NFT: deGrom is throwing more 4 seam fastballs & less curveballs.

James Paxton has actually recently done the exact opposite and it has directly correlated with him pitching much, much better over the last 6 weeks or so.

Quote:

From the beginning of the 2019 season to Aug. 1, opposing hitters had a .313 batting average and .572 slugging percentage against Paxton’s fastball. In July, the average against his fastball was as high as .387. Since then, Paxton has made seven starts for a 2.98 ERA. Hitters are 10-for-69 (.145) against his four-seamer with a .261 slugging percentage during his August and September outings.

So, while it's certainly interesting to note that deGrom has been able to cut down on the HR balls allowed by utilizing his 4-seamer more often; it may be unique to him and not necessarily something more pitchers will do to try and counteract the juiced balls.

Your quote doesn't say anything about the frequency he throws each pitch.

This is a few weeks old - but this was a couple of weeks after he started getting better results...

Quote:

Since the calendar flipped to August, Paxton has made three starts, and all of them have been good. He has pitched to a 2.89 ERA and crucially has kept batters off base with a WHIP of .964. His walks are down and his strikeouts have remained in place. That is a recipe for success. Here is a quick summary of the changes he’s made: Decreased fastball usage from 60% to 50% Decreased cutter usage from 22% to 19% Increased curve usage from 14% to 24% Added in new changeup at 4% http://bronxpinstripes.com/stats-breakdown/fewer-fastballs-more-curves-how-less-is-more-for-james-paxton/

More...

Quote:

Paxton has upped his curveball usage in a noticeable way over the last month-plus. In fact, he's thrown at least 25 curves in five of his last seven starts. Why is that worth noting? Because prior to those seven starts, he'd thrown 20 or more curves in a game once all year. It's a small sample, but in two September appearances Paxton has recorded the highest single-month curveball usage of his career, according to Brooks Baseball.

Quote:

It's unclear who or what spurred Paxton to throw his curveball more often, but the numbers bear out that it's a wise choice -- and we don't just mean the 2.51 ERA and .543 OPS against him in those last seven outings. While Paxton's breaking ball has been his third most-used pitch, per Statcast, opponents have hit just .163 against it. For comparative purposes, batters have hit .270 against his fastball and .261 versus his cutter. Those numbers aren't a one-year mirage, either. For his career, opponents have a .183 average against the curve, versus .206 against his cutter and .254 versus his four-seamer, according to Brooks Baseball. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/james-paxton-has-found-great-success-by-tweaking-his-pitch-usage-and-could-be-a-key-for-yankees-world-series-hopes/

his best pitches more often. Your stats show that his curve and cutter were his best pitches over his career.

It could be - one thing he's mentioned a few times is that his fastball plays better off his curveball. He was using the cutter as his main secondary offering until a few weeks ago when he started going to the curve more instead.

Pax has always been a fastball guy and a strikeout guy.

The 81 mph curve is how he's getting hitters off balance now. He's mixing in the 96/97 mph fastball and still using the 88mph cutter.

It's made a big difference for him and he's looked significantly better in recent weeks.

.

In comment 14585720 Ira said:

Quote:

.

You and me both! :)

Also, sorry if I derailed this thread - I didn't mean to make it about Paxton. I actually found the linked article to be a good read.

deGrom has a legitimate case at another NL CYA this year. For me, it's between he and Max. Both of them are incredible. Ryu has tailed off a little bit - I'd vote for either of the other two guys before Ryu.

.