I said it yesterday but it’s worth repeating, Devin Williams fastball/changeup combo has been fantastic this season, leading to 48.8% K and 20.4% SwStr rates. Why the big improvement from last season? Well, it could be that his fastball velocity has remained the same while his changeup has lost 2 MPH and gained 8 inches of vertical drop. The pitch has literally been unhittable while racking up 14 K’s with a 60% Whiff rate. Overall, he is the 99th percentile of pitchers in Whiff rate, K%, and xBA while a .232 xWOBA ain’t too shabby either.
Notes
- Drew Pomeranz has been unavailable the past few games due to some shoulder tightness, which is obviously a huge concern. For now, he is day to day, but these things almost never end well and for the Padres sake, they really can’t afford to lose him.
- I’m not too concerned with Rafael Montero’s outing the other night that resulted in a Manny Machado grand slam. I am worried about how Chris Woodward uses his bullpen, however, as Montero shouldn’t have been in there to throw 42 pitches.
- Andrew Miller is back to being a full-time closer for the first time since 2015, but he’s still not back to his 2015 self. He’s been fine since the team came back from their COVID hiatus, and the lowered walk rate is great to see, but lower velocity is somewhat of a concern.
- Nick Anderson, Brad Hand, and Sergio Romo all had 3 SV+HLD this past week to lead the league. Romo continues to impress despite topping out at 85 MPH. He’s had success throwing his slider 72% of the time and while it’s not impossible to live like this, it could be very hard to sustain the deeper we go into the season. That .118 BABIP will rise.
Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
