IN SEARCH OF CHRIS ARCHER
Right- hander plans to ditch his two- seamer and get back being to the pitcher he was before the trade
When the Pirates traded for Chris Archer last July, fans had every reason to be excited. Coming to Pittsburgh would be an elite, established pitcher who averaged more than 200 innings and roughly 226 strikeouts a season from 201417. During that time period, only 12 pitchers in baseball had more Wins Above Replacement than Archer’s 15.6.
It’s obvious at this point to say the deal has not worked out as intended.
Instead, Archer has experienced sporadic success in Pittsburgh. In 25 starts, the right- hander has an ERA of 5.02 and career- worst marks this season when it comes to home runs ( 2.3) and walks ( 4.7) allowed per nine innings.
Yet Archer, who will start Friday in Chicago to kick off the Pirates’ second half, remains very much optimistic that his fortunes are about to change. How did we get here with Archer? Let’s take a look.
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Around baseball, the Pirates have a reputation for pitching inside. Sometimes that gets them into trouble, as we’ve seen this season
with the Reds, Braves and Cubs. It’s also necessary given the types of pitchers they typically employ — groundball- getters and pitch- to- contact types, usually not somebody who’s going to overpower you with stuff.
Expecting Archer to pitch like that would be the football equivalent of having Ben Roethlisberger run the option or, in hockey, telling Evgeni Malkin to take a couple shifts next to Kris Letang on defense — they can, but it might not go so well.
“Overall, I can’t forget the type of pitcher that I am,” Archer said. “I’m not a contact, groundball pitcher.”
In Pittsburgh, Archer has changed, and he’s sort of tried to become a contact, groundball pitcher. It’s one of the things that’s been at the root of his problems.
After not throwing a sinker for three years from 2015- 17, according to MLB’s Statcast, Archer is throwing them 15.8% of the time this season … and the results haven’t been good. Opponents are hitting .400 against Archer’s sinker with a slugging percentage of .867.
Classifying Archer’s pitches can be tricky because his two- seamer runs, and his fastball has aboveaverage movement to it. But the fact remains that things have not gone well for Archer when he’s tried to use his two- seamer to pitch low in the zone or inside to get groundballs.
That’s why during a June 22 game against the Padres, Archer said enough is enough and ditched the twoseamer. The reasoning was simple, he said.
“It’s one of those things where you assess where the damage is being done,” Archer said. “The slugging percentage on my twoseamer was extremely high. One way to eliminate the damage is just to not throw the pitch that has the most damage. It’s not a complex thing. It was just getting banged. I got rid of it.”
Bad influence?
When Archer arrived in Pittsburgh, he said he felt pressure to conform. It wasn’t that the organization forced anything upon him ( more on his relationship with Ray Searage is coming shortly), but it was more trying to acclimate to his new surroundings a little too much.
“I really didn’t need to change much,” Archer said. “I probably tried to change too much.”
That change has manifested itself in how much Archer has thrown his slider, which remains a terrific and effective pitch for him; throughout his career, opponents have hit just .201 against Archer’s slider.
Despite the success, Archer has thrown his slider just 35.1% of the time this season, down significantly from his rate of 44.6 in 2017. It’s Archer’s first time not throwing at least 40% sliders since 2015, when he was at 39.3.
“My slider is one of the best pitches in baseball,” Archer said. “I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, but I throw it for strikes, the swing- and- miss percentage is really high, and the positive outcome percentage is really high. Why wouldn’t I throw it 40 percent of the time?”
That’s a good question when you step back and think about Archer’s situation. It’s something fans are seemingly willing to blame on the Pirates, but that hasn’t been the case.
‘ He’s been outstanding’
Archer and pitching coach Ray Searage corroborated the idea that Archer throws what he wants; it’s not Searage pulling the strings on Archer like some sort of puppet.
“I’m the one choosing what I throw,” Archer said.
“I never forced him to throw the two- seamer,” Searage continued. “That was his own doing. His twoseamer runs more than it sinks. He tried some different things. It didn’t work well for him.
“He’s a strong- willed individual. I appreciate that, but there are some things that work for you and some things you have to reevaluate. We finally got there.”
Are the Pirates guilty here by letting one of their pitchers, a guy who has had success in the past, trying to work through some struggles? Maybe. The results haven’t been good for a long time. But you should also appreciate the human element here: Archer, based on what he accomplished elsewhere, probably deserves the benefit of trying to figure something out.
One thing that should be set straight, though, is that there’s been no friction between Searage and Archer.
“He’s been outstanding,” Searage said. “I have never forced my opinions upon him. We have good conversations. He’s a guy we’re trying to help to make better. He knows that. There’s never been an argument. There’s never been a butted head. We have really good conversations. We go over things, and that’s it.”
‘ My stuff’s good’
Archer believes he might be one or two pitches away, and he could easily be right.
If he shelves the twoseamer and throws more sliders, as he plans to do out of the break, maybe the home run rate will drop. Maybe there will be fewer fly balls that sail over the fence.
But there are also some disturbing peripherals when it comes to how hitters are handling Archer. His groundball rate ( 37.3%) is the lowest of his career, while his fly ball rate ( 40.2) is his highest. His home run to fly ball rate ( 23.8) is also way worse than Archer has ever experienced. From 2014- 17, in the snapshot mentioned above, that number for Archer sat between 7.6- 13.1.
“My stuff’s good,” Archer said. “The first half I was plagued by the home run. The fly ball/ home run rate is very high, for me. I need to be that much better.”
How can Archer do that? It’s actually fairly easy, and it’s something he’s been working on with Searage between starts: better fastball command.
It’s true that Archer’s average four- seam fastball velocity ( 93.8 mph) is down 2 mph from where he was in 2015, but what he’s throwing now isn’t anything to sneeze at, especially with some of the late life the pitch often possesses.
Where Archer has hurt himself has been his inability to command the fourseam fastball and get ahead in counts, setting up the slider.
“He has a really good fourseam fastball,” Searage said. “The thing that has to improve is the command of that fastball. When you make mistakes out over the plate, the way things are nowadays with the baseball, the ball is going to travel. That’s what we’ve been working on — trying to get better fastball command.”
So, what’s next?
It hasn’t all been bad — and it’s certainly not irreparable. On a positive note, Archer has potentially become a more complete pitcher since coming to Pittsburgh.
After throwing his changeup around 8 or 9% of the time earlier in his career, Archer has used that pitch at a 13.4% clip this season, with a .214 batting average against. In 2017, for instance, opponents hit .352 against Archer’s changeup.
But even with the right pitch mix, which Archer may have found by staying away from the two- seamer, he knows he needs to command his pitches better in order to have success.
“I definitely want to be more efficient than I have, but I’ve been efficient in the past,” Archer said. “I’m a better pitcher now. I’m just not showing it.
“My slider’s the best it’s ever been. The carry on my fastball, the revolutions on my fastball and the velocity the past couple of starts has been normal. Changeup is there. I just really need to be me.”
What does it mean for Archer to be himself? Probably to not be like your typical Pirates pitcher, whether or not they forced him to be that way.
Archer must do his part by showing better command of his four- seam fastball and shelve the two- seamer, better setting up the slider.
Couple that with some of the good stuff Archer has learned about the Pirates’ way with pitchers, and it could make for an interesting trade deadline acquisition — albeit a year after anyone had hoped.
“Here is different than what I’ve been used to in the past,” Archer said. “If I can continue to implement what I’ve learned here in the right way, I’m going to be a better pitcher.
“But I can’t lean on new things too much because I’m already a really good pitcher. I don’t need to change but definitely continuing to implement some of the things that they’ve introduced to me is going to help me.”