Jacob Roy digs into a strong bounceback performance.
Welcome back to another edition of The Anatomy of An Inning. My name is Jacob Roy, and I pretend to know pitching better than the pitchers themselves. If you’re new here or need a reminder of what this is all about, I take an inning from the previous week or so and break it down, one pitch at a time. Each pitch should have a purpose, so I’m looking at each pitch individually to try to go beyond the box score and tell the full story.
A few weeks ago, Kutter Crawford was roughed up by the Kansas City Royals. I broke down that outing, identifying his two-strike performance as one of the underlying causes of his slump. He couldn’t command his breaking balls and made too many uncompetitive pitches which allowed hitters to keep their eyes on the zone and barrel the ball frequently.
Immediately after that, Crawford started to find a groove. Since that outing against the Royals, he’s thrown 28 innings with an ERA of just over 4. On Tuesday night, he held the Mets to two runs over six innings. Let’s see what adjustments Crawford made to find his footing.
AB #1: Francisco Lindor
If not for Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor would have a chance to win the MVP. There’s not a good way to pitch him; he hits everything. Looking at some charts, pitching him up in the zone seems to be the best bet, though he’s still a capable high-ball hitter.
Fastball, up and in for called strike one. Great start.
Crawford follows it up by trying to hit the same spot with a cutter. He misses, but he misses inside where it can’t be hit.
Crawford throws another cutter, this one goes back door for strike two. Again, it’s nicely located up in the zone. With two strikes, I would throw either a high fastball or a splitter in the dirt. I lean toward the fastball due to the scouting report, but the splitter is something Lindor hasn’t seen yet and could mess with his timing.
Excellent. Crawford perfectly spots the fastball above the zone and Lindor swings right under it. This is a perfect two-strike fastball. If a hitter puts this one in play, it’s likely a pop-up. If they do damage with it, you tip your cap and you move on. Great start to the outing.
AB #2: Brandon Nimmo
Brandon Nimmo is a solid hitter who is somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades. He works counts and walks at a high rate while also striking out frequently. He hits the ball to all fields with average power as well.
Crawford starts the at-bat with a cutter up and in and misses slightly too high.
Fastball, over the plate, that Nimmo swings right over. Following the whiff, I’d go with another fastball up in the zone.
Perfect. 93 MPH, just above the zone. With two strikes following two swings and misses at the fastball, Crawford could triple up or throw something down in the zone such as a splitter.
It’s another fastball, this one is slightly lower and allows Nimmo to get a piece. It’s a good pitch to hit and Nimmo still couldn’t put it in play, so Crawford should feel comfortable continuing with the fastball.
This is nasty. Going into last night, Crawford had thrown just 13 two-strike curveballs this season. After three fastballs, he throws a curveball that perfectly mirrors his fastball spin and movement. While it may look like a fastball out of the hand, it falls off the table and Nimmo is left lunging.
There is so much information available to hitters in today’s game that pitching requires constant adaptation. Nimmo more than likely doesn’t have the curveball on his brain at all, and can only wave and miss at this pitch. Great job by Crawford.
AB #3: Mark Vientos
Vientos is the first righty of the game. He has huge power, but also tons of whiff. The book on Vientos is to keep the ball away from him.
Vientos gets a first-pitch cutter on the outside edge and hits it decently hard but right at Rafaela for the third out. The pitch starts over the middle of the plate and finishes on the outer half, making it hard for Vientos to really pull the ball like he wants to. While the contact is hard, it’s still a good first pitch by Crawford for the third out.
Let’s jump ahead to the sixth inning as the lineup is just about to turn over. It’ll be Crawford’s third time facing the top of the order with his pitch count beginning to reach its limit.
AB #1: Francisco Alvarez
Whenever the ninth hitter leads off the inning, it’s an important out. It should be one of the lineups weaker hitters and the top of the lineup is looming. Facing strong hitters with nobody on base is much easier than dealing with a runner, so dispatching the leadoff man is vital.
Alvarez isn’t a particularly dangerous hitter. He expands the zone often, chases often, and doesn’t hit the ball particularly hard. He struggles particularly with pitches on the outer half, so he should see plenty of cutters and sweepers. In his first at-bat, he struck out on four cutters off the plate.
Here’s a sweeper that Alvarez fouls off for strike one. Based on the swing, he was probably expecting a cutter and is out in front. Crawford should continue to keep the ball away until Alvarez proves he can lay off.
Cutter, off the plate and it’s again fouled off. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Nicely done. Alvarez showed that he couldn’t hit the pitch away, and Crawford executed it several times. There’s no need to overthink it with a hitter of Alvarez’s caliber.
AB #2: Francisco Lindor
In Lindor’s second at-bat, Crawford tried to use the same approach of fastballs up and cutters up and in to Lindor. He left a cutter slightly too far over the plate and Lindor put it in the bleachers.
He again starts Lindor with a cutter, slightly too far inside for ball one. Good pitch.
Here’s a fastball above the zone that Lindor can’t catch up to. To this point, Crawford has pitched Lindor up in the zone and it’s clear Lindor has his sights set high.
At 1-1, Lindor fouls off another high fastball for strike two. With two strikes in the third matchup between the two, now would be the time for Crawford to go down in the zone.
Crawford tries to change the eye level with a curveball, but it’s a little bit too low and Lindor manages to hold up. Following the take, Lindor may think Crawford will go back to his original gameplan of staying up in the zone, making this a good opportunity to throw another curveball.
Crawford tries to jam Lindor with a cutter, but Lindor manages to tap it foul. The curveball doesn’t pair with the cutter as well as it does the four-seamer, but it’s still an option.
Now this is pitching. Crawford throws just his second splitter of the outing that starts on the outside edge and fades away from the hitter. Through three at-bats, Lindor had seen pitches moving vertically or towards him. With this pitch starts on the edge, he’s likely thinking it will remain in the zone, causing him to try to fight it off. It runs off the plate, and all he can do is ground it to first for the second out.
AB #3: Brandon Nimmo
In Nimmo’s second at-bat, he flew out to center on a splitter that was left up in the zone.
Fastball, fouled back for strike one.
Perfectly spotted splitter that Nimmo is out in front of for strike two. With two strikes, two outs, and nobody on base, there’s no reason for Crawford to give Nimmo anything good to hit.
Crawford changes eye levels by going too the fastball up and inside. It gets on Nimmo’s hands and he weakly pops out to end the inning.
Outside of the mistake he made to Lindor, Crawford was nearly perfect on Tuesday night. Recently, Crawford has decreased his sweeper usage in exchange for his cutter and fastball. In the outing against the Royals, he struggled to locate his sweeper and couldn’t put hitters away. By using his cutter more often, he can use his fastball more often in two-strike counts to end at-bats. Pitchers need to constantly adjust to survive in this league, and it appears Crawford may have found the latest tweak to elevate his arsenal.