NEW YORK (AP) Over five seasons as ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Gerrit Cole threw one of the games hardest, heaviest fastballs, and he threw it often. The pitch helped him make millions of dollars. It put him in contention for major awards. Hitters swung through it again and again, and Cole seemed content not to mess with a good thing.
But when Cole was traded to the Houston Astros this offseason, a funny thing happened. He became more frugal with his fastball and ended up more overpowering than ever.
Cole has joined some of the games best pitchers including Clevelands Corey Kluber and the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw in benefiting from a puzzling baseball paradox: In an era when pitchers are throwing harder than ever, theyre maximizing success by using fewer fastballs.
Pitchers even ones with blazing fastballs like Luis Severino and Chris Archer are using more offspeed than ever recorded, and while many aces think the downturn is a trend, some believe baseball could be entering a new age dominated not by 100 mph heaters, but by a steady stream of breaking balls and changeups.
So why is the hardest-throwing generation of pitchers ever going the way of the junk-baller?
Depends who you ask, but one culprit stands out to Cole, Kluber and Kershaw: baseballs swing-changing batters.
You can call it launch angle, or you can call it the upper cuts, Cole said. There are a lot of swings that are dictating breaking balls.
Coles move away from a fastball-first approach is striking given the reputation of his hardest pitch. He topped out at 99 mph as an ace at UCLA, and his fastball was the headliner on a resume that earned him an $8 million signing bonus as the first overall draft pick in 2011 by Pittsburgh. Under the guidance of Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage, Cole pounded the bottom of the strike zone with that heater, and for years, it worked. He was an All-Star and finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2015, and was considered among the games most overpowering starting pitchers.
Then baseballs flyball revolution took flight a movement of hitters using upper-cut swings designed to crush exactly the kinds of sinking fastballs Cole was delivering. After never allowing more than 11 home runs in a season, Cole was tagged for 31 last year.
So it was time to change things up.
From 2013 to 2017, Cole threw his fastball 65 percent of the time well above the league average. But this year, hes cut that fastball rate by about 10 points, replacing those heaters with sliders and curveballs. The new look is working. Cole is 8-1 with a 2.59 ERA through 15 starts and leads the American League with 138 strikeouts.
I think youre just continually trying to mess timing up, especially when guys are trying to slug, Cole said. When theyre trying to hit it out of the park every time, you have an easier time changing speeds.
Kluber and Kershaw have made similar adjustments in the past couple years. Both Cy Young winners rank among the league leaders in fewest fastballs thrown this season.
Guys are geared up to swing for a fastball, Kluber said. I guess its almost rare now to see somebody actually, like, go the other way with the breaking ball.
Kluber has set a career low with a fastball rate of 41.8 percent this season. Same for Kershaw, who has dropped from a 72-percent fastball clip in 2010 all the way to 42.8 percent in an injury-hampered 2018.
The hitters tell you what you need to do, Kershaw said. And for me, I guess its been throwing a lot more breaking balls.
Cole, Kluber and Kershaw suspect the tide will turn back, perhaps soon, once hitters recalibrate to the number of four-seam fastballs pitchers are throwing up in the strike zone.
