A couple of months ago, I was watching a baseball game. On the mound, a pitcher, who was dominant last year, threw his curveball several times in an at-bat. As I remember, he didn’t use his curveball that often last season. So, I was just wondering whether his curveball usage has increased in 2022. Additionally, is he leading in curveball usage this season?
To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.
Charlie Morton made 33 starts for the Braves last season. In the 2021 season, Morton used his curveball 36.7% of the time and the result was pretty good. Opponents only batted .127 against Morton’s curveball in 2021. This season, Morton continues using his curveball very often. By far this season, he throws his curveball 37.2% of the time and opponents hit only .162 against his curveball. The average spin rate of Morton’s curveball is over 3000 rpm this season.
Kyle Wright made his MLB debut in 2018. However, over the last 4 seasons, he only pitched in 21 games. Last season, he made 2 starts and tossed only 6.1 innings. His ERA was over 9 last year. Nonetheless, things have been dramatically changed this season. Kyle Wright has a breakout season. He already made 22 starts in 2022 and so far, he has a 3.14 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP over 134.2 innings. Moreover, he throws a career-high 129 strikeouts. A major change is his curveball usage. Last season, Kyle Wright only threw his curveball 14.3% of the time. But this year, he uses his curveball 33.9% of the time and it works. Opponents hit .212 against his curveball. The average spin rate of Wright’s curveball is 2734 rpm. Additionally, the average velocity of his curveball was 80.6 mph last year and this year, the number increases to 84.4 mph.
Last season, Julio Urias had a great season with a 2.96 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. Additionally, Urias led the majors with 20 wins in 2021. This season, he continues pitching excellently. Urias now posts a 2.40 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP over 127.2 innings. Last season, Urias used his curveball 34.2% of the time and this season, the number doesn’t change much. The average spin rate of Urias’ curveball is over 2900 rpm. However, batting average against Urias’ curveball increases from .155 to .225.
Meanwhile, Jose Berrios uses his curveball more than 30% of the time this season. Opponents hit only .165 against Berrios’ curveball. Nonetheless, Berrios owns a 5.61 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. A possible reason is that opponents hit over .350 against his 4-seam fastball.
Finally, Adam Wainwright uses his curveball nearly 30% of the time this season and opponents bat .222. At the same time, Framber Valdez, Nick Pivetta and Jose Quintana each throw curveballs more than 27% of the time. By far, there are 4 pitchers who use their curveballs more than 30% of the time. Charlie Morton and Jose Berrios have been effectively using their curveballs this season and they each let opponents hit below .200 against their curveballs. Furthermore, Kyle Wright significantly increases his curveball usage this season and that truly makes a huge impact on his career.
No comments:
Post a Comment