ASTROS PITCHERS DEFY TRENDS WITH SLIDERS
Team hopes approach won’t spoil dreams of winning World Series
It’s possible only one thing is standing in the way of the Houston Astros making a run to their first World Series since 2005.
They own the best record in the American League, have more home runs than any other team in the big leagues and their pitchers lead the majors in strikeouts.
The issue, though, is whether the Astros’ breaking- ball loving pitchers can spin their way through October, a month typically dominated by hard stuff. Astros pitchers have struck out 1,006 batters in 890 innings, even though they throw fastballs just 47% of the time, almost identical to their 49% mark in 2016 and well below the major league average of 56%. Both this year and last, only the New York Yankees threw fewer fastballs, and it’s no coincidence.
“We have guys — and I think they’ve probably done it on purpose in this organization— who can spin the ball well,” Astros right- hander Collin McHugh said. “Whether it’s me or ( Brad) Peacock or Lance ( McCullers Jr.) or whoever you’re gonna run out there ... you kind of know what you’re gonna get. You’re gonna get some spin, you’re gonna mix pitches, and I think that’s how we know we’re most effective. Lance likes to say the four- seam fastball is a dying pitch, but there’s still a place and time for it, for sure.”
For much of his career, Peacock, 29, has been unremarkable and entering this season had pitched 11 games in the majors over the two previous seasons. As it turns out, that was a blessing in disguise. That’s how he came to know Jordan Jankowski. They were teammates on Houston’s Class AAA affiliate in Fresno, and Jankowski taught Peacock his slider in 2016.
“I had a slider going into that season, but it was getting crushed,” he said. “I’d just try to throw it hard, but it really wasn’t moving much. I kind of just said, ‘ I need something new,’ and I asked one of my buddies who had a good slider on the team.”
Peacock, who has a 4.13 career ERA, has dropped to 2.51 this year, and he’s striking out 12.2 per nine innings. What pitch is he throwing more than any other? The slider.
Perhaps Jankowski — who has appeared in two games with Houston this season — deserves a larger playoff share.
The obvious concern is that one pitch does not equate to a shutdown pitcher.
McCullers said Sunday after giving up six runs to the Baltimore Orioles: “When you’re facing a lineup like this that’s been hot, you can’t be coming at them with one pitch the whole game. You’re going to get beat eventually.”