Kirby developing command with secondary pitches
Eric Samulski discusses George Kirby's fantasy upside with improved command and swing-and-miss with his secondary pitches in the curveball and sweeper after a strong outing on Monday.
Video Transcript
We saw a strong pitching performance from Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby on Monday against the Angels.
He allowed two runs on seven hits in eight innings.
he struck out seven and walked one.
Kirby on the day had 17 whiffs.
That was the second most of any starting pitcher who pitched on Monday, and he had a 17% swinging strike rate.
that's really important for him and his fantasy value going forward.
He got lots of strikes with his four-seam fastball, but he relied on his sweeper a lot.
It was his most used pitch in this game.
He kept it low in the zone.
He had a 19% swinging strike rate on the sweeper overall, and it's actually been a much better pitch for him over the last two games.
over the last two games, he has 13 total whiffs on just his sweeper alone.
The sweeper has a 12% swinging strike rate against righties and a 23% swinging strike rate against righties in the last two games respectively.
23% swinging strike rate is his best, since April 24th, and he's had only one other game with more than 12% swinging strike rate to righties on the sweeper, since May 23rd.
So that pitch is really coming.
It's beginning to click for him a little bit.
He increased his curveball usage to lefties in this last start, up to 26% from 18%, posted a 33% swinging strike rate.
So being able to rely on the sweeper to righties and the curve to lefties for swinging strikes is a huge thing for George Kirby.
We know that he can throw strikes.
We need to know that he can get those whiffs.
So being able to command those secondaries more consistently, I think could vault him back into the discussion as a top 20 fantasy pitcher going forward.
