Slider first

A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show and an analyst demonstrated that a pitcher likes to throw his slider at the first pitch. After listening to the show, I was just thinking about other pitchers who did the same in the 2022 season.

To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.

Last year, Dylan Cease had a great season. He owned a 2.20 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP over 184 innings. He used his slider nearly 43% of the time during the regular season and opponents only batted .128 against his slider. Additionally, he threw his slider at the first pitch 254 times. Nearly 27% of those sliders were called strikes. Moreover, his first-pitch sliders generated 60+ swings and misses. In addition, Shohei Ohtani earned 15 wins in 2022. Last season, he owned a 2.33 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP over 166 innings. Back in 2021, Ohtani used his slider 22.2% of the time and last year, he threw his slider 37.4% of the time. In 2022, opponents only hit .162 against Ohtani’s slider. Furthermore, Ohtani threw his slider at the first pitch 248 times. 35.5% of those sliders were called strikes and Ohtani’s first-pitch sliders created 38 swings and misses. Meanwhile, Logan Webb got 15 wins last season as well. Webb made 32 starts, posting a 2.90 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP in 192.1 innings. His slider usage increased from 27.7% to 32.7%. Webb threw his slider at the first pitch 236 times. 39% of those first-pitch sliders were called strikes. However, sinker is his primary weapon because he used his sinker nearly 33% of the time in 2022. At the same time, Dane Dunning threw his slider at the first pitch 224 times. Nonetheless, among those first-pitch sliders, 45.1% of them were balls and only 28.6% of them were called strikes. But, Dunning’s slider is still his key pitch arsenal. He used his slider nearly 28% of the time last season and opponents only batted .202. Finally, Robbie Ray and Patrick Corbin each threw first-pitch sliders 212 times last year. However, the results were quite different. Corbin gave up 13 hits while throwing a slider at the first pitch. In the meantime, Robbie Ray gave up 8 hits. Furthermore, Sandy Alcantara won the 2022 NL Cy Young award. Last season, he threw his slider 22% of the time and at the first pitch, he used a slider 200 times. 31% of those first-pitch sliders were called strikes. Last season, Dylan Cease used his slider more than 40% of the time and Shohei Ohtani threw a slider nearly 40% of the time. Using sliders effectively truly helps these two pitchers in the 2022 season. Moreover, they are not afraid to throw a slider at the first pitch. In particular, at the first-pitch selection, Ohtani actually used more sliders than 4-seam fastballs. Ohtani dramatically increased his slider usage last season and the result was great. In the 2023 season, it will be very interesting to see whether his slider will be as sharp as it was. Additionally, will MLB batters make adjustments against Ohtani’s sliders?