A few weeks ago, I watched highlights on the MLB website. A pitcher generated 20+ swings and misses in a game. 20+ whiffs in a single game, that’s a lot. After watching highlights, I was just wondering one thing.
Over the last several seasons, which pitchers had generated a lot of swings and misses? To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the statcast website.
From 2021 to 2025, Dylan Cease generated 2437 swings and misses. In those 5 years, Cease finished each season with a whiff rate of 30% or higher. In particular, his whiff rate was 34.6% in 2021. Moreover, in 2025, he generated 500+ swings and misses. His slider is a key weapon to create swings and misses. Over the last 5 seasons, his sliders generated 1300+ swings and misses.
Kevin Gausman has reached 2000 strikeouts in his career. From 2021 to 2025, he generated 2146 swings and misses. However, in those 5 seasons, he only finished one season with a whiff rate over 30%. His splitter is a key weapon to create swings and misses. From 2021 to 2025, he generated 1100+ whiffs by throwing his split-finger.
In addition, Luis Castillo generated 2000+ swings and misses over the last 5 seasons. In particular, his whiff rate was over 30% in the 2023 season. And in that season, he generated 500+ swings and misses. Luis Castillo heavily relied on his four-seam fastballs and from 2021 to 2025, his four-seamers generated 900+ swings and misses.
Moreover, Zack Wheeler joined the Phillies in December 2019. Since then, he has become the ace of the Phillies. From 2021 to 2025, Wheeler created 2000+ swings and misses. Particularly, his whiff rate was over 30% in 2025. Wheeler’s four-seam fastball is a key pitch to generate swings and misses. From 2021 to 2025, he used his four-seamers to create 900+ whiffs.
Finally, Corbin Burnes, Logan Gilbert and Carlos Rodon each created 1900+ swings and misses over the last 5 seasons. Burnes’ whiff rate was over 30% in 2021 and 2022. In particular, he generated 500+ swings and misses in 2022. Logan Gilbert made his MLB debut in 2021. In the first 5 seasons of his career, there were 2 times that he finished a season with a whiff rate over 30%. Meanwhile, in the last 5 years, there was one time that Rodon didn’t finish a season with a whiff rate of 30% or higher.
When we look back at the last 5 seasons, we can clearly see that Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease did generate a lot of swings and misses. Now, they are teammates. In the meantime, Luis Castillo was traded to the Mariners in 2022. He and Logan Gilbert have become teammates since then. They certainly have generated a lot of swings and misses in the Mariners uniform. This season, we can keep watching if the Mariners and the Blue Jays will generate a lot of swings and misses. At the same time, it will be interesting to see if there will be a player who generates 500+ swings this year.
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