Making Friends With Joey

Joey Lucchesi @ WSH (ND) – 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 20% CSW, 90 pitches.

Okay okay, so it’s not like Joey Lucchesi was the greatest thing ever as he went 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks against the Nationals. Nay, but he did go 90 pitches. That’s really the reason he’s here today and not the fact that his Churve – yes, it’s a curveball thrown with a changeup grip – went 10% CSW with just one whiff. I mean, that would be a silly thing to lead with, especially from a pitcher who hasn’t been on your radar.

All I’m getting at is how Lucchesi could be a streamer in the future. Not even should. Just let the thought enter your mind as the Mets are clearly allowing him to go longer in games as he’s now fully stretched out. No, I don’t want to start him next time against Atlanta, and this 0 ER performance is far from a product of a new skill that should get us excited. I’m not excited, are you excited? Good, just look at Joey on the wire and think “maybe in few starts.” That’s it. That’s the lead. Go jump to another pitcher now.

 

Let’s see how every other SP did Friday:

 

Chris Paddack vs. CIN (W) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 11 Ks – 19 Whiffs, 38% CSW, 87 pitches. Paddack just missed both elements of the Golden Goal as his heater took a small step back from his last start velocity-wise, but he kept its top-half location consistent, peppering the bottom and under the zone with incredible changeups, good for 11 whiffs across the slowball. Absolutely amazing work. His curveball was solid as well (36% CSW) and I’m incredibly encouraged by Paddack’s current status. Sure, his heater could be better, but with the 95+ velocity and general elevated approach, it opens the door for his changeup to succeed – it’s looking as good as I’ve seen it. Be excited that you held onto Paddack for this long.

Tony Santillan @ SDP (L) – 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 53 pitches. Sadly, I just don’t like his command. He chucking 94/95 mph, but he can’t wield it + his curveball and changeup are simply not the pristine secondaries we need. In due time, though he seems very much like a Young Gun at this time.

Erick Fedde vs NYM (ND) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 100 pitches.

You know, Fedde looks like more of an important story than Lucchesi, but you already know Don’t Trust The Feddes. This is a lovely Birthday Party and nothing more.

Kyle Zimmer vs BOS (ND) – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 34 pitches.

Zimmer opened for Kris Bubic…who lasted just 50 pitches for 2.2 IP and 2 ER. In other words, this is all atrocious and I feel worse for reading about it. So sorry.

Alex Cobb vs DET (W) – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks – 20 Whiffs, 35% CSW, 111 pitches.

Hey, we’re back on the board! Streaming Record: 43-33. The Thing was back and taking NAMES as it had 14 Whiffs and propelled Cobb to a Gallows Pole and he’s off to face the Rays next now. With the way he’s feeling his splitty, I think I’m in.

Trevor Bauer @ ARI (W) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 114 pitches.

Aces gonna ace. The Spider Tack is gone, but the man is still making it work. Sure, it was the Sneks, but maybe I shouldn’t be grading him so harshly in the post-tack days. his cutter was so dang good with 11/28 called strikes. That’s stupid amazing.

Caleb Smith vs LAD (ND) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 91 pitches.

The line looks like Smith could be regaining some skills, but he’s at 91.7 mph (good, not amazing) and still figuring out his secondaries. Slider was…fine at 8/25 CSW, but we want more. MOAR. Nick, this was the Dodgers! Sure, sure, I just can’t erase 8% CSW on 12 changeups easily, you know?

Yusei Kikuchi vs TB (W) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 103 pitches.

The dude is sitting 96/97 mph now with a cutter that just went 9/54 whiffs. Yeah, stop thinking so hard about this. Roster Kikuchi, hold him, and start him. Okay? Good talk.

Carlos Rodón @ HOU (ND) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 35% CSW, 106 pitches.

Aces gonna ace. Rodón doesn’t care if you’re one of the best teams in the majors against left-handers, he’ll average 97.2 mph on his four-seamer and crush your dreams. That’s the motto of a man that leads my staff to victory. Yeah! Crush ALL their dreams! His changeup was lacking here and I hope it’s better in the future. The man could throw a second no-hitter, you know.

Max Fried vs STL (W) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 98 pitches.

Ahhh. That’s more like it. It’s great to see Fried excel with both his slider and curveball in this one, even sitting 94/95 mph and giving us all the confidence we want moving forward.

Chad Kuhl vs CLE (W) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 77 pitches.

The slider was solid, the fastball…wasn’t, but Kuhl squeezed out a victory here. Sadly, this isn’t something that should stick – Happy “Birthday Party!” – and don’t reconsider Kuhl until his heater is sitting plenty higher than 94 mph. The man needs 96+.

Thomas Eshelman vs TOR (ND) – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 4 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 57 pitches.

Meet Thomas, your #1 source of electronic shells. They come in a ll sizes, all colors, and shapes just. For. YOU! Nobody can beat the Eshelman, supplying the internet with shells since Thomas was a tank engine. Don’t believe him? Ask the Jays, who still can’t believe the results. Seriously, what on Earth is this.

Luis Garcia vs CWS (ND) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 34% CSW, 96 pitches.

Sweet. I’m so glad to see Garcia prevail as he earned whiffs with four-seamers and changeup, oddly putting his cutter and slider on the backburner It’s not the approach we expected, but it clearly worked and let’s be happy for it. He gets the Orioles twice now and you should be plenty excited.

