Jacob deGrom is Back (With a New Mix). Max Meyer, Richard Fitts Made Big Changes
Jacob deGrom, Max Meyer, Richard Fitts, Robbie Ray, JP Sears
Rangers Jacob deGrom leaned on his curveball and changeup in his 2025 debut. He used the pitches a combined 24.7%, the most he’s used those two offerings since September 2022. This approach looks more like his 2014-2017 Mets years, when he sat 93-96 mph on his four-seamer. His changeup had back-to-back seasons in 2018-2019 where it was nearly as good as his slider.
We also see that deGrom’s slot is down post-surgery. His release height is down 2-3”, and his extension stayed the same, a clear indication that his arm angle is lower. This affected his four-seamer, cutting its vertical break from 17.4” last year to 15.6” yesterday. This makes me wonder whether the lower slot and slight fastball regression are connected to the expanded curveball and changeup usage. The fastball might not be as dominant as it was in the past. But I’m not sure it matters.
Marlins Max Meyer made a lot of changes. Most notable are a velocity bump (1-2 mph on everything) and release change (release down 2”, extension up 2”). His fastball went from 94.1 mph last year to 95.6 mph yesterday. His four-seam vertical break increased from 15.1” last year to 15.7”, despite what looks like a lower arm angle (still waiting on Statcast arm angle data). This is a fantastic combination of changes in fastball variables, especially for a pitch that performed poorly last season.
Meyer also replaced a lot of his four-seam usage with a new sweeper and sinker. He threw his four-seamer 40% last year and 20% yesterday, jumping his sinker and sweeper both north of 12%. His sweeper has fantastic shape, sitting 87 mph with -3” vertical break and 10” sweep. Nearly 5-6 ticks harder than the average sweeper while only sacrificing 2” of horizontal. I’ve detailed my love for Meyer here and here. Everything looks great, and I am on board.
Red Sox Richard Fitts increased the velocity on his slider and sweeper each by ~2 mph compared to 2024 while maintaining their shape. This will send his Stuff+ north. He also has a new sinker and curveball. The sinker shape looks more four-seam than sinker (like what I talked about with Dylan Cease the other day), but it makes sense as an inside pitch to right-handed hitters.
His new curveball looks sharp as well, it’s 2 ticks harder than the average curveball with the same amount of drop (-11” vertical break), which is often difficult to achieve. It’s a very vertical shape with below-average glove-side movement. He’s also really cutting his fastball this season, with the vertical break on the offering down 2.5” despite a similar arm angle. I’m a fan of all these changes. He’s a pitcher I’ll be watching closely.
Athletics JP Sears is throwing a new bullet slider alongside his cutter-y slider and sweeper. He threw this pitch sparingly late last season, but mixed it in 11 times today. It’s 80-81 mph with -1.5” vertical break and 4” glove-side movement. It’s too slow to grade out well, but I think it works in the context of his mix. It’s something with more drop and less sweep to miss bats below the zone. This shape is currently being grouped into his “slider” classification, but it’s a different offering. His velocity was also up 1 mph across the board compared to the second half of 2024. 92.7 is better than 91.6! It’s always been fascinating to me that he can’t throw a hard breaking ball.
Giants Robbie Ray has a new changeup. The pitch averaged 85.5 mph with 13” vertical break and 10” arm-side movement yesterday. The average lefty changeup has 4-5” vertical break. Ray’s has much more vertical break, which means it’s dropping less. The shape looks similar to what Cole Ragans throws. This more backspun shape works on speed differential rather than movement differential (think Zack Greinke). The shape looks very similar to what Ray threw in 2021.