What About Cuas? What About All the Times You Said You Had the Answers?

That is the tenth season of Jose Cuas’ skilled profession, however he’s solely been tagged in a FanGraphs article as soon as earlier than at the moment. Again in August, he figured in Eric Longenhagen’s writeup of minor commerce deadline strikes when he (Cuas, not Eric) was traded from the Royals to the Cubs for outfielder Nelson Velázquez. And Eric sadly stepped on my two large Jose Cuas info: First, that he was once a place participant. Second, he shared an infield on the College of Maryland with Brandon Lowe and LaMonte Wade Jr. I’ll go one step additional: It was Cuas who led the crew in dwelling runs.

Of their draft yr, these guys mixed to complete second within the Huge Ten event; alongside the best way they handed convention champion Illinois its first loss in months, in a recreation that ended at like 2 a.m. native time. You don’t have any thought how far again “Late Evening LaMonte” goes. Then, the Terps upset no. 1 total seed UCLA in regional play and practically made the School World Sequence.

Professional ball has been an absolute giggle riot for Wade and Lowe, however Cuas had just a little rougher begin.

Cuas hit underneath .200 in his first two full seasons within the Brewers system, at which level Milwaukee figured possibly this large, sturdy left-side infielder ought to give pitching a shot. Changing a school third baseman right into a reliever labored for the Brewers with Lucas Erceg years later, nevertheless it didn’t take straight away with Cuas, who bought launched in June 2018. He pitched nicely sufficient in indy ball that the Diamondbacks took a flyer on him the next summer season. That went higher, however in Could 2020 Cuas bought launched once more.

In Could 2021, the Royals signed Cuas, and abruptly, he was practically unhittable. By 2022 he was within the majors, the place he pitched round a 13.3% stroll fee, managing to carry his ERA down to three.58 in 47 appearances. In 2023, between the Royals and Cubs, Cuas logged 72 appearances, which was tied for tenth within the majors.

On utilization leaderboards, Cuas was up there with guys like Bryan Abreu and Yennier Cano, however the outcomes had been mediocre. His stroll fee remained an alarming 12.0%, which is excessive sufficient that his strikeout fee — an objectively spectacular 24.3% in a impartial context — appears downright meager as compared.

Anyway, that is what we’re coping with.

In 2022, he truly had an much more excessive side-winder supply, with a closed set place. A little bit extra Disco Hayes. (For those who had been a baseball fan within the Nineteen Eighties, all Royals side-armers and submariners remind you of Dan Quisenberry. For those who had been a baseball blogger within the late aughts, all Royals side-armers and submariners remind you of Disco Hayes.)

We’re seen this supply earlier than, or at the very least it appears like we’ve seen this supply earlier than. As a result of for the previous two seasons, Cuas has had probably the most excessive horizontal launch level of any right-handed pitcher in baseball. Listed below are the 345 righties who threw 500 or extra pitches final yr, by vertical and horizontal launch level. Cuas is the pink dot.

As you would possibly anticipate from somebody with such an excessive side-arm supply, Cuas began out as a sinker-slider man, however in 2023 he made two adjustments to his repertoire, one earlier than the commerce, the opposite after.

The primary: He added a four-seam fastball. Earlier than, the whole lot was both down and working arm-side (the sinker) or down and breaking glove-side (the slider). Cuas used his new four-seamer within the higher third of the zone, like a softball pitcher’s rise ball. It’s outstanding neither in velocity nor motion, nevertheless it forces hitters to cowl the complete zone vertically, and permits Cuas to alter hitters’ eye stage.

The second tweak occurred instantly after the commerce, and will flip Cuas right into a precious high-leverage possibility, fairly than an innings eater who’s principally fascinating to individuals who love cold-weather faculty baseball trivia.

There isn’t a pitcher on the market with a supply and launch level precisely like Cuas’. However the closest factor we’ve bought proper now’s Paul Sewald, who has the third-widest common horizontal launch level amongst right-handed pitchers. He additionally throws a four-seamer within the 92 mph vary. For those who watched final yr’s playoffs, this, since you watched Sewald throw a bunch of letter-high 92 mph four-seamers previous a few of the greatest hitters on the planet.

Versus Cuas, who throws 4 pitches, together with a show-me changeup, Sewald throws solely two: the heater and a sweeper. So when Cuas bought as much as Chicago, the Cubs had him change his breaking ball. The slider was getting crushed, so the Cubs had him tweak his breaking ball.

The unique breaking ball was a slider with tight vertical motion however little or no side-to-side break. The instance I’m going to indicate you is a whiff, however this was a hanger, and a greater hitter than Myles Straw would possibly’ve put this pitch within the lake.

This breaking ball is cute. You don’t need a cute breaking ball. You need a breaking ball {that a} good hitter goes to swing at even when it results in the alternative batter’s field. Like this one.

The slider was extra of an all-purpose breaking pitch, however Cuas’ sweeper is particularly a chase pitch for right-on-right matchups. In 2023, Cuas threw his slider within the zone 30.7% of the time. He threw solely 12.8% of his sweepers within the zone.

So can he find the sweeper? Properly, “find” might be too sturdy a phrase. However it may not matter. As a result of this was a tertiary pitch utilized by a one-inning reliever solely within the last eight weeks of the season, the pattern is infinitesimally small: simply 39 pitches in whole. However no one can hit this sweeper.

9 whiffs on 13 swings is the second-highest whiff fee of any pitch in baseball final yr, minimal 10 plate appearances. And the 4 instances an opponent hit Cuas’ sweeper amounted to 1 90 mph lineout proper to the primary baseman, two foul balls, and a weak grounder.

The difficulty for Cuas is whether or not he can get hitters to chase. Opponents had been way more more likely to go after his slider out of the zone than the sweeper. However this breaking ball form makes extra sense for a pitcher whose physique strikes horizontally as a lot as Cuas’ does. Why throw the ball up and down when your arm is shifting proper to left?

If he harnesses this pitch, Cuas can be a nightmare for right-handed hitters. He’d nonetheless have a protracted approach to go to turn into the very best participant to come back out of the 2015 Maryland draft class, however that’s a excessive bar to clear.