Interesting stuff with Gilbert's splinker. I'm curious if the goal is more focused on swing-and-miss or soft contact/ground ball. You detailed Skenes and Duran throwing this pitch, but their top end velocity is higher than Gilbert's (or most pitchers who might play with this pitch). Do you think this will get similar swing-and-miss or be a weapon to induce ground balls to righties and hopefully make his fastball play up even more?
Yeah, this is a good question. The issue right now is that we don’t have much sample of this pitch in action. I think for the elite versions of the offering (which is all we really have at the moment between Duran, Skenes and Jose Soriano), they appear to effectively combine the whiff of splitters, and when in play, the GB rate of sinkers.
I’d speculate that with more average offerings of the pitch, the whiff steps back from splitter levels and it becomes a better version of the present day sinker — where the focus is still ground balls but the whiff rate stays elevated above regular sinkers.
All speculation by me. I’d be curious to hear some other thoughts from coaches in the industry and such. 👍
Interesting stuff with Gilbert's splinker. I'm curious if the goal is more focused on swing-and-miss or soft contact/ground ball. You detailed Skenes and Duran throwing this pitch, but their top end velocity is higher than Gilbert's (or most pitchers who might play with this pitch). Do you think this will get similar swing-and-miss or be a weapon to induce ground balls to righties and hopefully make his fastball play up even more?
Yeah, this is a good question. The issue right now is that we don’t have much sample of this pitch in action. I think for the elite versions of the offering (which is all we really have at the moment between Duran, Skenes and Jose Soriano), they appear to effectively combine the whiff of splitters, and when in play, the GB rate of sinkers.
I’d speculate that with more average offerings of the pitch, the whiff steps back from splitter levels and it becomes a better version of the present day sinker — where the focus is still ground balls but the whiff rate stays elevated above regular sinkers.
All speculation by me. I’d be curious to hear some other thoughts from coaches in the industry and such. 👍