Stat Line: 7 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 10 SO, 4 BB
Jacob deGrom threw the sharpest moving pitches of his season last night against the Colorado Rockies. With a quick, compact pitching motion, deGrom used incredible hand speed attacking the Rockies hitters resulting in 10 strikeouts. The most pivotal strikeout came in the bottom of the fifth inning against Charlie Blackmon.
After the Mets took the lead scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, deGrom allowed a double on the first pitch of the fifth inning to All-Star second baseman DJ LeMahieu. DeGrom quickly found himself with baserunners on second and third base with two outs and leadoff hitter Blackmon at-bat.
Blackmon is a 29 year-old strong left-handed hitter batting .285 with 13 homeruns and 46 RBI thus far in 2015.
In Blackmon’s first two at-bats against deGrom, he rolled over on outside changeups with groundballs to second baseman Wilmer Flores. Since Blackmon only swung at the two pitches that he put in play (no foul balls or swing and misses), deGrom didn’t have in-game information to work off of other than, Blackmon struggles with his low and outside changeup.
DeGrom narrowly missed with a 96 mph fastball on the outside corner to fall behind 1-0. In this spot, deGrom needed to challenge Blackmon with another fastball for two reasons:
- Blackmon had not shown any attempt to swing at a fastball in his previous at-bats. It’s fair to assume Blackmon either takes another fastball for a called strike or swings slightly behind a 96 mph fastball.
- Although first base was open, deGrom did not want to load the bases with two veteran lefties on deck in Jose Reyes and Carlos Gonzalez.
DeGrom proceed to blow a 97 mph fastball past Blackmon for a swinging strike.
Consequently, deGrom challenged Blackmon again with another 96 mph fastball. Blackmon was noticeably late, fighting off the pitch foul down the left field line.
With the count at 1-2, deGrom threw a 96 mph fastball high and inside to brush Blackmon off the plate. This fastball was important for two reasons:
- It forced Blackmon to feel uncomfortable in the batter’s box. Not only is a 96 mph fastball under his chin terrifying but also forces Blackmon to refocus on the at-bat after distracted by getting up off the ground, walking around outside the batter’s box and collecting his thoughts.
- More importantly, it changed Blackmon’s eye level from knee and thigh pitches seen in both his previous at-bats and current at-bat, to chest and shoulder high.
This change in eye level sets up deGrom’s 2-2 curveball low and outside. Blackmon showed strong discipline laying off called ball, pushing the at-bat to a full 3-2 count.
Typically, deGrom throws this curveball low and inside at the left-handed hitters back foot. Traditionally, lefties struggle with a curveball in the location, either fouling it off their inside foot or swing and missing for a strikeout.
Blackmon is a different lefty. According to ESPN Hot Zone Charts, in 2014 Blackmon batted .417 with two strikes on low and inside pitches. Conversely, he batted only .222 with two strikes on low and outside pitches. Although deGrom may not specifically know this statistic, he has access to video of all Blackmon’s swings in any count dating back to 2014 along with countless scouting reports giving him this information.
Many pitchers live by the motto, “Never get beat on anything but your best pitch”.
DeGrom proceeded to fire a 97 mph fastball low and outside past Blackmon’s swing and miss for a strikeout.
DeGrom made an excellent decision in pitch selection. He threw his best pitch, in the most important moment of the game, against Blackmon who showed he couldn’t keep up with deGrom’s fastball, in the location where Blackmon is least successful.
Crisis averted.
Follow Chris Zaccherio on Twitter @ziography for more Mets pitching insight that goes beyond statistics.
