chw42

I think solving fastball coverage is far more important than swinging less honestly (not to say this isn't important). I think the issue at heart here is that pitchers have found a hole in Luis' swing/approach. He has 0 hits so far on the low and away fastball that is in the zone. That's not a pitch you can just take, so patience alone won't solve that hole in his swing. Pitchers are using that pitch about 6% more against him this year. He's also getting a lot less hits out of the zone and low/away. He thrived on those last year. I think I'm starting to understand why he's been flailing and just trying to make contact on outside pitches. Menechino must be telling him that making contact there is better than taking it or striking out on it. While that's probably true when you have 2 strikes on you, it seems like he's doing that when he doesn't have any strikes on him, which seems problematic.

He's swinging at more stuff outside the zone and he's making more contact on it. But a lot of that contact is weak grounders, so while that helps cut down his K rate, it also doesn't really give you anything productive results-wise. He's getting about 5% less pitches in the zone, which is something the FanGraphs article kind of predicted the league would do. Why throw Robert strikes when he swings at balls for weak contact? He's getting himself out. A striking contrast between 2021 and 2022 is just how bad he's been vs. the fastball. He had a .429 wOBA on the fastball last year. This year, it's .218 and it's been the best pitch to use against him. One big difference in fastball usage this year vs. last year is that pitchers tended to attack Robert high and away with the fastball. The change to his stance helped him attack those fastballs he had issues with down the stretch in 2020. And Menechino deserves a ton of credit for it. This is the fastball heatmap in 2021: So the league adjusted in 2022. They decided to throw more waist high inside fastballs and fastballs low and away. This is the heatmap for 2022: So while the adjustments they made in 2021 helped with the high fastball, it also exposed him to inside fastballs and low and away fastballs. The low and away fastball tunnels perfectly with the low and away slider, which Luis already has issues against. The league has adjusted. Luis needs to adjust back. This isn't just about him swinging at more pitches, it's also about how the league has adjusted to Luis' adjustment. One of Menechino's most impressive feats as hitting coach was unlocking Robert last year vs. the fastball and now he needs to earn his money and do it again.

Turns out Fathom wasn't far off with his no postgame spread comment.

It's been surprisingly good after Leury got taken out of the leadoff spot.

Yoan nearly screwed that up.

Did the umpire yell at Graveman for arguing a call?

Gotta keep Anderson Severino around!

Awful nice of Yoan to try to re-create pitchers hitting with the universal DH in the game.

That's not even a competitive pitch.

Have yourself a game Leury

Jesus Christ Yoan

Yup I know TLR probably still has nightmares about that Guardians game, but using your closer in 4 and 5 run games all the time is not good managing.

Jose's OPS now over .800.

Do they keep Tanner Banks in? lol

Jose!!!

Graveman in to close.

How did that stay in?

Holy shit Banks actually struck out Haase.

Yup, his UCL was iffy back in 2020. I'm surprised he made it through all of last season.

Oh no, Haase is here to haunt us.

Ready to see him throw like 90 and get hit hard?

If Graveman's thing is really about managing his innings to make sure he's fresh later on in the year and not him not feeling 100%, they need to scrap the schedule cause they really don't have the luxury of throwing games away right now.

These bullpen issues the last few days probably don't happen if Liam doesn't get hurt on Friday, you know, when he pitched in a game we had a 5 run lead in in the 9th.

Tanner Banks warming lmao

Hinch using his good relievers even when he's behind. I think he knows our bullpen is short and that they have a shot if they keep the deficit at 2 runs.