San Francisco Giants Rewind: Looking Back at Stratton’s Breakout Game

It took him a while to find his footing, but Chris Stratton turned into a bright spot for the San Francisco Giants, starting with his breakout game.

When the San Francisco Giants headed to the ballpark for a Sunday doubleheader on August 13th, Chris Stratton was penciled in to start the first game. Stratton had been bouncing back and forth between the big leagues and Triple-A all season, and hit the disabled list in July because of an “injury”. This was just another spot start for the 26-year-old, taking the mound so as not to throw off another starter’s schedule.

Stratton’s numbers were nothing to write home about. He’d made five previous appearances, owned a 6.63 ERA and 1.737 WHIP, a .292/.391/.444 opponent slash-line, and as many strikeouts (12) as walks in 19 innings. He hadn’t pitched in over a week, and the plan probably would have seen him sit for another week or so after making the start. Stratton altered the plan. Against the Washington Nationals, Stratton took that spot start and turned it into his breakout game.

As he worked his way into the seventh inning, Stratton showed a wide variety of excellent offerings and looked nothing like the guy from earlier in the season. Instead, he looked like the pitcher the team thought he’d be when they drafted him 20th overall in 2012.

Stratton was locked in with the fastball from pitch number one, dotting a 91-mile-per-hour heater on the outside edge to Brian Goodwin. Two pitches later, he threw his first changeup of the afternoon. Though it wasn’t a particularly well-located offering, it was the start of a pattern for Stratton.

August 13th was the first day as a major leaguer that Stratton started to lean on his changeup. In his first five appearances of 2017, he threw only 13 changeups among 334 total pitches. On August 13th, he nearly matched that total by throwing 12 changes in 109 pitches.

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That first changeup would be the only one that Goodwin would see in the first at-bat of the game. He followed it up with a curveball, a little up location-wise but well in on Goodwin’s hands, and he fought it off for a foul ball. A fastball came next, 92 this time and also right in on the hitter’s knuckles, and he could only pop it up for the game’s first out.

The next batter was Adrian Sanchez, and he was the first victim of a beautiful Stratton curveball. That hook, which would go on to have one of the best spin rates in baseball by the end of the season, started away and fell right off the table, causing Sanchez to flail helplessly as the ball dipped under the strike zone. That was another indicator of the day that Stratton was about to have.

Stratton had previously relied on the curveball rather heavily, throwing the pitch 16.7 percent of the time in his first five appearances. He upped that to 18.3 percent against Washington, getting swinging strikes a quarter of the time.

He backed up the swinging strike with another curveball, but Sanchez was able to lay off this one as it bounced just in front of catcher Nick Hundley. Stratton’s battery mate put down ‘two’ again, and Stratton threw another huge hook that buckled Sanchez’s knees. All the hitter could do was walk back to the dugout as home plate umpire Ryan Blakney rung him up.

Anthony Rendon took the box next, and Stratton opened him up with a 93-mph fastball that featured noticeable arm-side run at the base of the zone for strike one called. Two pitches later, Rendon went back up the middle for a basehit when Stratton threw another heater a bit too high. Stratton escaped the inning without further damage by throwing two called strikes with fastballs before getting Ryan Zimmerman to roll over on another big curveball.

Noticeably absent from the first inning was Stratton’s slider. In his first five appearances, he threw it nearly as much as the curveball, at 15.3 percent of the time. He didn’t abandon the pitch completely, but cut down its usage to 10.2 percent against the Nationals. It remained an effective offering for the young hurler, getting whiffs on 27.3 percent of swings, but he saved it for necessary occasions.

He stuck with the curveball in the second inning, picking up his second strikeout of the day when Adam Lind chased another one outside and below the zone. The slider didn’t stay hidden for much longer after that. With Andrew Stevenson hitting, Stratton broke out his first one of the day in an 0-2 count and it was a beauty. At 86 mph, Stevenson’s eyes got wide when the pitch started in the strikezone, but he had no chance to adjust as it bounced right behind home plate for Stratton’s third strikeout. He finished off the inning with another curveball in the dirt, and Jose Lobaton couldn’t check his swing in time.

The afternoon continued in that fashion for Stratton. The fourth inning was his best, making MVP candidate Zimmerman look silly with a fastball under the hands before getting him to chase a curveball in the dirt two pitches later. Adam Lind popped up a fastball above the zone for the second out. He finished the clean inning by getting Wilmer Difo out in front on both a changeup and curveball for another strikeout.

Just about every pitch he threw was in a great location, nothing leaking too far over the plate and into the hitter’s happy zone. He pounded fastball after fastball at the bottom of the zone. He got hitters to chase those well-placed curveballs and sliders under the zone or in the dirt. And he kept them guessing with changeups, not allowing them to ignore the breaking balls and focus on one speed.

Most importantly, he never got predictable with his pitches. In two-strike counts, it wasn’t an automatic breaking ball below the zone. In fastball counts, he didn’t throw fastballs every time. He never let the hitters get comfortable in any situation or any count, and he kept that control from pitch one to pitch 109.

Stratton threw 6.2 innings on August 13th, and only gave up multiple baserunners in one innings, which happened to be his last. He gave up a single and a walk in the seventh inning, and gave way to reliever Josh Osich (who got the final out in the inning to preserve Stratton’s shutout start). Had he been pitching at home, Stratton would have walked off the mound to a massive ovation. Instead, he had to settle for fist-bumps from his infielders, a pat on the back from Bruce Bochy, and a still-respectable show of appreciation from the fans.

August 13th was the beginning of a remarkable ending to the 2017 season for Stratton. He continued to use his changeup and curveball with greater regularity, and the results were fantastic. He made eight starts, usually always with some sort of complication along the way (doubleheader, rain delay, unscheduled start), and pitched to a 2.27 ERA and 1.35 WHIP while raising his strikeouts to 8.8 per nine innings and cutting his walks down to 3.6 per nine.

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It took eight starts for Stratton to go from afterthought to a guy who can start the 2018 season in the Giants’ opening day rotation. Eight starts in a lost season gave the team and the pitcher the perception that he can be an effective major league starter. And it all started on August 13th.