CC Sabathia

Sabathia was 17–10 overall (11–2 with Milwaukee) with a 2.70 ERA and was second in the majors (behind Tim Lincecum) with 251 strikeouts. Sabathia pitched three complete games in his first four starts with the Brewers, winning all four. Read Less

The ad, signed by Sabathia, his wife Amber, and his family read: Read Less

When batters swung at his pitches, they failed to make any contact 28% of the time, the highest percentage among major league starting pitchers.

Sabathia started game 2 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers were heavily favored to win behind Sabathia, but Sabathia faltered, surrendering 5 runs in 3.2 innings, including a walk to the pitcher Brett Myers and a grand slam to Shane Victorino. The Phillies would go on to win the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Read Less

Despite throwing with his left hand, Sabathia is right-handed. Sabathia has four plus pitches: a fastball (92–94 MPH), a more rarely used two-seam fastball (90–92), a slider (80–83) (which Sabathia calls a "cutter"), and changeup (87–88). Once ahead in the count, he primarily uses his changeup to strike out right-handed batters, and his slider to strike out left-handers. He also exhibits good command of his pitches, posting a 5.65 K/BB ratio in 2007.

Sabathia holds a lifetime postseason record of 5 wins and 4 losses in 10 games. He has pitched a total of postseason innings, giving up 61 hits, 25 walks and 30 earned runs resulting in a 4.40 ERA. He also struck out 56 batters. In the 2007 ALCS he beaned 3 batters.

As of the end of the 2010 season, Sabathia has acquired 25 hits in 101 plate appearances, making him one of the more successful pitchers from a hitting standpoint. On one occasion, Sabathia hit a 440-foot home run on June 21, 2008, off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park. He commented later, saying "I told everybody I was trying to hit homers today because I had two singles last year and everybody was all over me, saying I was a singles hitter. It was awesome." On July 13, 2008, in his second game with the Brewers, Sabathia hit his second home run of the season off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey, becoming the third pitcher in history to homer in both leagues in the same season and the first since Earl Wilson did it in 1970 with Detroit and San Diego. Read Less

Sabathia also appeared on a promotional video for Battlefield Bad Company 2 against "Random Grenade Throws" which showed him doing a public service announcement about random grenade throws. It spoofs the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 public service announcement with Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. Sabathia remains very close friends with former teammates Cliff Lee and Prince Fielder. Sabathia is a supporter of Crutches4Kids. He is an Oakland Raiders fan.

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