Spencer Strider Has Been Slinging It
Spencer Strider hasn’t just been slinging it, he’s been slangin’ it. In 5 starts so far, he leads the National League in strikeouts (49), second in ERA (1.80), first in batting average (.136), and second in WHIP (0.83). Strider also finds himself in the upper echelon of MLB pitchers when it comes to Statcast stats like K%, xSLG, and Whiff%. If you’re not familiar with Statcast, here is the official definition from the wonderful Baseball Savant website1.
Statcast is a state-of-the-art tracking technology, capable of measuring previously unquantifiable aspects of the game. Set up in all 30 Major League ballparks, Statcast collects data using a series of high-resolution optical cameras along with radar equipment. The technology precisely tracks the location and movements of the ball and every player on the field, resulting in an unparalleled amount of information covering everything from the pitcher to the batter to baserunners and defensive players
WHIP is a great metric that is used to measure a pitcher's performance. The metric shows how well a pitcher keeps runners off base2. The formula is seen below.
The chart below shows where Strider stands against the rest of MLB. Yes, he can walk some but if you swing the bat, you’re probably going to whiff as he falls in the 96th percentile in Whiff% so far in 2023. What you see below are stats that are generated from Statcast. xBA stands for “expected batting average” which shows us the likelihood of a batted ball becoming a hit. If you do make contact there’s a good chance that you will not reach base safely. Safe to say that when Strider is on the mound, you’re not expected to get on base.
Sure, we can look at Strider’s stat line and where he compares to his peers and draw insights. But what if we want to see how he performs on an individual pitch basis? Welcome to the Savant Illustrator where you can view a myriad of different visuals and you can slice and dice however you please.
We know that Spencer Strider throws a lot of strikes, and a lot of batters don’t reach base very often. If you watch the Braves, you know he has flamethrower of an arm, but if not, you might be curious what are his strengths and weaknesses.
Below is a line chart showing Strider’s pitch velocity so far in the 2023 season. You will see that he relies on three pitches. A 4-seam fastball, a slider, and a changeup. What stands out is that he throws his 4-seamer nearly twice as much as his other two pitches and when he throws it, he is slinging it. His slider is a deadly tool in his arsenal with ranges in speed from low 80 to mid 80’s. He’s thrown this pitch a little over 150 times. Strider’s least thrown pitch is his changeup. He has thrown it 20 times resulting in 3 strikeouts (that’s a K% of 100%) and no one has reached base when he’s thrown his changeup. Look at the range of speed on his changeup. Mid to low 80’s. Godspeed to the batter.
The chart below shows the result of every pitch Strider has thrown this season that resulted in an event like a hit, walk, strikeout, etc. Notice how the maroon and gray stick out. What do you know? Those represent strikeouts and outs (except for the lone HBP which was 98.1 mph, ouch). Out of the 108 pitches 12 of them have resulted in hits. Nine singles, two doubles, and a lone homerun. 46 strikeouts and a wOBA of .195. You’ll see that strikeouts occur in and outside the strike zone. That means a good number of these batters are chasing strikes out of the zone. In the next graph we will look at all of his pitches.
The final graph I want to show is the description of all 456 pitches. There are a lot of balls, and they usually miss up and below the zone and a ton of swinging strikes. Most occur in the zone but also low and away on right-handed batters and low and in on left-handed batters. You’ll see a few called strikes that are absolutely painted on those corners. This is a fantastic visual that can give you a great idea of what happens when Strider is on the mound. He can miss the zone and walk guys which is never good, but he makes up for it with strikeouts and keeping guys off base when they put it in play.
Ok I lied. I have one more to show you and it is my favorite. I don’t care if we’re in the modern age of baseball and everyone throws hard. It still is mind-blowing how fast these guys are throwing. Strider is no exception. So far this year he has not thrown a 4-seam fastball under 95 mph.
All of these visuals were produced from the Savant Illustrator
Savant Illustrator | baseballsavant.com (mlb.com)
Spencer Strider Statcast, Visuals & Advanced Metrics | MLB.com | baseballsavant.com
Statcast | Glossary | MLB.com
Walks And Hits Per Inning Pitched (WHIP) | Glossary | MLB.com