Did Any Pitcher Start Using A “New” Pitch?

During the offseason, I posted a list of starters who could use a third pitch or throw one of their barely utilized pitches more. I attempted to track some changes during spring training hoping to find next Robbie Ray or Luis Severino. I’ve failed so far. Now with pitch tracking cameras on every pitcher, I can see if anyone is trying to throw a pitch more. I’ll go down my list from February and see who is stepping up their usage.

Dinelson Lamet (Fastball/Slider): Hurt

Antonio Senzatela (Fastball/Slider): A classification mess starts with the first healthy pitcher. MLB’s classification has him with a change curve at 8% but Pitch Info has him not throwing one. Examining his pitch movement charts shows just two pitch groupings. Verdict: Still a two-pitch pitcher

Luis Perdomo (Sinker/Curve): He threw his splitter/change six times which is in-line with his previous usage pattern. It’s a good groundball pitch (57%) but is below average for swings-and-misses for a splitter (10%).

Rich Hill (Curve/Fastball): Like Hill’s going to throw a third pitch … and he didn’t with his curve getting classified as a slider.

Lance Lynn (Fastball/Cutter): Hasn’t pitched.

Bartolo Colon (Fastball): Oh BIG sexy, where have you gone?

Kyle Hendricks (Fastball/Change): He threw a token curve but in his first start. He’s throwing an 87-mph fastball and just one other pitch. He has zero room for error right now.

Drew Pomeranz (Fastball/Curve): Hurt

Chris Archer (Fastball/Slider): Archer needs to have confidence in his change. In his start, he threw it four times. When he’s thrown it during his career, it’s been productive for him (52% GB%, 13% SwStr%). It’s not as good as his slider but he has to get hitters thinking of a third pitch.

Jose Berrios (Fastball/Curve): He’s used his change around 10% in his start which is near his career rate. It’s not been a good pitch for him. Right now, it’s just a show-me pitch.

Tyler Skaggs (Fastball/Curve): His first game results were great (0 Runs over 6.1 IP) but he threw just five changes. Two of them generated swings-and-misses. It’s been a productive pitch (54% GB%, 13% SwStr%) over his career but he doesn’t throw it much. Maybe he didn’t need to in his last start but there is no reason he can’t throw it more.

Patrick Corbin (Fastball/Slider): Just the two pitches in his first start.

Jose Quintana (Fastball/Curve): He seems to be abandoning his change more and more:

Season: CH%
2014: 13%
2015: 10%
2016: 8%
2017: 9%
2018: 5% (one start)

I’m worried hitters will just be concentrating on his is fastball (down 1.4 mph) and curve and begin to hit him hard.

German Marquez (Fastball/Curve): New pitch alert!!!!! Contact Jason Collette. He used a slider 12% of the time. I went back and watched them all. Calling the slider inconsistent is being nice. It varied from a down-and-away break to just a straight hanging pitch. Here are two sliders on back-to-back pitchers to A.J. Pollock.

Good movement

Bad Movement

It has the potential to be a decent pitch for him. While owning a Rockie starter is a tough proposition, I’d not be against streaming Marquez in his away starts.

Sal Romano (Fastball/Slider): He was still just fastball-slider with a sprinkling of change thrown in.

Ivan Nova: (Fastball/Curve): Nova starts the pitchers who throw a breaking ball 10% or more of the time and that is how much he throws his change. It doesn’t have a good groundball rate but historically, it has generated a 13% SwStr%.

Jameson Taillon (Fastball/Curve): He continued to throw his below average change 10% of the time.