What a great start by Richmond last night! I’ve been hard on the kid so far but he was dynamite last night. I went up and down his Pitch F/X data from last night and recent starts and outside of the curve weren’t any tangible differences with his other offerings (velocity and movement wise, although he’s toned down his change).
Here are some Pitch F/X vertical charts lifted from Brooks Baseball. Below 0 represents sink, drop, etc. I’m using these charts because sometimes the Pitch F/X data incorrectly lists curveballs as sliders. What we’re after is looking at pitches that are below 0 on the vertical chart. These usually represent his curve.
6/6 Start
6/12 Relief (fill in for Doc)
6/17 Start (11 K Performance)
As we can see he rarely cracked out his curve in the 6/6 and 6/12 games. Last night his curve was filthy. I’ll report back after his next start to see if he maintains a higher curveball percentage.
Umm
I don’t know how to put this without totally blowing cover… A member of Richmond’s family said the following about Scott in our comments section earlier this season:
As for above average pitches, Richmond actually considers his curveball to be his best pitch
After last night I can see why.
It was interesting that you remembered that statement, and timely that you raised it after last night’s outing.
Prior to the start, he was reminded that his big 12-6 curve that worked so well against the lefties in Texas, KC and the CWS, should also produce results against Philly, contrary to conventional wisdom.
Fortunately he saw the wisdom in the suggestion, and followed his gut.
Great article! It was great to see Richmond relying more on his other pitches, and is continuing to impress with his curve.