How Braves rookie Spencer Strider used a two-pitch mix
How Braves rookie Spencer Strider used a two-pitch mix: For the second year in a row, the World Series champion Atlanta Braves will go to the postseason.
In the next two weeks, the Atlanta Braves will find out if they can win their fifth straight National League East title or if they will have to settle for a wild-card berth.
No matter what happens, the Braves can thank the development of right-handed youngster Spencer Strider for their success this season.
On Sunday, Strider, at the age of 23, came close to throwing a no-hitter as he held the Philadelphia Phillies scoreless through the sixth inning.
Score
Even though his no-hitter bid was derailed when he gave up a home run to Alec Bohm, he still managed to go six innings while allowing just one run on one hit, walking three batters and striking out 10. That is to say, it was yet another excellent beginning by someone who has been piling them up of late.
It may be difficult to recall, but Strider did not receive significant screen time until much later in the season. On May 30 — his 12th appearance of the year — he finally made his first start.
His first eleven appearances were filled with low-stakes jobs. After being moved to the starting rotation, Strider has emerged as a key cog for the Braves’ pitching staff.
Strider’s 2.84 ERA and 5.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 19 starts were comparable to that of San Francisco Giants left-hander Carlos Rodón, who leads the majors in Wins Above Replacement per FanGraphs’ projections.
Before Sunday’s game, you can see how Strider (only as a starter) does against Rodón.
Sliders
Both Rodón and Strider are effective with just two pitches, so the comparison is beneficial in that regard as well. Fastballs and sliders make up 92.6% of Rodón’s pitches, while 95.0% of Strider’s pitches are fastballs or sliders.
The fact that Strider has been successful despite sticking to a tried-and-true strategy is a reflection of the league as a whole and the strength of his two products.
Yes, Strider’s fastball is maybe the finest in the majors. His fastball has an above-average horizontal and vertical break, and its average velocity of 98.2 mph ranks third among pitchers with at least 500 pitches this season, behind only Félix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles and Hunter Greene of the Cincinnati Reds.
Try as you can, Strider’s fastball seems much hotter than that statistic suggests. He may only be 6 feet tall, but he covers a lot of ground on the mound.
Approximately seven feet separate the pitching rubber and his point of release. His fastball gains roughly a mile per hour in velocity as a result of his ability to cover so much ground.
The improvement of Strider’s fastball is not the only result of his improved release point.
Because of his height and release depth, the angle between his hand and the top of the strike zone is less steep than usual, creating a visual puzzle for the batter to decipher.
They have failed thus far. This season, more than 37% of batters who swung at his fastball in the upper third of the zone whiffed. For comparison, the average throughout the league is 29%.
Meanwhile, Strider’s slider has a higher whiff percentage than any other slider in the league, along with New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom’s offering.
Percent
Perhaps the one negative aspect of Strider’s slider is that batters don’t swing at it nearly as often as they do at deGrom’s (59.1 percent) (63.5 percent). Strider ranks in the bottom 12th of all players when it comes to throwing his slider in competitive situations. This winter could be a good time for him to work on improving the location of his slider, even though it clearly hasn’t hindered his success.
Strider needs to finish well to help the Braves’ chances of repeating as champs before he can start thinking about his winter to-do list.
He has already set new records: his 131 innings pitched this season are both a personal best and the first time in his career that he has reached the triple-digit mark.
While Strider doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of fatigue, it will be interesting to see how the Braves manage his workload going forward after he opened September with a 16-strikeout effort against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
It’s true that Strider has quickly risen through the ranks from Braves’ fourth-round choice to a key cog in the team’s rotation. If he maintains this level of performance, he will also become a major player in the discussion for the NL Cy Young Award each year.