Quick Looks: Leiter and Ynoa

Continuing my Quick Looks series, today looks at a pair of NL East arm…

Mark Leiter

It’s like the 26-year-old righty didn’t exist before this season. I like to look at previous reports on popup guys to see what has changed. I was able to find one report on him at 2080baseball.com.

“A senior sign out of New Jersey Institute of Technology, he certainly got on some radars when he posted a 20-strikeout game his senior year before being drafted by his favorite hometown team, the Phillies. He doesn’t have pure “stuff” – his fastball barely touches 90 – but he’s a smart pitcher who works with what he has and has posted a 3.37 career ERA in 95 games, 69 of them starts, over 445 2/3 innings. He underwent shoulder surgery prior to the 2016 season but enjoyed a strong campaign that summer and now gets his call-up just a few games into his Triple-A debut.”

It’s not exciting but it’s at least a starting point. Now to move onto the starts I watched. There are no good camera angles for any of his starts. The best was against the Mets (9/4) when he lasted just three innings (video from it). Also, I watch his last start at home (9/15) against Oakland to see if anything changed.

• He throws the kitchen sink with the possibility of six different pitches (4-seam, sinker, splitter, curve, cutter, and slider). I think the fastballs are the same pitch along with the cutter and splitter being the same.

• Fastball: Straight at 88-92 mph. It’s a bad pitch and probably the reason he took so long to get to majors. Basically, no velocity or movement (horizontal or vertical). Several times the batters scorched the ball but right at a fielder. And he does not have good command of the pitch so he can’t move it around the plate as he would like.

• Splitter/Change: This a plus pitch at 80-85 mph. It has been labeled a splitter, change, or cutter at times. I’m not sure the grip but it acts like a splitter, decent velocity with a loopy sink. If he gets to two strikes, he can use this pitch to put hitters away. Some hitters sort of knew he was going to use it with two strikes and held off swinging. Other couldn’t.

• Cutter: At 88 mph with late sink. It has the look of his splitter, just faster. I wonder if it is the splitter.

• Curveball: It’s a loopy 12-6 curve at 72-73 mph. He rarely threw it even though its results have been fine (14% SwStr%)

• He started pitching backwards in the third inning but had to go to the fastball for strikes. He just can’t throw his breakers for strikes. Hitters are jumping on the first pitch fastball with .425 AVG and .758 SLG on the season.

• He seems a right-handed soft-tossing lefty.

• As he stands right now, he’s a matchup pitcher. He can’t continue to be major-league productive by throwing the fastball 60% of the time. He’ll need to use his breakers more. He’s a back of the rotation arm who will get some strikeouts with the splitter but will get hit around if he uses his fastball. To take a step forward, he needs to drop the fastball usage and find a way to throw his breakers for strikes.

Gabriel Ynoa

Both of his MLB starts didn’t have good camera angles, so I used his last start against the Yankees.

• The 24-year-old righty throws from a low 3/4 arm slot. He has plus command of his pitches and can place them in and around the strike zone as needed.

• Fastball (95): It sat at 94-96 mph and straight without any abnormal vertical or horizontal break.

• Slider: It’s called a slider but it could go by any name, especially nasty (17% SwStr%). It has 12-6 break at 83-88 mph and could get confused with a splitter. It like the curve/slider Kluber throws at times. If needed, he can throw it for strikes.

• Change: Sits 86-89 mph and can be confused with the slider. Both come in at the same velocity and drop. The change just doesn’t break to the glove side. Hitters catch up to it more than his slider (9% SwStr%). It gives him a third pitch but it doesn’t seem that way since the pitch is too similar to his slider. Also, he had issues getting it close to the plate.

• He’ll be a nice reliever with the fastball-slider combo if he can’t cut it as a starter. He’s in the mold of Michael Pineda or Tyson Ross, his peripheral numbers may look good but may get hit around some with the limited arsenal. Also, Ynoa’s fastball just doesn’t get the swings-and-misses of these two.

• Ynoa’s going to be around for a while if he can stay healthy. He’s got some traits to build on: 95-mph fastball, plus slider, and above-average control. I just wonder how long he can make it as a starter with 2.25 pitches. He’s streaming option except in AL-only leagues where he’s must own. I see myself checking on him in spring training to see if he’s made any improvements.