Jameson Taillon vs OAK (ND) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 76 pitches.

Sooo his slider and curveball weren’t so bad in this one. At least sliders found their way outside constantly (not down enough, though) while his curveball did land low, but a little too low (witzki!) as it earned just 8/17 strikes. I need more strikes from your deuce, Taillon. He should get the Royals next and I’m iffy with that.

Cody Poteet @ CHC (ND) – 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 80 pitches.

Poteet returned from the IL and I’m still disappointed it wasn’t Zach Thompson, who seemingly deserved a start after dominating Atlanta with a solid cutter. Anyway, Poteet was decent and inefficient enough to survive five frames. He’ll get the Nationals next and at 85-90 pitches, that’s not terrible as a desperate stream. I’d avoid in 12-teamers, though.

Robbie Ray @ BAL (L) – 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 106 pitches.

Oh Ray, you didn’t have the same precision with your fastball and slider, and while your stuff is clearly still so tough to hit, it led to a massive amount of inefficiency and over 100 pitches in fewer than five frames. This ain’t it. He’s faltered before only to succeed after in the past, expect him to rebound again.

Nick Pivetta @ KC (L) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 6 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 98 pitches.

Meh. If you streamed Pivetta, it was for the strikeouts, which he did a decent job earning. He’s still not pulling off the BSB as we want him to, but he was plenty closer this time around than usual. Just a lot fewer four-seamers down the middle of the plate next time, okay? Oh, and the waste fastballs, yeah, fewer of those too. K thx.

Antonio Senzatela vs MIL (ND) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 71 pitches.

Senz-A starting in Coors? You’ll 100% take a PQS and run. Run so very far away.

James Kaprielian @ NYY (W) – 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 39% CSW, 80 pitches.

I’ll take a win from Kap as he was one out away from a PQS, though the WHIP and strikeouts sure make this worthwhile. It’s still a bit too heavily four-seamer based for my liking, especially when he’s sitting just 93 mph. Meh, who cares, he gets Texas twice now. You want that. JK. No, no jokes here.

Johnny Cueto vs PHI (W) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 83 pitches.

You’re going to take a PQS from Cueto and you’re gonna like it.

Vince Velasquez @ SF (L) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 17% CSW, 77 pitches.

Blegh. You were targeting strikeouts and the man just didn’t give it to you in what I’d call a quintessential VV start. The man was a Cherry Bomb before we called it that. I’m out for the Mets next.

Jose Berrios @ TEX (ND) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 103 pitches.

Sure, it’s a PQS with a 1.17 WHIP and a strikeout per inning. It isn’t bad, per se, but it’s not elite. You want elite, at least a hint of elite, and Berríos just isn’t giving the people what they want. 2/19 curveball whiffs, if you can believe it.

Mike Foltynewicz vs MIN (ND) – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 22% CSW, 95 pitches.

Oh hey, it’s Folty, who’s still averaging under 94 mph on his fastballs. Every day we stray further from…whatever ceiling we had envisioned for Folty. A Toby? I guess?

Corbin Burnes @ COL (ND) – 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 96 pitches.

Noooo. It was a taste of Careful, Icarus as Burnes allowed two more to score in the extended sixth frame. His cutter wasn’t as effective, forcing him to turn to his slider 16% of the time (60% CSW because it’s dope and needs more attention) as his curveball earned called strikes galore, but I’m a little worried about that cutter. I’m glad he had more variety in his pitch mix, but we need that cutter to be working better. Maybe it has to do with the spin rate reduction, but I’m willing to believe Burnes just needs a start or two to get it back.

Michael Wacha @ SEA (L) – 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 11 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 17% CSW, 77 pitches.

It looks like Wacha could be getting starts in the place of Tyler Glasnow, but if it’s more like this, then it’s actually possibly Luis Patiño gets a crack at it. I wouldn’t ignore the possibility.

J.C. Mejia @ PIT (L) – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 77 pitches.

It’s the Pirates and sadly, it didn’t matter for Mejia. Womp womp. If you can’t trust him against Pittsburgh, can you really trust him anywhere?

Jose Urena @ LAA (L) – 4.1 IP, 7 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 87 pitches.

Yeaaaaah. If you’re rostering José, Ureña boatload of trouble.

Carlos Martinez @ ATL (L) – 3.0 IP, 8 ER, 8 Hits, 4 BBs, 3 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 68 pitches.

Womp womp. It’s incredibly tough to believe in CarMart these days and his heaters were an atrocity here. The man just can’t be trusted.

Zach Davies vs MIA (L) – 6.0 IP, 8 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 84 pitches.

Oh my. What is it with Miami randomly dominating decent pitches these days? Davies relies heavily on a changeup to get his ducats, and the slow ball earned an 11% CSW, forcing him to go 70% sinkers. Davies didn’t want that. Nobody wanted that. Except for the Marlins hitters. Shut up Steve, this isn’t the time or place. Sorry.

Game of the Day 

 

Lance Lynn vs. Framber Valdez – Two studs facing off in what will feel like a playoff matchup? Sign me up.

But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.

Have Questions? – Join my morning Twitch livestream! I answer all questions there for free: 9:00 am – 11:00 am EST Monday through Friday.

Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)