The 2023 season was over. The year of 2023 is coming to an end soon. At the end of the year, I guess it might not be bad to review something. While thinking about reviewing, I began to think about a key policy.
On June 21, 2021, the MLB enforced the rule of prohibiting the use of foreign substances by pitchers. We’ve seen some changes after the rules were enforced. At the end of this year, again, I checked on the statcast website to see if there are some changes.
Back in 2021, before the rules were enforced, the league’s average spin rate of four-seam fastballs was over 2300 rpm. Back then, the average velocity of four-seamers was 93.7 mph, league wide.
After the rule enforcement, the average velocity of four-seamers didn’t change dramatically. However, as we can see, the average spin rate of 4-seamers dropped to 2248 mph in the MLB.
Last year, the league average four-seam fastball velocity increased to 93.9 mph and the league average spin rate of 4-seamers rose to 2274 rpm. This year, things just keep changing. The league average velocity of 4-seamers was over 94 mph. Additionally, the average spin rate of 4-seamers increased to 2283 rpm.
As we can see, over the last 2 seasons, there's been an increase in 4-seamer velocity and 4-seamer spin rate in the league.
Finally, let’s look at some pitchers, who throw four-seamers that spin a little bit more. Ryan Helsley made 33 relief appearances in 2023 and used his four-seamer more than 55% of the time during the regular season. His average 4-seamer spin rate was 2642 rpm in 2023 and in 2022, his four-seamer spun at a rate of 2643 rpm. Moreover, rookie Eury Perez made 19 starts for the Marlins this year, posting a 3.15 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. His four-seamer usage was over 45% and the average spin rate was 2635 rpm.
In the meantime, Jason Adam made 56 relief appearances for the Rays and tossed 54.1 innings. He used his four-seamer 33.4% of the time during the 2023 season and the average spin rate of his four-seamer was 2625 rpm. In 2022, his average 4-seamer spin rate was 2654 rpm. Furthermore, Lucas Sims threw his four-seamer 43.6% of the time during the regular season. His average four-seamer spin rate was 2620 rpm this year and in 2022, the average spin rate of his four-seamer was 2491 rpm. Additionally, opponents’ batting average against Sim’s fastballs dropped from .375 to .191. It seems that a four-seamer with higher spin rate works well.
It's quite clear that after the foreign substance rule enforcement, the league average four-seamer spin rate hasn’t reached 2300 rpm. However, the league average four-seamer velocity increased to 94.2 mph in 2023 and the league average spin rate went up a little bit as well. In the coming season, it might be worthwhile to see if the league average spin rate of four-seam fastball will increase again. Moreover, which pitchers will be able to throw four-seamers that frequently spin at a rate over 2600 rpm?
No comments:
Post a Comment