Home runs are important elements in today’s baseball. Fans love to watch home runs in games. However, pitchers definitely don’t like to give up any home runs. We always see pitchers frustrated after giving up a homer. In 2020, there were 2304 homers during the regular season. And I went to visit the statcast website.
Nearly 41% of home runs allowed were come off four-seamer in 2020. There is not much doubt that the majority of homers were come off four-seamer since it’s the most commonly used in the majors. Nearly 16% of homers were come off slider and almost 15% of homers allowed were come off sinker. Also, more than 11% long balls were off changeup. And, one homer was off Erik Kratz’s knuckleball.
Ross Stripling gave up 13 home runs in 2020, 11 homers were come off his four-seamer. Batting average against his four-seamer was .333. He has to think of improving his four-seamer this offseason.
The Pirates designated Trevor Williams for assignment. He gave up 15 home runs, most home runs allowed by a pitcher in 2020, and 11 were come off his four-seamer. Batting average against his four-seamer was .270.
Robbie Ray tried out new mechanics in 2020, but the results were not as good as expected. He allowed 13 homers and 10 were come off his four-seamer.
Chris Paddack was a promising rookie pitcher in 2019, but he had a rough sophomore year. Batting average against his four-seamer went up to .308 in 2020 and it was .204 in 2019. He gave up 14 homers and 10 came off his four-seamer.
Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole gave up 14 home runs and 9 were come off his four-seamer.
Kenta Maeda increased his slider usage from 31.5% in 2019 to 38.6% in 2020. Batting average against his slider was .216 in this shortened season. He allowed 7 homers off his slider in 2019 and 2020 each.
Mike Minor signed a two-year deal with the Royals. It will be important for him to use his slider effectively. He gave up 6 homers off his slider and batting average against his slider was .298.
Derek Holland has thrown a lot of sinkers in his 12 seasons in the majors so far. Batting average against his sinker was .253 in 2020 and he gave up 8 homers off his sinker. At the same time, 5 pitchers gave up 6 homers off their sinkers in 2020.
Steven Matz gave up 14 homers in 2020, 6 of them were come off his sinker and 5 were come off his changeup. xwOBA against his sinker and changeup each went above .380.
Zach Davies actually had a good 2020. He posted an ERA of 2.73 and his WHIP was 1.07. Batting average against his changeup was only .176. He gave up 9 homers, 5 were come off his changeup.
Madison Bumgarner’s first season with the Diamondbacks didn’t go as expected. He made 9 starts and finished the season with a 6.48 ERA and a WHIP of 1.44. Batting average against his cutter was .288 and he allowed 7 homers off his cutter.
Aaron Nola’s knuckle curve was one of the very nasty pitches in the majors. Batting average against his knuckle curve was only .187. Unfortunately, MLB hitters crushed 5 homers against his nasty curve.
Most of the long balls came from four-seamers in 2020 and we should not be surprised. We also see that certain pitches from some pitchers were hit hard. Some pitchers who can throw nasty pitches unluckily gave up homers or some MLB hitters just can crush baseballs. It’s always important to review performance in the offseason and learn how to make adjustments and improve to avoid the same mistakes in the next season.
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