A few days ago, I listened to a podcast show. In the show, the host demonstrated that a pitcher’s cutter is effective this season and opponents just have trouble hitting his cutter. After listening to the show, I’m just wondering which pitchers’ cutter is the most difficult to hit this season.
To know a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.
Kenley Jansen was one of the most dominant closers in the majors and his cutter used to be a nightmare to so many MLB batters. However, over the last few seasons, his cutter velocity dropped, and, at the same time, his cutter usage dropped to below 70%. But, this season, he uses his cutter more than 80% of the time and it works. Opponents’ batting average against his cutter is .200. Interestingly, his cutter velocity was 92.2 mph, on average, in 2022. This season, the average velocity of his cutter is 94.3 mph. Jansen now has 15 saves.
Last winter, Kodai Senga and the New York Mets agreed to a 5-year deal. In his first season in the majors, Senga now owns a 3.53 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP over 71.1 innings. His forkball is one of the most difficult pitches to hit and opponents hit just .114 against his forkball. He throws forkballs more than 20% of the time. Additionally, Senga uses his cutter more than 20% of the time as well. By far this season, opponents only hit .219 against his cutter and the average velocity of his cutter is 90.4 mph.
In addition, another closer is throwing his cutter very hard. Emmanuel Clase uses his cutter more than 60% of the time and it’s not easy to hit. The average velocity of his cutter is 98.5 mph with a spin rate of 2647 rpm. Opponents only hit .222 against his cutter. Nonetheless, it’s worth noticing that opponents’ batting average against his cutter was below .200 in 2022 and the pitch velocity of his cutter was 99.5 mph, on average.
Moreover, opponents’ batting average against Joey Wentz’s cutter is .228. However, he now has an ERA over 6. The major problem is probably that MLB batters hit well against his 4-seam fastballs with a .374 BA. In the meantime, Corbin Burnes, who won the 2021 NL Cy Young award, uses his cutter more than 50% of the time this season and opponents’ batting average against his cutter is below .250.
Finally, batting average might not be a great way to show how dominant a pitcher’s cutter is. So, let’s take a look at xwOBA. As we can see, xwOBA against Kenley Jansen’s cutter is just .221. It truly shows that it’s very hard to make solid contact against his cutter. Meanwhile, Jesse Chavez already turned 39 years old and his cutter is not easy to hit well this season, xwOBA against his cutter is below .300 as well.
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