Welcome back to my pitch review series, where I’ll be taking a look at the five best pitches of each pitch type from last year.
If you haven’t read the first article in the series on the five best changeups from last year, that outlines how this series works, what the prerequisites are to be included, and all that fun stuff (plus there are some pretty cool changeups in there too!). Also check out my piece on the five best curveballs of last year, the five best cutters, and the five best fastballs.
Today, we’re going to take a look at the five best sliders of last year, as ranked by PLV. So let’s dive in!
5. Jacob Lopez
Jacob Lopez’s first full year as a starter wasn’t the best, but there’s certainly some promise to be seen. He finished out the year with a 4.08 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP alongside an excellent 28.3% strikeout rate in 17 starts.
Lopez mainly works with a four-pitch mix, primarily throwing his fastball and slider and then working in a cutter, changeup, and very occasionally a sinker.
The fastball is rough. It comes in slow, around 91 MPH on average, albeit with excellent extension (7.2 feet) and a lot of induced horizontal break, likely thanks to his borderline sidearm delivery. He has trouble controlling the pitch, posting a miserable 41.5% zone rate with it last year, and as a result, tends to make mistakes with it.
But we’re here for the slider, and that slider is quite the pitch. It comes in super slow, around 78 MPH on average, and has a bunch of induced horizontal break on it. Lopez is able to control the slider much better and uses it as his main putaway pitch. With a 38.4% chase rate (81st percentile among sliders) and a 16.3% swinging-strike rate (65th percentile), it worked quite well as a swing-and-miss pitch, and induced weak contact well too, with a 35.5% ICR (70th percentile).
There’s potential there with that slider, but Lopez is going to need to work on the rest of his repertoire, especially his fastball (or replace it with something else like, say, his sinker) if he’s going to have success.
After five straight years of a sub-3.20 ERA out of the bullpen, Andrew Kittredge took a minor step back last year with the Orioles and Cubs, though he also struggled with injuries (comes with the territory of being in your mid-30s, I guess).
Kittredge ended the season with a 3.40 ERA and an excellent (and career-best) 30.8% strikeout rate in 54 games with 15 holds and five saves, and this slider is his bread and butter.
Kittredge throws the slider almost 53% of the time, and it’s a beauty. Coming in around 89 MPH on average with a good bit of horizontal movement to it and loads of spin, Kittredge used his slider as a way to snag a strike early and as his main putaway pitch (which tends to happen when you only throw two pitches).
The pitch posted great numbers, with a 52.5% chase rate (98th percentile among sliders), a 24.1% swinging-strike rate (93rd percentile), and a 35.7% ICR (60th percentile). Hitters couldn’t hit it, and when they did, they didn’t do much with it.
His sinker, on the other hand, was one that he had some trouble with. Mainly a control issue, locating it in the zone just 46.7% of the time and making way too many mistakes with it, leading to a 25% HR/FB rate. But that slider rocks.
3. Reid Detmers
Reid Detmers already got a mention in my best fastballs article, and here he is yet again with another great pitch.
Following a few years as a starter, Detmers ended up in the bullpen last year and posted perfectly okay numbers, with a 3.96 ERA, a 30.1% strikeout rate, 13 holds, and three saves in 61 appearances. With the move to the bullpen, Detmers tweaked his approach a good bit, all but ditching his changeup and sweeper in favor of using his slider and curveball a lot more, and that move towards the slider ended up being a great one.
Detmers’ slider comes in around 88 MPH on average with decent movement, and it worked quite well as a swing-and-miss offering against lefties, mostly tailing away glove-side. Against lefties, the pitch posted excellent chase and whiff numbers, though Detmers had some command issues, offering up some meatballs and leading to an 8% mistake rate (24th percentile among sliders) and a rough 28.6% HR/FB rate. It’s a great swing-and-miss pitch, though.
2. George Kirby
George Kirby has been well known for his great slider for years now, and the pitch was no different last year. However, Kirby was a bit different last year, posting a 4.21 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP (both career-worsts) and a 26.1% strikeout rate (that’s a career best) in 23 starts.
The slider wasn’t the issue, though (the fastball was—he struggled with control and made a habit of tossing up meatballs with it). The pitch comes in around 87 MPH with a ton of horizontal break to it and works beautifully.
Kirby likes to use the pitch early in counts to snag a strike when he needs it, and it worked great for that, posting a 22.6% called-strike rate (97th percentile among sliders), but even as a putaway pitch, it worked pretty well too, posting a a 35.4% chase rate (69th percentile).
It’s a killer pitch and is a large driver behind Kirby being a pretty consistent 25%+ strikeout rate guy.
1. Jake Bird
Jake Bird is a great example of the idea that one elite pitch does not necessarily make for a great pitcher. Bird has struggled out of the bullpen basically since he got into the league in 2022.
Now, you’d assume that part of that is because up until August of last year, when he joined the Yankees, he was pitching in Coors Field half of the time. But you would be wrong, because he’s actually generally been worse outside of Coors than inside it.
Last year was the worst season Bird’s had so far, posting a 5.53 ERA with a 1.54 WHIP and 10 holds in 48 appearances.
But anyway, let’s talk about his slider, because it was sick (unlike his sinker, which was terrible). Bird’s slider comes in around 84 MPH with loads of horizontal break to it and a bunch of spin. It was a pitch Bird liked to use early in counts (similar to Kirby), and he commanded it quite well, getting in the zone 56.8% of the time with a 32.6% called strike rate (99th percentile among sliders).
It also worked decently as a swing-and-miss pitch, with a 33.6% chase rate (61st percentile) and did a good job inducing weak contact with a 33.3% ICR (69th percentile).
But as I said, one great pitch doesn’t a great pitcher make, and Bird’s struggles with his sinker really limited him. He did have a pretty decent curveball last year, though, and I kind of wonder what would happen if he leaned more on his breakers than his sinker.
Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Blue Sky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)
