Comments on: Nathan Eovaldi and the Double Edged Splitter

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:29:13 +0000

Definitely. I feel that the velocity increase on the splitter is a big reason his fastball batting avg against dropped. As the splitter’s velocity got further away from the slider and closer to the velocity of his fastball which is a fairly straight pitch it helped play the fastball up even more because the splitter looks like a fastball til the last second when it drops off the table.

By: Ben Diamond

Ben Diamond — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:18:42 +0000

That's a great point, it jumped about 4 mph for the June 26th start. The big effect from the velocity bump was that is really differentiated the splitter from the slider. Before that they had similar velocities:

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:09:26 +0000

Great read. Just wanted to add that i feel a big part of the development of his splitter was the added velocity on the pitch. He went from having the splitter sit at 84-86mph from all of his starts through to 88-91mph. You see this junp in velocity starting in his start on the 26th. Thats also when you start to see the extra movement on the pitch. There’s even more movement added from thereon. I think you see that it took a couple of starts with the new grip to get comfortable and thats really when we saw what he could do.

By: Kev

Kev — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 22:52:50 +0000

Excellent stuff, where are they gonna get you on the main site?
Eovaldi’s going to be an ace next year!