Quick Looks at Buchanan, Fiers, Martinez and deGrom

I am planning on publishing this piece on a weekly basis. I’ll be looking at a few interesting players. I try to work out for 30-45 minutes a day, so I will just watch a different player each time and give my thoughts on their game at the end of the week. This will not be a complete breakdown of the player, just what I saw. Also, I will probably be looking at average to below-average players to see if anything sticks out with them.

David Buchanan

Why I watched: I noticed him while looking for pitcher with big curveballs. Looking at little deeper and found this:

Month:K%-BB%,GB%
May:4%,42%
Jun:9%,49%
Jul:12%,46%
Aug:10%,55%

Basically, he has a decent K%-BB% and top 5%  GB rate.

Game Watched: 8/23 vs Cards

Game Thoughts:
• Seemed smaller than his listed 6’3”. The 190 lbs may also be high.
• His 90 mph FB is not intimidating.
• Nothing (control, velocity, break) seemed to stick out
• Tons of groundballs (62% for the game).

Final thoughts: The 25-year-old right hander is becoming a groundball machine with no walks and OK number of Ks. Reminds me of Doug Fister.

 

Mike Fiers

Why I watched: A 29-year-old failed starter with a 1.54 ERA on a contender.

Game Watched: 8/24 vs Pirates

Game Thoughts
• Only throws a 89 mph FB. He hides his pitches well which gives him quite a bit of deception. Because the fastball lacks speed, he lives on the edges. I wouldn’t call him a nibbler, because he doesn’t give away pitches. He knows he can’t over power hitters so he has to have control his pitches. Overall this season, his fastball has a 11.3% SwStr% which is elite (league average is 6.4%).
• He gets quite a few called strikes. This effect can be seen with his 30% K% and only a 9.5 SwStr%. Normally, K% = 2 * SwStr%, so right now his SwStr% would indicate a ~20% K%. He may be able to continue to get called strikes, but if not, his K% could drop by a third.
• He has a nice curve which is getting an above-average rate of ground balls (67%).
• He seemed to lack control of his change.

Final thoughts: I would like to see how he does when he faces a team twice. I wonder how well the deception and pin point control can be the backbone of his, or any pitcher’s, production.

 

Nick Martinez

Why I watched: K-BB% of -0.6 in 1H and 7.3% in 2H

Game Watched: 8/26 vs Mariners

Game Thoughts:
• Works fast.
• He has a straight fastball (91 mph) and therefore has to nibble. Unlike Fiers, he nibbles out of the zone and runs up his pitch counts. Looking at his pitch Pitchf/x data, it is probably a “rising fastball” (fastballs with a vertical movement of 8 or more are generally rising fastballs). The rising nature would explain his low 32% GB% on the pitch.
• His curveball breaks late. He sometimes hangs a few. The main issue with his curveball in the game was he seemed to tip it off somehow. Cano went down and teed one up for home run. Seager nailed a single off of it. Anytime he threw it, the Mariners were waiting on it.
• His slider is pretty “blah’.
• He works high in the strike zone (Martinez’s pitch placement and league wide placement).

Final thoughts: Looked overmatched, especially since the Rangers took away his curveball. He may have a future in the game, but it would be nice to see him spend some time in AA/AAA refining his game.

 

Jacob deGrom

Why I watched: He throws fast.

Game Watched 8/23 vs. Dodgers

Game Thoughts
• He throws gas. The 97 mph pitch ate up the Dodgers to begin with.
• I like his 4-seam fastball a lot more then his 2-seamer. It has a little release side cut when in the 94-95 mph range. He gets a 9.7 SwgStr% with the 4-seamer versus 6.5% with the 2-seamer.
• He seems to get a ton of foul balls on his heater. This is should not be a surprise since a faster fastball usually gets more foul balls than ones thrown at slower speeds.
• Works away.
• None of his non-fastballs seem elite by themselves. Not a ton of late sharp break. They are getting good results, but they are each working off the 95-mph fastball. The hitters are pretty much helpless if they are looking heater and he throws the curve.
• Additionlly, Eno recently broke down all of deGrom’s pitches and grips if you need more info on the pitcher.

Final thoughts: He established his fastball and then his other pitches just throw off the batter. If he can refine his breaking pitches, I actually could see him be an elite pitcher like Justin Verlander. The problem right now is if he can keep the high heat going. If he begins to lose velocity, I don’t think his other pitches are good enough (in their current state) for him to maintain his results.