San Francisco Giants: Strickland Making Jump from Thrower to Pitcher
Though it’s just two games into the season, Hunter Strickland looks like a new pitcher, ready to take hold of the ninth inning for the San Francisco Giants.
With Mark Melancon missing time again, the burden of the ninth inning for the San Francisco Giants has fallen to Hunter Strickland. Long-touted as the “closer of the future”, Strickland earned this opportunity after a dominant Spring Training where he flashed a new slider to go with his hard fastball.
The season is only two games old, but the difference in Strickland is already noticeable. In both of those two games, the 29-year-old right-hander has entered in the ninth inning with a one-run lead. In both of those two games, Strickland has held the cushion to preserve a victory.
Strickland was a good pitcher before this season. From 2014 to 2017, the burly hurler pitched to a 2.64 ERA and 1.140 WHIP in 204 games, establishing himself as one of the best options out of the Giants’ bullpen.
But with a limited repertoire, Strickland was known to get himself in some trouble. The righty never had a reliable off-speed pitch, struggling to get a feel for a curveball at various points throughout his big league journey. The sinker he worked so hard to incorporate into his arsenal was just never effective enough to consistently get outs.
There were plenty of times that Strickland would have to rely solely on his fastball, and would have to nibble at the corners with the pitch. That got him into trouble, especially with walks in 2017. Last season, he allowed 4.3 walks per nine innings, almost double the 2.2 he had allowed his first three seasons. The sinker wasn’t a usable secondary pitch, with hitters racking up a .500 average against the pitch in 2017.
Unhappy with those results, Strickland sought outside counsel from an extremely knowledgeable source. He worked with Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz to refine a slider he had dabbled with in the past, and that work has paid dividends in these two games.
Strickland has been able to counteract his fastball with the slider, and has even been able to mix in a changeup as well. On Friday night, Strickland started his ninth-inning appearance with a slider at 84 mph, followed it up with a fastball at 94, and then offered a changeup at 88. In the 1-2 count to Chase Utley, he threw another slider in a great location, keeping it down below the zone where a hitter can’t make hard contact. Utley laid off, but couldn’t pull the trigger when Strickland zipped a fastball at 95 on the outside corner for strike three.
The next batter was Logan Forsythe, and Strickland opened the at-bat with three straight sliders to forge his way ahead in the count 1-2. The pitcher and batter would then engage in battle mode, with the count running full as Strickland threw four straight fastballs, two of which were fouled off. Strickland came back with a slider, which Forsythe fouled away, and backed it up with another slider. Forsythe couldn’t get a swing off, watching as the front-door slider caught the inside part of the plate for strike three.
Strickland needed just one more pitch to complete the save, getting Joc Pederson to pop out to the catcher in foul territory. He used his changeup for that, a pitch at 88 that featured a noticeable amount of arm-side run.
It’s not just the movement of the slider, or the change in velocity that has made the slider a great offering. It’s the confidence Strickland has in throwing it. He’s showing that he isn’t afraid to throw it in any count, and that he doesn’t need to rely solely on the fastball anymore. It’s even allowing him to mix in the changeup, giving hitters three different speeds to think about instead of just one.
Sometimes, it takes a while for pitchers to develop from “young fireball thrower” to “pitcher”. They can live off that hard fastball that got them to the dance for a while, but they’ll eventually need to add to it. They’ll need that change-of-pace pitch to keep guys off the fastball.
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It took Strickland some time, maybe longer than expected, but it looks like he might finally be making that jump from “thrower” to “pitcher”. And he can finally shed that “closer of the future” label, and be the closer of the present.