STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Joe Musgrove's June has been off-kilter to say the least.
After coming oh-so-close to misplacing a stitch on Josh Donaldson's jersey back on June 10 -- warranting an ejection, obviously -- the big right hander could not get anything going on his next start just three days later. Pitching on two days' rest, Musgrove could only last four innings of six-run ball.
The "Big Joe" that was seen throughout the season's first month was back on display in his next start, however, with seven strong innings giving the Pirates a much-needed boost.
Is the outing indicative of Musgrove being able to find his early-season level again after a month and change in the wilderness? With his importance to the club's fortunes, I felt it appropriate to take a deeper look at this start.
Musgrove told our John Perrotto that he wanted to stay on the attack against Padres hitters, and his pitch selection proves that to be true. For the first time this season, he threw more sliders than four-seamers, by a percentage of 37.1 percent for the slider versus 29.5 percent fastballs. That slider usage was easily the highest volume of hard breakers he has thrown in any one game since coming over in the Gerrit Cole trade.
What one might find intriguing about his slider usage is that he only used it three times to get back into counts. Musgrove threw 15 total pitches when behind in the count -- his lowest total this year.
No, the pitch was used as a classic put-away pitch with nine total outs being finished with it via five strikeouts and five batted ball outs. This outing will no doubt help his "put away percentage," which is actually just what it sounds like: The percentages of times a pitch is thrown to put away a hitter. Before this start, the put away percentage on Musgrove's slider was at 26.8 percent, not far from his 2018 rate of 26.4 percent but a bit away from the MLB-wide rate of 32.4 percent. After this start, this metric has seen an increase to 29.8 percent.
Looking at Musgrove's slider year-over-year sees a minor change that might be unlocking something in the slider for him.
Here's a look at where he has positioned himself on the rubber for a slider against right-handed hitters, year over year:
Even with slightly different camera angles, one can see that, when pitching from a windup, Musgrove starts at one extreme end of the rubber. We've learned from slider-heavy pitchers such as Francisco Liriano that sliders are fickle, and can be greatly changed by seemingly minor factors. Musgrove has moved it in a bit this year, offering it from a similar position to both left- and right-handed hitters. The result might be an ability to locate it more consistently.
Here's a look at it in action:
Again, not necessarily a huge change, but you can see the intent here. Musgrove's pitch against Russell Martin falls off the plane with good horizontal action as well. In fact, Musgrove has had far greater movement on this pitch in 2019, with 6.7 inches more horizontal movement versus the league average. In 2018, he could only muster 1.6 inches more movement versus the average.
This movement serves him well in sequencing, such as these two consecutive pitches against Manny Machado:
All told, these two pitches carried 13.1 inches in difference between the low slider and the high four-seam. The result was two consecutive called strikes against a dangerous hitter. When the slider is working, the fastball has life and the sequencing is right, great things can happen for any pitcher.
Joe Musgrove has the tools to be just as workmanlike as you saw him on Friday. By embracing his entire arsenal and pitching with a purpose -- in this case, attacking -- he has a good chance to consistently replicate such starts.
MORE MOUND VISIT
June 21: Frazier's folly
June 20: Keller’s stuff examined
June 19: Advanced fielding stats and you
June 18: Crick’s slider is a sight
