A couple of days ago, I watched some baseball highlights on YouTube. In a video, I saw some pitchers throw nasty curveballs, which lots of batters chose to swing, but missed. After watching the highlight, I just wondered which pitchers throw a lot of curveballs that truly fool batters.
Since 2021, curveball has been Charlie Morton’s primary pitch. Morton used his curveball 36.7% of the time in 2021 and last season, the curveball usage increased to 38%. In 2023, he throws his curveball more than 40% of the time. The outcome is pretty good. He already generated 170+ swings and misses via his curveball. By far this season, the average velocity of Morton’s curveball is 82.4 mph, additionally, his curveball spins at a rate of 3079 rpm, on average.
In addition, Drew Smyly has been in the big leagues for 10 seasons. In 2023, he made 21 starts and 3 relief appearances for the Cubs thus far. He uses his curveball nearly 50% of the time this season. And, his curveball already created 140+ swings and misses. By far this season, the average spin rate of his curveball is 2093 rpm and the average velocity is 78.3 mph.
On June 28, Domingo German tossed a perfect game. It’s the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball. In the game, German generated 17 swings and misses. Among those 17 swings and misses, 12 came via his curveball. Curveball is his primary pitch with a usage of 40.9% of the time this season and he created 148 swings and misses by throwing his curveball. The average velocity of German’s curveball is 82.9 mph and the average spin rate is 2665 rpm. However, due to some personal issues, we will not see him on the mound in the rest of the season.
In the meantime, Aaron Nola throws a curveball with an average velocity below 80 mph as well and his curveball generates a lot of swings and misses. By far this season, Nola created 144 whiffs by throwing his curveball. Last season, Nola used this curveball 26.5% of the time and in 2023, his curveball usage has increased to more than 30%. His curveball is the primary pitch now.
Finally, Zac Gallen, Alex Lange, Framber Valdez, Blake Snell and Zach Eflin each generated 100+ whiffs by throwing curveballs. Among these 5 pitchers, only Alex Lange is a reliever. Lange made 47 relief appearances by far this season. He uses his curveball nearly 60% of the time and the whiff rate of his curveball is more than 50%. The average velocity of his curveball is 86.9 mph.
For some pitchers, a curveball is an extremely important pitch arsenal. As we can see, Morton’s curveball has a higher spin rate and it does generate swings and misses. The Braves are now leading the NL East and it’s highly possible to see them clinch a postseason berth. Thus, we will probably see Morton throw his curveball in the playoffs. However, it will be interesting to see whether his curveball will still work well in the postseason. In particular, can his curveball generate a lot of swings and misses in the postseason?
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