Mariners Roundtable: How pitch usage is changing around the league
Apr 20, 2018, 10:45 AM
The Mariners saw a steady diet of breaking balls from Lance McCullers and the Astros. (AP)
(AP)
With the Astros in town earlier this week I thought a timely topic for discussion on the Roundtable segment of the Mariners pregame show would be what we are seeing in pitch usage this year.
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Rick Rizzs, Gary Hill and Mike Blowers joined me to go further in depth on what we are seeing in organizational pitching philosophies. For some, with the data that is now available, it is not just a matter of starters going out there with the plan to throw their best stuff.
The Astros are a great example as they are asking their starters to throw more breaking balls. It has proven effective with two Astros in particular, and Hill gets into that.
The Astros have been on the cutting edge of using analytics, and Blowers points out that they are a team to watch for what could turn out to be new trends – with a good side and a bad side to that as sometimes those ideas do not work. He is very curious to see the long term implications of throwing more breaking balls.
This is a good “ICYMI” segment here that includes plenty of interesting thoughts. That includes what Edgar Martinez says we are seeing in breaking ball usage, what the Mariners can do with their pitching, and a hitter’s perspective from Blowers on the approach to take when facing pitchers who have a good fastball and plus breaking ball.
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