Sandy Alcantara’s New Slider

Sandy Alcantara enjoyed a nice breakout season in 2021, but it didn’t come without reason. Sandy worked hard to change his arsenal and his pitch mix to take a step forward towards becoming an elite pitcher. In the past, analysts loved mentioning Sandy so they can use the “Oh Sandy,” Grease line but it has now turned into analysts saying “Is Sandy Alcantara a top 10 pitcher?” I don’t want to hone in on that subject though, I want to focus on what got Sandy into that conversation and where the 205.2 innings pitched, 3.19 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 24.0 K% line came from.

In the past two seasons prior to 2021 Sandy had averaged a 3.72 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 18.8 K%. Overall, he bettered his ERA, WHIP, and K%. The increase in strikeout rate we saw in 2021 is what’s significant here and a true outlier. Check out his strikeout rate broken down by month in 2021.

Sandy Alcantara’s K% By Month
Month K%
April 24.7%
May 24.8%
June 17.1%
July 19.3%
August 30.2%
September/October 26.7%

The final two months brought on a spike in his strikeout rate. There is one major difference in Sandy’s profile for those two final months compared to the rest of the season. Let’s add in his slider usage by month to this chart.

Sandy Alcantara’s K% and Slider Usage By Month
Month K% Slider Usage
April 24.7% 19%
May 24.8% 18%
June 17.1% 23%
July 19.3% 20%
August 30.2% 29%
September/October 26.7% 31%

Looks pretty clear here that his slider usage was a major reason as to why his strikeout rate increased so significantly. Sandy’s slider has always been a decent pitch but it really took a step forward this season in terms of creating more whiffs as well as more chases outside of the zone. What is most important about his slider is his improved utilization of the pitch. One could look at his 7.0 pVAL on the pitch and think clearly he sequenced it well but there is more to it than that. 

Unlike Olivia Rodrigo who ripped off Paramore, I’m going to actually credit the person who helped influence me to this conclusion: Sandy Alcantara changed his slider to mimic his fastball. 

Jordan McPherson who writes for the Miami Herald wrote a fantastic article on Sandy’s new slider. He first states his case saying “The pitch comes out of his hand with a little more pace, a little more bite. There’s more depth, showing some characteristics of his fastball while still having enough break to get the best of the opposing hitter.” 

His conclusion is brought on by a quote from the Miami Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyer Jr. in which he says, “We did a lot of work out in the bullpens and getting to those edges and in him eventually getting to the feel for that.”. “He changed his hand position a little bit on the slider, and we got him mentality-wise just to think more fastball than breaking ball with it. Man, it’s been good.”

I went digging into the news for something like this because Sandy’s improved slider didn’t make complete sense to me. Typically sliders need good command to succeed and he always had that, so where did the improvement really spur from? Then I looked into his movement and saw it actually decreased in movement, again befuddling me. When I found Jordan’s article it all made sense. The velocity on the slider increased by three miles per hour and the movement on the pitch is inching closer to his fastball. 

This first picture from Brooks Baseball shows his horizontal release point as well as the horizontal movement. That red dot that looks to be at the -1 mark for horizontal movement is his 2021 slider. Quite the difference. He didn’t change his release point at all but clearly shifted the movement based on grip and velocity.

This second picture shows just straight-up horizontal movement. Again you can see it on the edge of -1 and it just shows how different the pitch really was. It’s inching closer to the fastball and it’s a big reason the SwStr% increased by four points while the ISO against it dipped nearly .100. 

One more chart, I promise. Here is a year-to-year chart of the horizontal movement on Sandy’s pitches.

Clear as day right there. A big drop in horizontal movement and to me, this is the Marlins pitching staff at its finest (assuming they told him to do this). 

With a change in slider movement, an increase in slider velocity, and an increase in slider usage Sandy had the best two months of his career. Between August and October, he pitched 80 innings and attributed a 3.04 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 28.4 K%. Those are some elite numbers right there and with substantial evidence to back those final two months of the season, it’s hard to doubt his skill set for 2022. 

The newfound success should continue because he is just too good of a pitcher. He has a power sinker that he throws over 97mph, the slider we just discussed, a changeup that creates chases outside of the zone, and a four-seam fastball that he can pound the zone with at will. The big question here is not whether the new slider is good but more so will he keep the pitch mix change? What do you think?





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Lunch Anglemember
2 years ago

What a great piece on an example of how a pitcher can change their arsenal!