CLEVELAND — There aren't many times a pitcher can basically tell a hitter what pitch is coming next, and it just doesn't matter.
Hitters need to be kept off balance, at least to an extent, unless a pitch is so elite it can override all the norms about the cat-and-mouse game of pitch sequencing during an at-bat.
Emmanuel Clase's cutter , which can hit triple digits with some nasty movement, is one of those pitches. And, with it, Clase has powered an All-Star season and established himself as one of the game's elite relievers.
Perhaps the all-time best example of "This pitch is coming, and you still can't hit it" belongs to Hall-of-Fame closer Mariano Rivera , whose cutter is one of the game's most legendary pitches. And when asked about facing Clase's cutter, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa brought up one name.
"It's very Mariano-like," Kiner-Falefa told the Beacon Journal recently. "The velocity, with the control and the movement? He's one of those pitches like Mariano who could literally just tell you the cutter's coming in, and you might not hit it."
Clase's cutter has averaged 99.3 mph this season , which is somehow actually up from last year, when it sat at 99.1, and regularly ventures into the triple digits. It also has 3.7 inches of movement, which adds a layer of difficulty that mostly just leaves hitters shaking their heads.
Clase is in the 99th percentile in the league with a 38.1 percent chase rate. He's in the 99th percentile with a 2.3 percent walk rate.
And although his slider is a key component of his arsenal, this year has been all about the cutter. Clase is throwing his cutter 81 percent of the time, which is up from 67.6 percent of the time last season.
More and more, hitters know the cutter is coming compared to years past. It just hasn't really mattered.
"It's literally a 101-mile-per-hour slider, or that's what it feels like," Kiner-Falefa said. "It's hard to believe someone can throw that hard and throw strikes and also have that type of movement consistently. Yeah, Cleveland is lucky to have him."
One of the reasons Clase can throw the cutter so often isn't just the velocity, movement and command. It's that it's basically two or three pitches in one depending on where he throws it.
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The cutter has a slightly different movement profile if it's thrown at the top of the zone as opposed to when it ends up near a hitter's knees.
"There's not really a good plan for it because it's a cutter, but it also changes shape when it's up, it stays on plane," said catcher Austin Hedges . "If it's at the belt line, it's kind of on a plane with a little depth. And if it's down, it's basically a slider. So we're talking about perceived velocity, where that's faster at the top [of the zone], and then the movement at the top is different than at the bottom.
"So I call cutter, if it's up or down and away, we're talking about two completely different pitches. Everybody knows the pitch is coming, but you don't know how to swing at it."
How would some of Clase's Guardians teammates try to prepare to face him? Part of the plan involves prayer.
"Approach-wise, you just hope to God he throws one away and it cuts down the middle," said Will Brennan , shaking his head. "I faced him several times in spring training and I had a day where it was literally just going back-and-forth [between the dugout and the batter's box]."
Hedges thinks hitters have two options. And both are less than ideal, because he knows any hitter isn't going to catch a break.
"You either don't swing the whole at-bat or you try to swing at basically every pitch, cheat to a spot and hope it's there," Hedges said. "He just doesn't throw balls over the middle. He gets to corners and changes eye levels. The hardest part about facing him is you go in there with a game plan, then you see one pitch and it gets you off your game because you don't know how you're going to cover all that. And then he throws a pitch with the same velocity but with a different shape, and it messes with your brain.
"And, really, that's what makes him arguably the best pitcher in our game."
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Kiner-Falefa just knows an at-bat against Clase isn't fun.
"Oh, I think he's on everybody's top five, that's for sure," Kiner-Falefa said when asked about where Clase ranks in terms of the least enjoyable pitchers to face. "I mean, [Jhoan] Duran, Clase, Clay Holmes , those types of guys. [Clase] is premier. He's elite. He's a superstar."
Clase has been at or near the top of the game when it comes to relievers for a while now. But, this season, he's done it more and more with a one-pitch repertoire that hasn't needed any element of surprise to be thrown by hitters.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians Emmanuel Clase cutter is one of MLB's best pitches
