Marcus Stroman is Not Trying to Throw Strikes

Picture credit score: © Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports activities

It is a visitor put up from Noah Woodward, a BP alum who has labored in quite a lot of entrance workplace roles for MLB groups. You possibly can learn extra of his writing by subscribing to The Advance Scout (it’s free, like this put up, and it is best to undoubtedly do it).

A short while in the past, a entrance workplace staffer requested me if I used to be a “catcher goal man.”

I requested him what he meant by that query. He posed two potential choices:

Ought to catchers arrange down the center on a regular basis? (the Tampa Bay mannequin)
Or, ought to catchers arrange within the perfect touchdown spot for every pitch? (the Greg Maddux mannequin)

Clearly, I copped out: it is determined by the pitcher.[1]

Some pitchers (increasingly of these arising by way of the minor leagues lately) are stuff-over-command; they’d profit from wider margin for error contained in the zone. A down-the-middle goal does that by minimizing the gap a catcher wants to succeed in to grab a 97-mph fastball that might seem in any quadrant of the zone.

As a result of Tampa is Tampa, the “down the center” strategy to catcher targets is all the craze proper now.

Then again, although:

This pitch is an 0-0 sinker from Marcus Stroman to Bo Bichette from April 17. Stroman’s catcher (Austin Wells) units up together with his glove over the white line of the left-handed batter’s field. Stroman throws a fastball that begins at Wells’ proper shoulder and runs throughout his physique.

Wells units up for a ball. Nevertheless it’s referred to as a strike.

Stroman is just not the prototypical pitcher arising by way of the minor leagues lately. He doesn’t throw 97 mph, and he does have an concept of the place every pitch goes. It is a ridiculous goal and a ridiculous strike name.

This occasion wasn’t the primary time I’d seen any such goal from Stroman. The primary time I noticed it, I assumed it was a Yankee factor.

It is perhaps a little bit of a Yankee factor, however I believe it’s extra of a Stroman factor. See under for just a few photographs of different Yankee starters (all are 0-0 fastballs). Take note of the white reference line drawn above the left-handed batter’s field edge. The glove location is essential, however the catcher’s physique positioning can be essential:

Yankee catchers will often strategy Stroman goal territory with different pitchers, however solely in particular circumstances. This isn’t the default mode of working for some other pitcher on the workers.

Two causes:

There’s an enormous referred to as strike benefit to this setup. If each catcher and pitcher execute, you get plenty of annoyed hitters. After just a few calls just like the one on Bichette above, you would possibly even goad the opposing supervisor into beginning a long-distance dialog with the house plate umpire:

There’s additionally an “execution” benefit to this strategy. Stroman is aware of his fastball runs towards a right-handed hitter. So, if he needs to account for that kind of motion, an excessive goal can assist him do this. It’s the identical means a golfer would possibly play for a pure fade.

Stroman’s sinker strikes a ton. He begins it simply exterior the goal, figuring out that it’ll both:

land safely exterior the zone (within the case that it doesn’t transfer that a lot), or
if all goes nicely, work its means towards the outer fringe of the plate:

Extra on that referred to as strike benefit. We’re acquainted by now with the worth catchers accrue by way of stealing strikes. Per Baseball Prospectus, seven stolen strikes is value roughly a run saved. We rank catchers by the variety of runs they save on this division.

However we will additionally use that very same lens to look at the opposite associate within the pitcher-catcher tandem. And guess who ranks no. 1 in referred to as strikes above common amongst all certified pitchers:

Most Stolen Strikes in 2024 (Certified Pitchers)

Stroman and his catchers excel throughout the underside of the zone and to Stroman’s glove facet (away to right-handed hitters). Most of those bonus calls are on that run-back sinker[2]. Simply take a look at all of the pink dots exterior the zone on that pitch:

It’s not simply his sinker, although. The under chart reveals how efficient Stroman has been, with essentially the most pale dots representing the least possible referred to as strikes. A few of these are 50/50 calls, however some (these with the lighter hues that point out a 0-20% referred to as strike likelihood) are calls that just about no different pitcher will get.

Right here’s a 1-1 slider in the identical Bichette at-bat(!) from above:

Powerful day to be Bo Bichette. After the sinker and the slider name, Bichette can’t count on that this slider might be referred to as what it’s (a ball). So he has to swing at it:

That’s the facility of the referred to as strike.

That first slider above (the referred to as strike) wasn’t Stroman’s greatest slider; it backed up towards the plate. However as a result of Stroman gave himself some margin for error, he didn’t go away it in a harmful place (over the center of the plate).

Stroman’s strategy is about limiting injury. Right here’s what he needed to say after the beginning by which he stole strikes from a bunch of Blue Jays:

“Early on within the recreation, I put a precedence on limiting injury and doing as a lot as I can to maintain the group within the recreation. I really feel like this lineup is so potent that they will explode at any time.”

By setting his sights on an exaggerated goal, Stroman offers himself room in each instructions to overlook safely.

Take his breaking ball(s), for instance. Pitchers are inclined to miss alongside their arm path for a breaking pitch. Pitches which can be “hung” (undercooked) will miss excessive, and pitches which can be overcooked will miss low or spike into the dust. Stroman’s path is highlighted by the white arrow:

When Stroman hangs a breaking ball, a few of these misses will find yourself within the zone. However most will miss in a comparatively secure location simply off the plate. When he executes a breaking ball completely (the center field), he results in a location solely he can win in. And when you may query a hitter’s willingness to chase that far off the plate, simply bear in mind the instance of the annoyed Bichette from above.

In July of 1997, Greg Maddux threw a 78-pitch full recreation. To finish that feat, all he and catcher Eddie Pérez needed to do was transfer the strike zone one foot additional away from right-handed hitters.

Maddux obtained calls like this one on Sammy Sosa:

And this Stroman-like run-back sinker on Shawon Dunston:

We aren’t dwelling in Greg Maddux’s world anymore. For now, we’re on this center floor by which umpires are tracked and graded, however nonetheless human. Till the zone is totally robot-run, there’s nonetheless a possibility for pitchers like Stroman to play the sport. And whereas going “full Maddux” isn’t for everybody, it’s not a foul concept for pitcher-catcher tandems that may pull it off.

[1] My easy reply: sure. I’m completely a “catcher goal” man. Final 12 months, I used to be so moved/postpone by Willson Contreras’ targets that I wrote 2,000 phrases about them.