https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mackenzie-gore-kicked-major-butt-on-opening-day/Baumann didn't need his great way with words in this one because he just let the numbers and video speak for itself. I'll pick and choose some of his points. He acknowledges last year he wrote about Gore becoming a solid mid-rotation starter after being hyped as more when he was coming up. That was the setup for his major point, which was how Gore's start was the best among several notable performances on Opening Day.
Noting that only 10 pitchers have struck out 13 batters or more on Opening Day, the day where you get more top of the rotation pitchers throwing than any other:
The only Opening Day starter to strike out as many or more batters in six or fewer innings was Shane Bieber, who K’d 14 Royals on Opening Day 2020. Bieber’s performance is also the only other one of the 10 13-plus-strikeout Opening Day starts to come in the 21st Century. So if you knew nothing about Gore’s performance other than his strikeout total, you’d know enough to be impressed.
He was particularly wowed by the slider Gore threw to lefties. 10 sliders, 8 swing and misses and a popout and a foul.
More on swing and misses and strike throwing:
All told, Gore got 20 whiffs on 50 swings out of 93 total pitches. There’s not too much to compare that to so far this year, so let’s go back to 2024, when there were 4,983 individual pitcher outings of 50 pitches or more between the regular season and playoffs. Out of those nearly 5,000 outings, Gore’s Opening Day start would’ve been tied for 108th in ratio of whiffs to total pitches — that’s the top 2.2% of the sample. Change the denominator to called strikes plus whiffs and the results are about the same — Gore’s start would’ve been in the top 2.4%.
He points out how ideal pitching has batters laying off pitches in the strike zone and swinging at pitches out of the zone.
in 2024, the league-wide Z-Swing% was 66.0% and the league-wide O-Swing% was 28.6%.
Now, I’ll concede that the Phillies are one of the more aggressive teams in the league, and the shadows, and Opening Day jitters, and all that. But Gore threw 55% of his pitches in the zone, with a Z-Swing% of 65% and an O-Swing% of 40%. That’s the third-smallest gap of any outing in Gore’s career.
Wouldn't be a Baumann article without one good line. He mentions the only drinking game for 4:05 PM stars is to drink whenever an announcer mentions shadows.
I get a feeling that there's a contingent of baseball analysts and talent evaluators that are betting pretty heavily on a Gore breakout.
