Perdomo’s split-finger befuddled hitters to the tune of a .174 wOBA in 2019. Lingering at the bottom of the zone, it had a dizzying 14.4 inches of break, a whopping 4.5 inches above league average.
The 94 mph two-seamer is Perdomo’s primary offering; however, it is also his worst pitch. Throwing it 54.2% of the time, it needs drastic improvement if he is going to make an impact in San Diego. Hitters feasted to the tune of a .451 xSLG. Yikes!
After he found success with increased movement on the two-seamer in 2017, 2018 saw that movement disappear, possibly due to repeated shoulder issues. With the lost action, his ground-ball rate dropped 15 points, with most of the lost grounders turning into line drives. He lives and dies with the pitch, so he’ll need to rediscover it to stay a big leaguer.
Perdomo’s breaking ball is the one pitch that has consistently produced swings and misses, though he’s never truly had success with it (-12.8 pVal in his career). He left it in the zone a bit more often than normal in 2018 while also losing movement, which allowed hitters to get the ball in the air more and do more damage.
It’s a lot like his two-seamer, except it’s slightly faster and dips less. It certainly hasn’t fooled anyone—batters had a 94.6% contact rate on his pure fastball. He does his best to get the ball inside to lefties and away from righties, but too often leaves this pitch in the middle of the plate, which it turns out is where a lot of hitters like pitches to be.
This was the bright spot of his dismal 2018 and the only offering that didn’t regress. Perdomo’s split-finger is effective when he keeps it at the bottom of the zone. While not exactly a strikeout weapon like it is for some other pitchers, it’s the second-best swing-and-miss offering he has while also being effective at producing ground balls.
