In the recap this morning, I hinted at a potential change in Luis Severino’s approach over his last few starts. He’s been much lower on strikeouts and higher on GB contact, and he made a comment about being more of a pitcher than a thrower before his last outing against Toronto in reference to that one bad outing earlier in the month. It all adds up to a guy who’s starting to realize the differences between what does and doesn’t work when you go from Triple-A to the Majors and adjusting his approach accordingly.
A quick look at the differences in pitch usage provide some supporting evidence to this theory. Here’s the breakdown of pitches over Severino’s first 8 Major League starts, courtesy of Texas Leaguers (Brooks hasn’t added their pitch data from yesterday’s start):
TL reads more cutters and 2-seamers than Brooks, but it’s a real heavy dose of fastball-slider with a small side salad of changeups. Compare that to his pitch usage in his last 2 starts:
That’s a little more balanced. …
