Jared Jones' Slider Usage. Kutter Crawford's Sweeper Command. Hunter Greene's Four-Seam Location
Jared Jones, Kutter Crawford, Hunter Greene, Cody Bradford, Freddy Peralta, Jordan Hicks, Yusei Kikuchi
Spencer Strider going for an MRI. Shane Bieber down with TJ. Brutal. I recently posted a video about why there are so many pitching injuries, which feels applicable right now.
Still having some issues with Stuff+ outputs, unfortunately. I’ll incorporate when I’m confident the numbers are correct.
Pirates Jared Jones has leaned heavily on his slider in the majors. Usage up from 29% last year to 40%, cut changeup and four-seam usage as a result. Location is much more bottom of the zone compared to 2023. He also added 7” vertical break to his curveball (dropping more) at the same velocity. 🏴☠️
Red Sox Kutter Crawford’s sweeper zone rate is way up. 35% last year on ~140 pitches, 60% this year on ~50 pitches (45% is average). Usage up from 7% to 32%. There might be a subtle targeting shift here, where the catcher is more centered over the plate for early-count sweepers. Heatmap below comparing sweeper location to lefties and righties. ✂️
Reds Hunter Greene is throwing his slider more. Usage up from 39% to 50%. The biggest change comes against lefties, where he’s jumped his slider usage 15 percentage points. He’s also pounding left-handed hitters inside this year. Heatmap below. 🎯
Rangers Cody Bradford has a new curveball. It’s 76 mph with -7” vertical break and 5” sweep. Stuff+ models don’t like it—needs more velocity or drop. Curveball has replaced his slider usage, which is down from 12% to 3% versus righties. He’s throwing curve 15%+ in all situations (ahead, behind, even), which could be helping results. 🤷♂️
Kind of a baffling profile. 3 below-average pitches, well-below-average velo. Seems to have plus ability to not miss into heart of zone with curveball or changeup. Fastball command feels more sporadic. Feels like the only way this profile works is as a left-handed pitcher.
Brewers Freddy Peralta’s fastball lost 2” vertical break and 3.5” arm-side movement between his first and second outings, giving back some of his Opening Day gains. His slider is also back to a sweeper, averaging 12” sweep. Last season he started the year with a sweeper but moved back to a short slider from June onward (just 6” sweep). 🍺
Giants Jordan Hicks starter experiment is working. Most of his mix is down 4-5 mph, but still averaging 95 on the sinker. New splitter usage up to 15% with 56% swing-miss (35% is average). 64% sinker zone rate is carrying the profile (56% is average), 75% strike rate on it is plus. Holding 5° launch angle also around average. ✌️
Blue Jays Yusei Kikuchi tweaked his changeup. It’s 2 mph slower than last season with 5” more arm-side run. Swing and miss is down and he’s missing arm-side with it a lot, zone rate of just 12%. 🇨🇦