Let’s take a look at the phallically-named pitcher’s debut.
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.
On Sunday, the Red Sox called up Richard Fitts to start against Chicago. You probably know him from various crude jokes made about his name. Aside from the endless possibilities of phallic puns, he’s a big, bulky, righty with a hard fastball as well as a few different breaking balls. While it was a spot start against the White Sox, diving into a debut is always fun, so let’s take a look.
AB #1: Zach DeLoach
Fitts’ first pitch in the big leagues is a 96 MPH fastball down the middle that’s fouled off for strike one. While it is “only” a Sunday afternoon against the hapless White Sox, there’s likely some adrenaline at play. As the outing progresses, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a little more command and a little less velocity.
He follows it up with the exact same pitch, and it’s again fouled off. Fitts’ fastball isn’t an outlier in terms of movement. While the velocity is solid and he extends down the mound well, he’ll need to locate the pitch better to survive. He gets away with it here (Thanks, White Sox) to get to 0-2. Let’s see a breaking ball now.
Nice. Fitts goes to his slider and keeps it at the bottom of the zone. DeLoach gets the bat to it, but can’t drive it and lazily flies out for the first out. Great start.
AB #2: Luis Robert
If you’ve read these in the past, you’ll know how much I love the ability to throw a first pitch-breaking ball in the zone. Hitters are so often looking for a first-pitch fastball to drive, resulting in a free strike when a pitcher flips in a curveball or slider. Here, Robert has his eyes set on a fastball and is fooled by the slider. He’s out in front and pokes it to left field. Unfortunately for Fitts, it happens to find some grass. You can’t be mad about this one, that’s baseball.
AB #3: Andrew Benintendi
Fitts starts with a fastball up and inside that Benintendi swings through. Only 94 MPH this time, but in a perfect location.
He goes back to the fastball and sails this one. That’s first-day-at-work adrenaline right there.
At 1-1, Fitts changes speeds and goes with a slider. Once again, he spots it nicely at the bottom of the zone and Benintendi is out in front. The swing indicates that Benintendi was still geared up for the fastball, but he did still manage to adjust to the slider, so it may be difficult to punch him out unless the ball is in the dirt. A changeup makes a lot of sense here, though Fitts’ slow ball isn’t very polished.
Fastball, well above the zone. Benintendi thinks about taking a hack but manages to lay off. It can still work, it just needs to be a little closer to the zone.
Here’s another fastball that’s located better but still can’t induce the swing. With a full count, Fitts needs to find the zone.
Fitts picked off Robert here. I don’t have a video, but he did.
Nicely done. It’s yet another heater up and on the outer half. It’s hittable, but Benintendi just isn’t that guy anymore and rolls over it and ends the inning.
In the first inning, we saw Fitts navigate through the first three hitters using just two pitches. In the big leagues, that isn’t enough to be a starting pitcher. It may get you through the lineup once, but you need more tricks in your bag to get deeper into games. Let’s jump back to the top of the order to see what the second time through looks like.
AB #4 Zach DeLoach
Fastball, on the corner for strike one. Great pitch.
I love to see this. It’s the first splitter of the outing, which was likely premeditated by Fitts. It’s well located away from DeLoach and has a nice velocity difference from his fastball. DeLoach swings through it for strike two, leaving the door open for Fitts to throw whatever he wants. I wouldn’t hate another splitter.
Fastball. Too high. Same scenario.
Better fastball, still no swing. At 2-2, I’d change the eye level and go down in the zone.
Fitts goes back to the splitter, but DeLoach isn’t interested. Again, it’s not a terrible pitch, just good plate discipline by the hitter. With the count full and Robert on deck, Fitts should throw whatever he’s most confident in. I’d expect a fastball.
Yup. It’s a fastball down the middle and DeLoach taps it back to the mound for the third out of the inning.
AB #5 Luis Robert
Jumping ahead to the fourth inning, Luis Robert comes to the plate for his second appearance.
Once again, Fitts starts Robert with a breaking ball. It’s a sweeper this time, and Robert again takes a hack. The sweeper is a little slower than the slider and also comes with a little more horizontal movement. Given Robert’s aggressiveness early in at-bats, I’d continue to throw him breaking balls until he adjusts.
Fitts goes back to the sweeper, but Robert lays off this one.
Again, Fitts stays soft by throwing a slider. After seeing a few, Robert keeps his weight back and is able to hit it back up the middle. Not a horrible pitch, but tripling up against a good hitter is a tough proposition.
AB #6 Andrew Benintendi
With a runner on first, Benintendi takes a fastball right down the middle. I don’t mind the decision to begin the at-bat with velocity given Benintendi’s first at-bat, but this is in a bad spot and will be punished by better hitters. Don’t throw that one again.
Here’s another fastball that misses high. Calm down a little bit, Richard.
Fitts triples up on the fastball and Benintendi gets a hold of it for a base hit. It’s in a good location, but Fitts’ fastball isn’t enough of an outlier to throw over and over again.
AB #7 Andrew Vaughn
We didn’t watch Vaughn’s first at-bat, but I’ll note that he saw two sweepers and singled on an incredible soft ground ball.
Nice. Fitts spots a first pitch slider in the zone and Vaughn flies out to center field. Even with Vaughn prepared for the breaking ball, the location helps prevent serious damage. Well done.
AB #8 Korey Lee
In Lee’s first at-bat, he flew out on a first-pitch slider.
First-pitch sweeper. Fouled off.
Fastball, again fouled off. At 0-2, Fitts should keep the ball below the strike zone. The fastball away from Lee sets up one of his breaking pitches well and keeping the ball down increases the chances of a ground ball.
This is perfect. The ball starts in the same spot as the previous pitch but is 10 MPH slower and breaks hard away from Lee. He’s caught off balance and can only ground back to Fitts who starts a double play.
We watched two innings against one of the worst baseball teams of all time, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned from this. First and foremost, Fitts ability to command his breaking balls jumped out at me. Early in at-bats, he felt comfortable enough to spot his breaking balls which earned him strikes and quick outs. I’d like to see more swing-and-miss in his arsenal as White Sox hitters were often able to adjust when they were caught in front, but better fastball command may help in that area.
Fitts will need more tricks in his bag to get deep into games with regularity, but this is a debut, and he navigated through six innings successfully. All in all, I left the outing with a positive impression, even if I wasn’t blown away. Fitts will likely never anchor a staff, but he can be a useful piece of a Major League rotation for years to come.