The Jeurys Splitter

[Edgy MD]

We need to talk about this. Somehow, as word got around and people started laying off Familia's darting slider at the shins, and sitting fastball, and his walks went up and he became more hittable, he added a new pitch to his arsenal mid-season, and it's utterly devastating. He seems to go to it when lefties aren't biting at the slider. And Keith noted that he's already in danger of falling in love with it, but man. If he gets all three of those working to even a modest extent, he's going to be un-hittable. He's already spent August un-scored upon. Good hitters weren't touching it.

If he gets to the playoffs against teams that haven't seen this pitch � and have scarcely seen him under any circumstances � he has a chance of being a nightmare � and a national story � if his control cooperates.

[Ceetar]

used to throw it as a starter and apparently has been practicing it all year, just not in games.

7IP for Harvey and deGrom 2IP for Familia should probably be the ideal in the critical games.

[Lefty Specialist]

He's throwing it and good major league hitters are flailing at it. Kind of scary, actually. And he's throwing it HARD- 95 MPH. Just hope he doesn't blow out his arm, because that's a very stressful pitch.

[Edgy MD]

That's the flip side. May even be why he stopped in the first place.

[Edgy MD]

It's sorta a splitter.

It seemed like having an extra weapon was confusing Jeurys and Recker yesterday in what they should go for, and it can be that carrying an extra pitch with it's own philosophy is challenging him a little.

[Edgy MD]

Anybody else concerned that Daddy's been getting a little over-cute since he brought the new pitch on board?

He's getting the job done, but with more balls, more walks more base runners. Mostly more balls. He seems less the aggressive pitcher we'd known in the first half, and a lot like Jenrry Mejia looked down the stretch last year. Dangerous living, or just fatigue, I dunno. And should one be necessarily less concerning than the other?