Spencer Strider (2022)

 

Spencer Strider 🇺🇸 (2022)

Spencer Robert Strider (Columbus, Ohio, Octuber 28, 1998), is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He made his MLB debut in 2021.

In 2022, he had an incredible season, finishing in second place in the National League Rookie of the Year, which was won by his teammate Michael Harris II. 

He recorded 11 wins and 5 losses in 31 games, with an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 2.67, 0.995 WHIP and 202 strikeouts. He ranked among the top pitchers of 2022, finishing in the 11th position with the best ERA and the most strikeouts in all MLB.

This analysis covers in detail his pitching arsenal and his effectiveness against rivals during his 2022 season. It also compares his numbers with other pitchers.

If you have any questions regarding the types of pitches (Fastball, Changeup, etc.), here is all the necessary information

Enjoy it 🙌

The data provided is from Baseball Savant

1- Defensive Power

With 2277 pitches, Strider was able to struck out 202 players, ranking 11th in Strikeouts in 2022. 

Strider only has three types of pitches, of which the one he used the most was the FS Fastball at 66.97%, followed by the Slider at 28.24%, and the Changeup at 4.79% of the total. He maintained an average of 13.8 strikeouts per 9 innings and 0.5 home runs per 9 innings.

In the chart below, we can see the location of all his pitches (the chart is oriented from the catcher's perspective). With 470 pitches in the lower right zone, of which 316 were Sliders. In the upper right zone, we can see that he threw 323 balls, out of which 266 were FS Fastballs. This reflects that a significant portion of his pitches were outside the strike zone to deceive the opponent and quickly bring them to a 0-2 count considering his high number of strikeouts.

Strider threw 780 balls and 753 strikes, of which 47% were called strikes and 53% swinging strikes.

Below we will see a balance sheet of his pitch arsenal, comparing Strikeouts, Walks, and Hits. 

The FS Fastball was your lethal weapon for striking out opponents with 120 strikeouts. Taking into account that it was the most used pitch, it also had more walks and hits than the other pitches. Following the Slider with 74 strikeouts.

His performance with the fastball has led to stand out among the best, being the absolute leader in Strikeout % at 38.3%. This made Strider the most effective in relation to his quantity of strikeouts and the at-bats he faced. Additionally, he were the second-ranked pitcher in MLB with the best average velocity with the FS Fastball, registering at 98.2 mph.

To complement this data, we will see in the following charts the strike percentage, and in another graph, each count and the type of pitch, to see which pitch resulted in getting the opponents out.

In the chart below, we can see his strikes. Besides the 0-0 count, a significant portion of the strikes occurred on the first pitches. He also had a high percentage at 2-2 with 7.17% of the total, and there were few strikes at 3-2 or 3 balls. This reflects Strider´s intention to quickly eliminate the opponent with

fast pitches like a Fastball.

It's important to note that this chart takes into account both called strikes and swinging strikes.

In the lower right area outside of the strike zone, he threw 111 strikes with 96 being Sliders. His pitch distribution was well-balanced, with the rest of the zones being primarily led by the FS Fastball as the main pitch.(the chart is oriented from the catcher's perspective)

The chart below shows his pitching tendencies depending on the count, and it's quite clear that he relied heavily on the FS Fastball in all counts, with the Slider as an alternative for striking out opponents.

Strider ranks among the best in advanced statistics, coming second with the highest whiff % average at 34.9%, making him one of the pitchers most likely to induce swings and misses. He topped the list with the highest Swing and Miss average in the strike zone at 26.3%, demonstrating that his fastball was lethal to opponents.

Last but not least, the chart below is presented comparing his hits attempts vs. strikes. It reflects his dominance in almost all counts, considering he had more swinging strikes (52.7%) than called strikes (47.3%). Only in the 2-1 and 2-2 counts did opponents have a higher chance of making contact with the ball.

Here's a compilation of videos(from youtube) featuring his highlights from the 2022 season to showcase his pitches.

Now we will look at his pitch arsenal with a graph (from Baseball Savant), where we can see his pitches used during the 2022 season. 

The gray lines represent the average MLB release speed. In the case of the FS Fastball, it significantly surpasses the general average, as does the Slider and Changeup (86 mph and 88 mph). 

Additionally, on the chart to the right, we can observe the vertical and horizontal movement of the ball. The FS Fastball doesn't have significant movement variation, which makes it a "predictable" pitch, but it's very difficult to make contact due to Strider's pitching speed. We can also see that the Slider is around the MLB average, with the distinct Slider movement variation.

In the last chart, the percentage of batting average of the opponents faced by Strider with his favorite pitches for strikeout, the FS Fastball and Slider.

The chart indicates that very few batters were able to hit successfully (shown by the red squares), highlighting its significance in deceiving the opponents who had no choice but to take a swing to see if they could make good contact. (the green line is the strike zone).

First, let's take a look at the opponent's batting percentage against Strider's FS Fastball:

The heatmap below reflects that only six zones exceeded the .300 AVG. Considering that he threw more than 1000 pitches with his Fastball he achieved good numbers, demonstrating his effectiveness and the challenging speed to make contact, especially outside of the strike zone.

For reference, a batter who maintains an AVG of .250 is considered good.

Now, the Slider. Since this is a breaking ball with deceptive movement, Strider used it as an alternative to strike out 75 opponents.

His effectiveness was very good outside of the strike zone, but in several parts within the strike zone, he was hit above a .400 AVG. 

Additionally, to complement his overall performance, Strider achieved a 3.5% of hits allowed as Poor/Weak contact, which is a low figure compared to other pitchers who had a higher percentage of contact resulting in poorly executed hits or with low velocity.

2- Allowed Hits

Spencer Strider was the pitcher with the fewest hits in MLB, allowing only 86, out of which 39 were earned runs.

 

He was the pitcher who allowed the fewest home runs, conceding just 7. Additionally, he ranked second alongside Justin Verlander with one of the lowest ISO (Isolated Power) averages at .084. 

ISO measures the raw power of a hitter by considering only extra-base hits and the specific type of extra-base hit.

Lets take a look at the spray chart to see where the hits or batted ball attempts landed.

We can see below that a significant portion of his hits (the red area) occurred in the infield between second and third base. Despite all the statistics that showed Strider allowed few extra-base hits, including 61 singles, 17 doubles, and 1 triple, he obtained a substantial number of outfield hits, recording 43 that had a distance of more than 200 ft.

Among hits or batted ball attempts, only 31% resulted in hits, while 69% were batted ball attempts. Also, the majority were ground balls at 40%, followed by fly balls at 26%.

Now we will observe a radial chart to see the launch angle and exit velocity of the hits conceded. Averaging 14.1° in Launch angle and 88 mph overall. 

45 of those hits had an exit velocity greater than 95 mph. An interesting fact is that Strider was the pitcher who used the FS Fastball the most in MLB, with a 67% usage rate.

Lastly, we will look at a heatmap chart of the batters to see where they made contact. 

First with the FS Fastball, we can observe that the majority of contacts were in the center of the strike zone, registering 35 in that area. 

The Slider (the chart below), it reflects a higher number of contacts in the lower part of the strike zone. Keep in mind that the Slider was mostly used in the lower right area outside of the strike zone to strike out opponents.