some nice tidbits in Patrick Reddington's reporting at Federal Baseball:
https://www.federalbaseball.com/2024/4/14/24129292/washington-nationals-news-notes-mackenzie-gore-ks-11-in-5-0-scoreless-nats-beat-as-3-1He picks up on Eno Sarris's point about the velocity changes in Gore's 4 primary pitches - Fastball up to 97 (+2 MPH), slider up 3 mph, curve slightly harder with more drop, and change 2 MPH slower, improving the split between the hard stuff and the change.
[Gore]’s throwing it [4 seam[ slightly less, 50.8%, after leaning on it 61% and 59.5% of the time in 2022 and ‘23, respectively, with a jump in his changeup usage 15.5% so far, up from 5.2% in ‘22 and 2.9% last year, while his curve (17.1%) and his slider (16.6%) have, thus far, been fairly steady compared to previous seasons.
...
“He’s been terrific,” Rizzo told The Junkies of the early returns on Gore in 2024. “His stuff is elite. He’s got elite stuff, and he’s really challenging hitters more and pounding the strike zone at a much greater pace. I think you’ll see his pitch selection has been much more balanced than it was last year. I think last start against the Phillies he threw somewhere around 15 or 16 percent changeups, along with the curveball, slider, and four-seam fastball, so that’s a dramatic jump from last season where he’s really trying to work that into his repertoire as a fourth pitch and I think you could see that coming, when that pitch comes I think he’s going really, really turn a corner for him.”
Why is the progress of his changeup such a big deal?
“Because he’s got all the power stuff in the world,” Rizzo explained to the Junkies, “… if he can get something to get those right-handed hitters off his fastball and off his hard slider, I think it’s gonna make him even better.”
Yesterday, he reverted to 58% FB use, but was in the strike zone constantly and untouchable.
