Whatever you want to call Jeurys Familia‘s new pitch, there is no denying that it works. A recent piece by Andy Martino of the Daily News detailed the backstory behind Familia’s new pitch and it might shed a little light on why it is coming in at such a high velocity.
In the days since, people have taken to calling the pitch a splitter, which is basically accurate. But the truth is a bit more subtle. When I asked Familia about the pitch, he grabbed a baseball and first showed his two-seam grip, where his index and middle fingers touch.
Then, he slid the fingers apart just a little bit, not nearly as wide as the standard splitter grip.
A couple days ago, Brian Devine noted Mark Simon’s calculation of Familia’s average splitter velocity, which clocked in at 93.9 MPH and stood out as the fastest splitter in the league.
Over the years, baseball fans have heard many stories about successful pitchers using different grips to throw traditional pitches — and although only a small sample size has been presented, this grip seems to present a favorable situation for Familia.
FanGraphs shows that Familia’s four-seamer checks in around 96.3 MPH and the sinker at 97.1 MPH, so the approximate 3 MPH difference with the sharp drop has turned this pseudo-splitter into an excellent weapon for him so far.
Familia goes on to mention that the pitch has been a project between Dan Warthen, Ricky Bones, and himself for a little while now.
“I’ve been throwing it like this for a couple years (in the bullpen), but now I trust it enough to use” in games, Familia said.
Turning 26 in October, Familia stands to be arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason, which provides the Mets with control over him throughout the 2018 season.
Hopefully, this means the Mets will not need to worry about the closer position for years to come.
His 36 saves in 2015 are already 5th most in Mets single-season history, and he is quickly approaching the franchise single-season mark held by Armando Benitez with 43. No hard feelings, Armando. 😀
