0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
how does zack wheeler consistently finish in the top 99th percentile of all mlb pitchers in 4 out of the last 5 years?
1. different arsenals for righties and lefties
typically, right handed pitchers (rhp) have a platoon split where lefties may hit them better than righties. this year, wheeler is actually pitching better against lefties by being two different pitchers in one player.
- for righties: he features a 4-seam fastball, sinker, and sweeper
- for lefties: he features a 4-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, and split
2. similar but distinct attack patterns
- for righties: wheeler runs a pretty balanced 4-seamer, sinker, and sweeper. he keeps his 4-seamer concentrated up and away, sinker down and in, and sweeper low and away.
- for lefties: wheeler leans heavily on his 4-seamer (throwing ~2x compared to righties) while equally using his cutter, curveball, and splitter. he stays in the upper half of the zone with his 4-seamer and cutter while using his curveball and splitter low in the zone as chase pitches.
3. equal distribution for put-away pitches
whether he faces a righty or lefty, wheeler mixes in his 4-seam, sinker, cutter, curveball, and sweeper at an almost equal distribution to strike hitters out.
usually pitchers have 2-3 plus (great) or plus plus (elite) pitches that can put away hitters. wheeler has 5 and uses them equally to prevent hitters from guessing or sitting on a specific pitch in a two strike count.
4. introducing a splitter to neutralize lefties
in the few years that wheeler has struggled in his career, he displayed a typical platoon split where lefties hit much better against him than righties.
in 2023, lefties mostly saw pitches that moved into them (cutter + curveball) with a fastball that has some tail away from lefties. this is mostly a one-dimensional arsenal and lefties caught on slashing .261/.310/.412 a stark contract to righties slashing .194/.235/.313.
in 2024, wheeler introduced a splitter which features heavy tailing action that complements his elite fastball. this unlocked a more balanced vertical and horizontal attack against lefties and contributed to him getting back to his usual 99th percentile performance. last year lefties slashed .221/.299/.416 0 reply
1 recast
5 reactions
