This, like so many games in this brutal stretch, was over early. Maybe you spent the evening riding the streetcar. At least that stayed on the track.
While the bats remain in cold storage, this one was all about Yordano Ventura who struggled through four innings that were painful to watch. And painful is a charitable description. Read on, if you dare.
Location, Location, Location
Ventura could not locate his fastball. This is preliminary data from Brooks Baseball (they take overnight to code the data from Pitch Info) so this can change. The MLBAM data had Ventura throwing a total of 24 fastballs on Friday. He threw eight two-seamers and 16 four-seamers. Of those fastballs, just 50 percent were thrown for strikes. That’s not good enough. Unable to find the zone, Ventura abandoned the heater early and the Indians were able to sit on what MLBAM classified as a cutter. That pitch came in around the low 90s, so Cleveland bats adjusted. They waited on 90 and were able to hang back on his change or curve. It shouldn’t be a surprise that his curve at 80 mph was more effective than his change at 85 mph. All about separation of velocity, which Ventura didn’t have because he couldn’t spot his fastball.
By the time the dust settled, Ventura issued five walks in four innings. More on that in a moment.
No Speeding
There was some consternation about Ventura’s velocity. Again, we need to wait until a more formal classification comes in, but his four-seamer was pretty close to what he’s been throwing this season. It’s just that cut fastball that has me stymied.
Ventura has thrown a cutter before, but rarely as frequently as he supposedly did on Friday. He hasn’t thrown one at all this year according to Brooks.
As for his four-seamer, here are his average velocities from his starts this year.
4/8 – 95.4 mph
4/13 – 96.3 mph
4/19 – 96.3 mph
4/24 – 95.2 mph
4/30 – 94.6 mph
5/6 – 94.4 mph
So he’s, on average, about 2 mph off his peak velocity from mid-April.
We need some reference before we can make any judgements about what his loss of velocity means. Here are his average velocities from 2015 through his first five starts this year.
His average four-seam velocity is down about 1.5 mph from 2015, something you can see from the black plots around the 95 mph bar in the chart. He’s really slowed down his breaking ball and his change has dropped a couple of ticks as well. Also note the cutter. He threw it early last year, abandoned it until his return from his one day demotion, then shelved it for the rest of the regular season. He did show it in the postseason.
The only conclusion we can draw from this is Ventura has slowed down across the board. Is this a sign he’s carrying an injury? I’m officially worried at this point. The drop in velocity, combined with a walk rate that was 6.7 BB/9 going into the game and is now at 7.3 BB/9, yeah it’s a concern.
The pitch selection is something else that has me scratching my head. Here’s how the preliminary breakdown looks from Friday:
Four-Seam – 16%
Two-Seam – 8%
Change – 33%
Curve – 24%
Cutter – 19%
Here’s what he’s thrown this season, leading up to tonight’s game:
Four-Seam – 41%
Two-Seam – 11%
Change – 24%
Curve – 23%
Cutter – 0%
Again, odd he would mix in the cutter so frequently tonight. And he really abandoned his fastball. Just a strange night.
Finally, here are the preliminary specs on Ventura from Friday. It will be interesting to see how this changes overnight, once Brooks normalizes the data.
Bullpen Up
Brian Flynn made his Royals debut and bailed out Ventura and saved the bullpen from what could have been a disastrous evening. Royals starters are on pace for under 900 innings, which is a trend to watch going forward. Hell, it’s a massive problem right now. Under normal circumstances, I’d say the eight-man bullpen is lunacy. On this team, I’m wondering if they need nine. The starters’ inability to get past the fifth is now epidemic.
Cold Storage
Eight hits. All singles. One walk. It’s a minor miracle they didn’t hit into a double play. Oh, three of those singles came in the ninth.
When the Royals bat, it’s time to hit the fridge for another Boulevard or take a bathroom break.
Up Next
They try again tomorrow afternoon. Ian Kennedy against Cody Anderson. If the Royals bats can’t at least show a pulse… Anyway, it’s on at 3.
Courage.