A few days ago, we just saw that some teams had some problems against sliders so far this season. I’m also curious to know the slider usage in the 2021 season. So, I went to have a quick check on the statcast website again and there is something very interesting.
Among the 30 MLB teams, Detroit Tigers pitchers throw a lot of sliders and use sliders 28% of the time, leading the majors. Meanwhile, the Rockies pitchers and the Twins pitching staff each use sliders more than 25% of the time. So far, 13 MLB teams use sliders more than 20% of the time. However, pitchers in some teams don’t like to use many sliders. Pitchers of the Phillies only throw sliders 9.1% of the time. Additionally, the Orioles pitchers only use sliders around 12% of the time.
Is throwing more sliders a good idea? Well, let the outcome tell. The Padres pitchers use sliders 17.2% of the time and opponents only bat .115. The Brewers pitching staff also use sliders effectively and opponents only hit .136. Furthermore, the Mariners pitchers throw sliders very well and opponents fail to hit .150. Nevertheless, the Phillies and the Blue Jays might have to help their pitchers to use sliders more effectively because opponents hit above .250 against their sliders. In addition, batters hit .281 when Oakland A’s pitchers throw sliders. This is a problem that the A’s would have to find solutions.
And when we look at xwOBA. We know that it’s not a surprise that the Brewers pitchers throw sliders effectively. Batters only have a .209 xwOBA against the Brewer pitchers’ sliders. At the same time, the Whites Sox are confident to see their pitchers throw sliders and xwOBA against their sliders was only .210.
We already see that some teams love to use sliders. Now, let’s see who uses sliders frequently.
Clayton Kershaw might lose his fastball velocity and he probably won’t regain it. However, the 3-time Cy Young winner is still one of the most dominant pitchers in the league. Kershaw now throws more sliders than his four-seam fastballs. So far in this season, Kershaw has used sliders more than 46% of the time. And, his sliders are really hard to hit, batters only hit .236 against Kershaw’s sliders.
Jon Gray’s slider usage increases from 29.2% last season to 38.6% and it works. So far in this season, batters only hit .139 against Gray’s slider and xwOBA was only .240. Last season, xwOBA against his slider was .308. It will be worth watching whether Gary will continue throwing more sliders.
Kenta Maeda had a great 2020 by using more sliders. This season, he uses even more sliders. His slider usage goes up to 43%, however, the outcome wasn’t what he expected. Batting average was only .216 against Maeda’s sliders in 2020, but in this season, batters hit .382 against his sliders. Maeda has some work to do in this long season.
Chad Kuhl from the Pirates also throws more than 120 sliders so far. MLB hitters only hit .222 against his sliders, nonetheless, xwOBA against his sliders is .361. We have to keep an eye on his consistency.
Freddy Peralta only allows 2 hits when he throws sliders. His slider is giving MLB hitters a lot of problems. So far, batters only hit .077 against Peralta’s sliders.
Antonio Senzatela’s slider usage increases from 24.8% to 36.3% in 2021. Nonetheless, the result is not so good. Batting average against his sliders was only .165, but so far in 2021, it rises to .276. Senzatela has something to work on during the season.
Each team already played around 20 games so far in 2021 and we see that some pitchers have a good start with throwing sliders effectively. However, some pitchers would still have to make adjustments to make their sliders work. And the good thing is that they still have time since it’s just the very beginning of a long season.
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