Spencer Strider had a thrilling performance, pitching six scoreless innings, striking out eight, and allowing only one hit and two walks. The move to a closer location and strategic adjustments to his pitching approach played a role in his dominant start.
Spencer Strider delivered a dominant bounce-back start, setting the tone for an' 7-2 win against the Dodgers in Los Angeles . He pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks, while striking out eight.
The move to much closer to sea level likely helped, but he also took a major step forward against one of the toughest lineups in the game. Let's take a look at some of the metrics from Saturday night's performance to show why this night was as encouraging as it was. All three of his breaking pitches were used to strikeout at least one batter in the game.
He only needed to use the fastball 47% of the time, compared to his average of 51% last season. The slider had a whiff rate of 64% and no hitter who tried to swing at his curveball was able to hit it. Three of his strikeouts came on the slider, and two came on the curveball. When looking at the breakdown further, you can see there is clear strategy to how he's approaching each hitter with each type of pitch.
Left-handers saw the curveball more than right-handers, and they were the only ones who saw the changeup. Right-hander hitters still saw the fastball more often than not , but they saw an increase in the frequency of the slider compared to Rockies hitters last week. Not needing the fastball as much, mainly against left-hander hitters, is good, but that pitch is still meant to be an establishing one.
While it didn't help as much in Denver, it was way more effective in Los Angeles. The average velocity on his fastball jumped from 94.6 mph against to Rockies to 96.4 against the Dodgers. In both games, it topped out at over 97 mph, but the average pitch on Saturday had significantly more zip on it.
He also had more command of the pitch, gettingm ore called strikes on it along with an increase in whiffs . While the change in how the arsenal is used varies strictly based on adjustments and what the matchups against individual hitters call for, an uptick in velocity can be seen as a clean bill of health.
We'll like see him hit a higher velocity as he stretches out futher, but stronger command while it averages 96 mph is about what should be expected. Based on last night, that will be just fine. Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendationsHarrison Smajovits is a reporter covering the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Gators.
He also covers the Tampa Bay Lightning for The Hockey Writers. He has two degrees from the University of Florida: a bachelor's in Telecommunication and a master's in Sport Management. When he's not writing, Harrison is usually listening to his Beatles records or getting out of the house with friends.
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