Matthew Boyd tweaked his curveball grip (5.1 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K - Saturday). He made this adjustment in his July 29th start. His velocity is the same, but the spin rate jumped 250 rpm. This has helped the pitch add 4” of drop and 4” of glove-side movement. He appears to be spiking the pitch slightly more to get this added movement (see below). He’s also increased the usage of the pitch from 6% to 20% against righties when he’s ahead in the count. Lefties are seeing it 25% over his last four outings as well. Early returns aren’t amazing from a swing-miss standpoint, so we’ll see how his usage of the pitch evolves.
Saturday was Boyd’s worst outing of the season, and it came solely because of Joshua Baez’s three home runs. His velocity remains down ~0.5 mph compared to last season, but the main driver of his slight regression from last year is a lack of strikes to lefties. His walk rate is up from 4% to 10% against that handedness. The only notable change is that he’s throwing fewer sinkers this year. Boyd is a top-60 starter for me rest of season. He has a mutual option for $15 million next year.