Jake Irvin’s final three starts dominated. He went into 20.2 innings and allowed only three times. Irvin has 19 strikeouts for just two walks at that time. However, his speed has been slower since last season. Jake Irvin found a way to avoid that low speed. That’s a genius.
Last year, Jake Irvin’s fastball was sitting there. 94 mphsolids number. The four seamers were effective pitches for him, and the batters hit just .205 against that. However, his heater is hovering 92 miles this season. The pitch is worse as expected at lower speeds. That’s the opponent strike At .297 against the pitch, it produces less wiff.
How do you work around this issue? Irvin’s answer is to throw less fastballs. He’s throwing four-seamers for 29% of the time this year, compared to 38% last year. That allowed him to use his curveball further, which hit 31.3% to 38.4%.
Hook is Irvin’s best pitch, and he weaponizes it. He can change the shape of the pitch. You can slowly overcurve me and get a stiffer hook and get a whim. Despite heavy usage, the batter still can’t grasp the pitch, reaching .150, spending over 30% of the time.
Despite some of the recent successes, Irvin still has some warning signs. His FIP and Xera are both 4 or morehis time sat on 3.19. Obviously, I’d like to see the speed come back as the lower Velo has damaged the heater’s effectiveness. But he found a good way to manage it.
In addition to the curveball, Irvin’s command is extremely sharp. He only walks two batters per nine innings. It also uses a model that measures location in the same way as Irvin’s command. One model said he was. Second accurate All the pitchers in baseball last night.
Command and curveball allow Irvin to be the best despite throwing a 92. I was in the game last night. One thing that stood out about Irvin was his calmness. He always saw control, even when he was dressed in some jam. The right-hander was not afraid to throw the pitch on any count.
When people like Soto, Lindor and Alonso came out, he was not bothered at all. They were another batsman he was ready to carve. Another great sign for Irvin was the lack of Homer. He had a bit of a problem with the long ball this season, but no one came close to hitting it tonight.
Jake Irvin is in control and ready to roll despite its low speed. He is constantly under attack and is ready to eat innings at high levels. Jake Irvin is turning into a great, highly reliable spinning group.
