Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher’s performance from every Thursday game. I apologize for the jokes written in my delirium in advance. Have questions? Ask me during my office hours on Twitch.tv weekday mornings from 10 am-12 pm ET.
Taj Bradley (MIN) @ KCR (W) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 100 pitches.
Is it time for me to fully embrace Taj Bradley? He displayed improved execution in his first start of the year against the Orioles and Thursday showcased a 73% strike four-seamer in his successful afternoon in Kansas City: 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 100 pitches (W). This is it, Nick. He also has improved movement and a tick more velocity! Boy, I really hope so, and yet, this could be a trap.
Taj absolutely located his four-seamer better than what I traditionally see from him, and yet, the pitch returned 1/56 whiffs on the day. Meanwhile, his curveball was 1/6 strikes, his splitter was all over the place, and the cutter was in the general area of where it wanted to be against RHB…with a 52% strike rate. What are you saying? I’m saying this is clearly not a fixed arm who is destined to command his arsenal effectively.
And yet, I can’t help but wonder. Is Bradley a worse Ryne Nelson? 56% four-seamers here without a truly reliable breaking ball, 19/20″ of vert at 97 mph… If that fastball can hold these metrics (especially the strike rate!), then I’m okay watching him futz around with the secondaries, but given his track record and the inability to miss bats, I have to keep skepticism. In the short term, feel free to ride it one more time vs. DET if you want to live on the edge.
Let’s see how every other SP did Thursday:
Cole Ragans (KCR) vs MIN (L) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks – 16 Whiffs, 39% CSW, 89 pitches.
Aces gonna ace for a well-earned “King Cole.” An unearned run caused by an errant pickoff throw from the catcher caused Ragans to take the L here. Pouring salt in the wound moments later, Ragans struck out the batter to end the inning. Anyway, the four-seamer added movement and sat 96+ mph early, falling to 91/92 for a brief moment in the fifth before closing on 95.6, and his slider + changeup tallied all the whiffs. Now it’s @CLE + CHW and pew. Pew. PEW.
Reynaldo López (ATL) @ ARI (W) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 79 pitches.
He’s doing exactly what I said he’d do – throw softer four-seamers at 93/94 mph, backed mostly by slow 82 mph sliders with a 52% strike rate – and yet, he produced again. It doesn’t make sense. He located around the edges with the heater and slide piece effectively, but one baserunner per inning? Really?! I’d still be cautious against the Angels and even the Marlins up next. But he’s been good! Fine, you do you. I don’t trust this heater to avoid this much damage.
Robbie Ray (SFG) vs NYM (W) – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks – 19 Whiffs, 33% CSW, 96 pitches.
That’s a Gallows Pole for Ray and we’ll take this all day. He really went upstairs with the heater and stayed down with his secondaries, including 14 changeups to RHB with a 29% SwStr rate (we love that). The slider is a new one, down three ticks with an equivalent exchange for movement that would get both Elrics excited. And me. I’m excited. The breaker went 8/25 whiffs on the night, destroying the few LHB he saw + he nailed it down-and-in to RHB. This is the Ray you want.
Ryne Nelson (ARI) vs ATL (L) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 80 pitches.
That four-seamer is still elite…except when he throws it down the pipe to Olson in a full count. Dom Smith also hit a solo shot. Yeah, but that’s Dom Smith on a better heater at 97 mph upstairs. NOT THE SAME. Olson clearly had his number, also returning the third and final hit of Nelson’s night – a double off an 0-0 inside cutter that I kinda love, but needs to get a little higher next time – that capped an unextended fifth frame. It was truly horrific – eight runs scored before it was all over – and I don’t want it to hide what’s important: Nelson has a new approach. He’s going slider heavy to LHB (an elite gyro slider at 89 mph with -5″ sweep), and curveballs + cutters to RHB. The former still needs some polish as the movement was volatile, snagging sub 60% strikes, while the latter has the most potential at 92 mph and significant drop relative to the 96/97 mph four-seamer…but he went 5/11 strikes (squeezed twice, for what it’s worth). He’s so close. Or maybe he’s actually already there. I’m buying everywhere. This feels like the obvious signs we wonder how we miss in retrospect.
David Peterson (NYM) @ SFG (L) – 4.1 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 34% CSW, 68 pitches.
Welp, this wasn’t fun. I said it would go well if Peterson could throw strikes, and, uh, he threw 67% strikes. Whoops. Koufax really didn’t want to help a fellow southpaw out, and Peterson was “singled out” of this one quickly. That said, he didn’t execute the best fastballs and his changeup wasn’t what he wanted it to be. Can we call Peterson a 15-team “HIPSTER?” That feels right to me.
Game of the Day
Eury Pérez vs. Will Warren – I love watching Eury and I hope Warren can find the secondary whiffs.
But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.
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Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)
