing everything.
In 2013, Sabathia is 6-5 with a 4.07 ERA.
