Keuchel gets work done without heat
HOUSTON — For a snapshot of the way baseball has changed recently, consider the pitching matchup for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series tonight: the Houston Astros’ Dallas Keuchel versus the Boston Red Sox’s Nathan Eovaldi.
Baseball used to be filled with pitchers like Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks), a durable sinker specialist who studies the movement of his pitches, not
their speed. Now it is loaded with pitchers like Eovaldi, who throws about 100 mph
and has twice had Tommy John surgery.
Strikeouts reached a record high in the majors this season, and speed has an undeniable appeal.
“Velocity allows you to get away with more mistakes, because guys can be just a tick late, or they’re cheating to it and you can start doing other things,” said Charlie O’Brien, the former catcher and a longtime family friend of Keuchel’s. “A guy like Dallas has to be pretty fine most of the time; he can’t just chuck it in there at 95 and hope for the best. But he pitches, and that’s what I love about him.”
Eovaldi’s fastball has always stood out, even in this age of velocity. It averaged 97.2 mph this season, according to Fangraphs, ranking third among the 140 pitchers who worked at least 100 innings. Keuchel, at 89.3 mph, was 132nd.
Accordingly, Keuchel averaged only 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
“You’re only going to throw as hard as your body can,” Astros Manager A.J. Hinch said. “So for someone to be mature enough to know himself and use his weapons to the best of his ability, I applaud, in a sport where we’re shifting towards maybe a little bit more bravado, a little bit more high-end velocity and spin rates.”
Keuchel’s way is disappearing. Just a few years ago, it was not so unusual to throw a lot of innings — successfully — without many strikeouts. In 2014, there were 24 qualified pitchers who had an ERA under 4.00 and fewer than seven strikeouts per nine innings. This season, there were only four — and no others in the AL besides Keuchel.
Keuchel guessed that he had never thrown harder than 93 mph, and his style seems to help him last deeper into games. He worked 2042/3 innings and led the majors in batters faced.
“I think I also led in hits allowed, too,” he said, accurately, but added later: “I do take pride in being out there a very long time, whether it’s the number of hitters or number of innings or number of pitches. I feel like I’m built the old-school way, where I want to take the rock and go nine innings every time.”
O’Brien, who played from 1985 to 2000, said Keuchel — who will be a free agent after the season — could last for many years with his approach. While harder throwers often struggle to adapt as their fastballs fade, Keuchel, 30, always has grasped the importance of movement and location, a sensibility he shared with a veteran that O’Brien caught as a rookie with the Oakland Athletics.
So does Keuchel, at his best. He struggled early this season when he tried to throw too many high fastballs, as so many others do today. When he decided to stay true to himself — back to sinkers and change-ups — he did much better, with a 3.30 ERA in his last 20 starts.
Eovaldi has also evolved, throwing more cutters this season and thriving, especially after a July trade from Tampa Bay to Boston, where his ERA was 3.33. He stymied the New York Yankees in the division series and has not allowed a home run in his past five starts, though the Astros hit three in a row off him here on June 20.