Though the pitch has been inconsistent in movement, even just giving hitters something else to think about could help his fastball out. I think the use of the pitch to both RHBs and LHBs could still be effective. He’s used the cutter in a more traditional sense against LHBs, up and in on the hands. Those were by far his two worst-performing pitches.ĬUT Grip 2022 – 7% 2023 – 0 pitches so far. The pitch had an OPS against of 0.865 in 2022, almost identical to his changeup at 0.864. He also used it a lot to RHBs down and away in 2019, targeting that part of the zone on 41 of 44 cutters in 2019 and it was much of the same in 2022. Isolated, the cutter is not a good pitch but, when he threw it, he used it to start at-bats 35% of the time with a 71% strike rate in 2022. Tanaka also looks to have ditched his cutter so far this season after throwing the pitch 7% of the time in 2022 he has scrapped it. With the dip in velocity and shape, Tanaka should continue to use his two-seamer more and lessen the usage of his four-seamer. Tanaka uses his fastball 41% of the time the past two seasons, 43% of the time on the first pitch. Everything is still smooth and the stride length and extension are still there. The mechanics of Tanaka are almost the same throughout his career. He gets 6’10” in stride length according to a Sports Science breakdown of Tanaka from almost nine years ago. The pitch has always played up due to Tanaka’s stride length and lower release point. At his very best it’s a pitch he can still dot on both sides of the plate. His below-average velocity right now on his fastball means he has to have spot-on command of the pitch, and right now that fluctuates. NPB average fastball velocity changes since 2005 Tanaka does “gas pedal” his fastball at times, throwing at different speeds throughout the game, although last time out he was using more two-seams than four-seams to get some slight movement on the pitch. His fastball has lost a touch of velocity averaging 91.3 mph last season and 90 mph this season. The drop in whiff rate for his fastball isn’t surprising but 8.8% is a concerning number. This is obviously context-dependent too as NPB hitters are less prone to striking out than MLB hitters as they fight off fastballs. In comparison, his fastball had a whiff rate of 17% in 2019 for the Yankees. His whiff rate was down to 10% on his fastball the last two seasons and a lowly 9% this season. #Baseball: Former Yankee Masahiro Tanaka takes huge pay cut #NPB #KyodoNewsPlus He has been so disappointed in his performance that he took a pay cut last off-season. Now in his return as an older player after his MLB career with the Yankees, Tanaka has had mild success with extreme highs and lows. The man was a machine who mowed through NPB lineups. He finished his 2013 season with a perfect 24-0 record in 28 appearances and 27 starts amassing a 1.27 ERA in 212 innings with 183 strikeouts and just 32 walks. Masahiro Tanaka is arguably one of the greatest NPB pitchers in league history and is credited with one of the most successful pitching seasons in NPB.
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