Perhaps none of the other pitchers on our list match up as closely with Keuchel as the Cincinnati Reds' DeSclafani. Always a fastball/slider guy, DeSclafani tried to throw his changeup more in the beginning of 2015. It didn't work that well. In the pitcher's own words, he was "trying to lob it in there," and the reduced arm speed was telegraphing the pitch.
But while he worked on his arm speed on the changeup, DeSclafani also was refining a new pitch that he'd been toying with since late 2014 -- the curveball. His changeup gives up almost twice the homers of any of his other pitches and gets below-average whiffs, while the curve hasn't given up a homer yet (in 122 thrown) and gets above-average whiffs. Sound familiar?
Also, take a look at how DeSclafani's peripherals took a lurch forward with his use of the curve.
| MONTH | CURVE PCT. | STRIKEOUTS MINUS WALKS | HOME RUNS PER 9 IP |
|---|---|---|---|
| May | 3.0% | 1% | 0.56 |
| June | 4.2% | 9% | 0.48 |
| July | 5.2% | 9% | 1.46 |
| August | 6.4% | 20% | 1.50 |
| Sept./Oct. | 15.9% | 22% | 0.52 |
If DeSclafani could maintain his strikeout-minus-walk total from August and September through a full season, he'd be in the top 10 for that category. Last year, that would have meant being between David Price and Chris Archer, so yeah, that's pretty good.
It's nice to have a changeup with which to battle lefties, but curveballs are also effective against opposite-handed batters. Not every pitcher needs a changeup, and DeSclafani may have found that the best way forward was to ditch his.
No comments:
Post a Comment