Not in the zone, no problem

 

Baseball is an interesting sport with a lot of fun. For a pitcher, he has to throw strikes. Additionally, he has to throw pitches outside of the strike zone to deceive batters. In the 2022 season, some pitchers did deceive batters well because they threw pitches outside the strike zone and successfully generated swings and misses. In particular, some pitchers generated much more swings and misses than they did in 2021.

 

After checking on the statcast website, here’s what I found.

 

Swings and Misses Changes (Outside the zone, 2021-2022)
Player	Whiff (2021)	Whiff (2022)	Change
Carlos Carrasco	59	206	147 (+)
Shane Bieber	167	271	104 (+)
Pablo Lopez	105	204	99 (+)
Drew Rasmussen	63	162	99 (+)
Jose Quintana	101	188	87 (+)
Shohei Ohtani	135	217	82 (+)
David Peterson	69	149	80 (+)
Dean Kremer	42	119	77 (+)
Gerrit Cole	225	301	76 (+)
Framber Valdez	145	219	74 (+)

 

Carlos Carrasco was on the injured list for a while in 2021 and he made only 12 starts. He posted a 6.04 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP over 53.2 innings last season. This season, Carrasco owns a 3.97 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP in 152 innings. He generated 200+ swings and misses outside the strike zone in 2022. Mostly, those swings and misses were from his slider and changeup.

 

Shane Bieber missed some playing due to shoulder issues last season. In 2021, he created 167 swings and misses out of the strike zone in 96.2 innings. This season, he made 31 starts and threw 200 innings. Bieber generated 271 swings and misses outside the strike zone in 2022. Those swings and misses were mostly from his slider and knuckle curve.

 

In addition, Pablo Lopez earned 10 wins in 2022 and it’s his first season to have 10+ wins. He generated 200 swings and misses out of the strike zone and nearly 60% of those swings and misses came from his changeup. During the regular season, Pablo Lopez used his changeup 35.3% of the time.

 

Moreover, Drew Rasmussen made 10 starts and 25 relief appearances last season and this season, he’s an important starting pitcher in the Rays rotation. Rasmussen owned a 2.84 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP over 146 innings in 2022. During the regular season, he created 162 swings and misses outside the strike zone. The majority of those whiffs came from his slider and cutter.

 

Finally, Jose Quintana created 188 swings and misses outside the strike zone this season. Most of those swings and misses were from his curveball and four-seam fastball. Furthermore, Shohei Ohtani generated 217 swings and misses outside the strike zone in 2022 and the majority of those whiffs came from his slider and splitter. During the regular season, Ohtani’s slider usage increased from 22% to nearly 40%. At the same time, Gerrit Cole created more than 300 swings and misses out of the strike zone in 2022. More than 40% of those whiffs came from his slider.

 

Carlos Carrasco and Shane Bieber each spent some time on the IL in 2021. When we see them on the top of the chart, we shouldn’t be too surprised because they each tossed more innings in the 2022 season. However, it can tell us that they know how to deceive hitters by throwing pitches outside the strike zone. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani used more sliders in the 2022 season and it helped him generate more swings and misses. His ERA drops from 3.18 to 2.33, thus, his pitching performance is even better.