Senzatela threw his changeup just 6.79% in 2019, mostly as a change-of-pace pitch to provide a different look from his fastball, which was thrown over 63% of the time. When he did throw his change, he struggled to get many hitters to chase as the pitch had just a 20% O-Swing%. With a BB/K ratio of 1.5, Senzatela also struggled to control the pitch at times, leading to an increased amount of baserunners that contributed to his poor 2019.
Thrown over 63% of the time in 2019, Senzatela relied on his fastball to get ahead in counts and put away hitters. Unfortunatly for him, hitters feasted off his fastball to the tune of .349/.423/.542 with a wRC+ of 151. The pitch averages almost 94 mph, but is very flat and doesn’t have much movement. Senzatela will have to make major adjustments if he hopes to improve in 2020.
His main secondary pitch, Senzatela’s slider failed to generate many srikeouts in 2019 as his K% dropped from 30.4% in 2018 to just 14% in 2019. With an xMov of just 3.1 inches, Senzatela’s slider only generated an O-Swing% of 38.3%, meaning he failed to get hitters to chase all that often. Despite this, his slider numbers are still better than his fastball, so look for Senzatela to increase its usage in 2020.
Averaging 93.6 mph in 2018, Senzatela’s fastball was quite effective in 2018. A 50% ground-ball rate helped manage an 88.4% contact rate against the pitch, and the result was a .280/.350/.424 slash line against. All told, it was worth a 2.1 pVal.
Thrown 18.91% of the time in 2018, Senzatela’s slider was the worst pitch of his repertoire according to pVal with a rough -5.9 mark. Despite a solid 15.3% swinging-strike rate, an 82.2% Z-contact rate coupled with an elevated 25% HR/FB rate led to a .281/.319/.578 slash line against the pitch.
Senzatela’s changeup gave up a .231/.300/.346 batting line to opponents in 2018 while not allowing a single home run. He struggled to command it some as evidenced by a 10% walk rate that contributed to a -0.3 pVal.
The curveball was Senzatela’s least-used pitch in 2018 with just an 8.38% usage rate, but it interestingly finished as his second-best offering in terms of pVal with a 1.6 mark. It featured a 17.2% swinging-strike rate along with a high fly-ball rate of 56.3%. He clearly managed the quality of those fly balls, though, as the pitch allowed just a .148/.148/.296 batting line.
