Roger Clemens - Pitching Style

Pitching Style

Clemens for most of his career was a prototypical power pitcher with an aggressive edge. This was especially the case when he was a young man, when Clemens "threw two pitches: a 98-mph fastball and a hard breaking ball. At 23, Clemens simply reared back and threw the ball past batters." Later in his career, Clemens developed an devastating split-finger fastball to use as an off-speed pitch in concert with his fastball. Clemens has jocularly referred to this pitch as "Mr. Splitty."

By the time Clemens retired from Major League Baseball in 2007, his four-seam fastball had settled in the 90–93 mph range. He also threw a two-seam fastball, a slider in the mid 80s, his hard splitter, and an occasional curveball. Clemens was a highly durable pitcher, leading the American League in complete games three times and innings pitched twice. His 18 complete games in 1987 is more than any pitcher has thrown since. The Rocket was also known as a strikeout pitcher, leading the AL in K's five times and strikeouts per nine innings three times.