You don’t have to be a pitching professional to know that Mariners reduction pitcher Matt Brash has nasty stuff on the mound. However when you ask a pitching professional simply how nasty Brash is, you’re most likely going to develop an excellent greater appreciation for what he can do.
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Brash was a weapon out of the Mariners’ bullpen down the stretch final 12 months, utilizing his fastball within the higher 90s and a tough slider straight out of a cartoon to make it by 35 scoreless appearances over his last 37 video games, together with the postseason. There are excessive hopes that he can construct on that in 2023, even after he pitches for Staff Canada within the World Baseball Traditional subsequent month.
To get an concept of what makes the 24-year-old Brash’s arm stand out as particularly electrical, Seattle Sports activities’ Wyman and Bob talked to Driveline Baseball director of pitching Chris Langin on Monday. Driveline, referred to as a premier vacation spot for data-driven baseball coaching, is a well-liked spot for giant leaguers throughout the offseason, with gamers from throughout MLB – not simply domestically – flocking to their services in Kent, Wash., and Scottsdale, Ariz.
That’s to say Langin has seen plenty of spectacular athletes, making what he needed to say about one in every of Brash’s pitches all of the extra thrilling.
“I believe you might fairly realistically say his slider is perhaps the most effective pitch when it comes to pitch motion and velocity in main league historical past,” Langin mentioned of Brash. “I truly assume it’s, like, that absurd how good the stuff of that pitch is.”
And that’s not all.
“The curveball is clearly fairly darn good, too. It’s acquired a little bit extra depth so it might probably form of be another choice for left-handed hitters.”
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Brash started the 2022 season as the ultimate starter within the Mariners’ rotation, however regardless of flashes of dominance he struggled with command was optioned to Triple-A to transform to a reduction position. He was a distinct pitcher when he returned to Seattle’s energetic roster, posting a 2.35 ERA and 43 strikeouts to 16 walks over 30 2/3 innings out of the bullpen.
The subsequent step for Brash, in response to Langin, is discovering another dependable possibility that may bridge the hole between his fastball and breaking balls. The explanation: hitters have proven they’ll lay off Brash’s slider and curveball figuring out their greatest probability for achievement is to sit down on a fastball.
“The fastball, in my estimation, at the very least the largest factor it has going for it’s it’s simply thrown extraordinarily onerous, however the the motion profile on it wasn’t essentially nice so it was tough with out elite command – which he simply doesn’t have, and that’s OK – to essentially get outcomes as a starter with the pitch, after which even out of the bullpen,” Langin mentioned. “Actually, his outcomes have been rather a lot higher when he went to these breaking pitches. So the No. 1 factor was actually getting him one thing that may form of merge that hole between (the fastball and) this disgusting slider that guys are going to be form of immune to swinging the bat at.
“His stuff is actually simply too nasty to be reliant on guys form of standing there holding the bat on their shoulder. Actually, when he began, guys simply didn’t swing at something, whether or not it was within the zone, out of the zone, so that they actually made him work to land these breaking balls. These pitches can truthfully be fairly tough to command, after which when he went to a fastball, it actually doesn’t have the motion profile the place you’ll be able to simply form of throw it down the center and get away with it.”
The reply might be a cutter, a pitch that just about is a mix of a fastball and a slider – not normally thrown as onerous as a fastball, and never with as a lot break as a slider.
“In order that cutter was form of the large factor development-wise that he’s been engaged on… and actually, it’s form of the pitch that’s proper in the course of these different two pitches the place there’s fastball, a breaking ball with some unimaginable motion that’s primarily swing and miss,” Langin mentioned. “He simply wants one thing in between to form of principally drive them to swing the bat at one thing that’s not a fastball, that’s actually the primary goal of it.”
The cutter has taken a while this offseason to return collectively, partly for a purpose that makes his slider so devastating.
“Brash has very uncommon fingers,” Langin mentioned, “so discovering a pitch grip for him, I imply, it was form of tough as a result of the best way he grips the ball is simply so area of interest in comparison with each single different participant that I’ve labored with in order that took an honest period of time. And to be frank, the primary day didn’t go that nicely… He couldn’t discover a grip that he appreciated, after which he got here again two days later, principally throughout his evaluation and that’s principally the place we noticed, ‘Hey, you threw about 15 of those and 11 of them are acceptable, two of them are good.’ And at that time, you form of simply preserve hammering it down for the remainder of the offseason and he will get acquainted with what the pitch is. The aim of the pitch just isn’t meant to strike out guys like his slider, essentially, and he’s ready then to lock within the motion a bit higher all through that point.”
Don’t assume for a second that remark about Brash’s fingers wasn’t adopted up on, by the best way. Co-host Bob Stelton pried a bit extra into it, and Langin did his greatest to explain why they’re such an asset and not using a visible instance.
“His center finger, he can hook the ball, like… the one guys I can consider is perhaps Alex Cobb with the Giants and Marcus Stroman (of the Cubs). I don’t even know actually find out how to clarify it however (how) he can grip the ball, I believe it’s why he spins it’s so darn nicely and simply applies drive to the ball ceaselessly – and the extra I give it some thought, the harder it’s going to be to have the ability to describe over the radio,” Langin mentioned with amusing. “He can do issues with that center finger that most likely explains why he can throw a slider like he can.”
Langin offered perception on rather more throughout the interview, which you’ll hearken to within the podcast participant beneath.
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