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David Robertson
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| Born: 04/09/1985 (Age: 29) |
| Bats: Right |
Throws: Right |
| Height: 5-11 |
Weight: 195 |
| From the stretch, pitcher comes set with hands held at belt; moderate leg lift; powerful lower half with some drop and drive; keeps weight over the rubber and displays a long stride toward the plate; breaks hands late and tilts shoulders, swinging his arm low before exhibiting a classic elbow climb to a high three-quarters slot; creates great separation between his two halves; rotates upper half powerfully and releases ball extremely deep; creates massive extension to the plate; allows plenty of room for arm to decelerate; pitcher displays plenty of athleticism throughout an efficient delivery and repeats it well, limiting the probability of injury; 1.5-1.6 seconds to the plate. |
| Ethan Purser |
| 10/21/2014 |
| High 3/4 |
| N/A |
| Third base |
| 55; closer on a firs |
3-4 |
50; low closer/top-tier setup. Robertson has a relatively clean bill of health heading into his age-30 season, which should bode well for his status as a first-division closer into his mid-30s. Beyond that, he has the type of stuff to pitch in the back of a bullpen even considering a slight downgrade in stuff. |
| Cutter |
60 |
89-93 |
94 |
Primary fastball, throwing it over 50 percent of the time; displays late, darting slice to the glove side, helping to keep the pitch off of barrels; action is more of a weak contact offering but has the type of velocity to blow it past hitters when he needs it; will elevate in an attempt to get a whiff late in counts when hitters are sitting on the curveball. |
| Curveball |
70 |
79-82 |
83 |
Plus-plus hammer using a knuckle curve grip; sharp, late break; will vary the break between 12-to-6 and 11-to-5; can start it thigh high and it will end up in the dirt when he is on top of it; will throw it multiple times in a row and shows the ability to induce a whiff even when a batter is expecting it; capable of generating swings and misses both in the zone and out of the zone; can drop it in early in counts for strikes; generates a high number of ground balls when a batter is able to put wood on the pitch; true swing-and-miss offering that gets outs at the big league level. |
| Changeup |
40 |
85-87 |
88 |
Firm in the upper 80s, though he rarely throws it; will elevate the pitch and leave it up in the zone for hitters; doesn't display the normal sink/run that is associated with circle changeups. |
| Four-seam FB |
50 |
89-93 |
94 |
Secondary fastball; above-average velocity but very straight and susceptible to fly balls; uses cutter at the behest of his four-seam fastball. |
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vs LHH
| vs RHH
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FC | CU | CH | FA | FC | CU | FA |
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| Usage |
58.44% | 38.37% | 1.78% | 1.42% | 66.99% | 31.83% | 1.18% |
| Strike |
63.83% | 66.20% | 50.00% | 62.50% | 63.05% | 58.02% | 83.33% |
| Swing / Miss |
4.56% | 25.00% | 10.00% | 50.00% | 9.38% | 20.99% | 33.33% |
* Only showing top 5 pitches by pitch count. Stats are for the 2014 season
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Robertson's strikeout pitch is his curveball, so he will try to get in counts where this can be properly leveraged. Pitcher likes to get ahead early in counts with the cutter and can induce weak contact, but if a count gets deep, the pitcher can induce awkward swings-and-misses with the curveball both in the zone and out of the zone. When he is commanding the curveball well, however, Robertson will drop it in in any count, making it incredibly tough on opposing hitters.
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Late-innings mentality; short memory; showed poise and was successful replacing the greatest closer of all time; has shown the ability to make adjustments from early in his career, throwing more strikes as a result.
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Bulldog on the mound; one of the best curveballs in the game; can generate swings and misses with the pitch in any count; excels at getting hitters to swing and miss on pitches out of the zone; while he doesn't have the high-90s fastball that is associated with closers, Robertson's cutter is both a weak-contact offering and a swing-and-miss offering due to its plus velocity.
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Pitcher is under six feet tall, limiting plane; slow to the plate; runners can steal on him; will elevate cutter on occasion, leading to hard contact in the air; average control; will have appearances where he struggles to locate and will give up free passes/hard contact; command/control comes and goes at times; will occasionally get to the side and hang the curveball; susceptible to passed balls/wild pitches given extreme nature of curveball; changeup is below average and he rarely uses it.
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Righties and lefties alike can be victimized by the curveball when the pitcher is ahead, so the best means of exploitation is to sit on the cutter early and try to do damage on this offering and protect against the curveball later in counts when he is ahead. Robertson will occasionally miss with the cutter up in the zone early in counts, which is where both righties and lefties have the most success against him. When behind in the count, the hitter can hope for a hanging curveball in the upper quadrants of the zone.
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While not an elite stopper in the likes of a Kimbrel or a Chapman, David Robertson proved this season that he can handle the closer's role on a first-division squad and have plenty of success. His cutter and knuckle curveball are his bread-and-butter offerings, and his deuce ranks as one of the best in the game. He should occupy this role for the next three to four seasons into his mid-30s. Whether he accepts a qualifying offer from the Yankees, signs a multi-year extension with the team, or signs a free-agent contract elsewhere is to be determined, but Robertson should remain effective for the foreseeable future due to a relatively clean medical history, efficient and repeatable mechanics that should portend health, and perhaps more importantly, legitimate stuff that will play in the back-end of any bullpen.
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