Michael Wacha is good again
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Michael Wacha is good again
Fangraphs has Wacha's changeup as the best for its pitch value in all of baseball. It's significantly better than Aaron Nola's who has a great changeup by his own right. It's now a bonafied strikeout pitch again.
His cutter is the second to Kluber's in all of baseball.
Is Michael Wacha officially "back?"
Good article on him here: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/michael ... -its-2013/
His cutter is the second to Kluber's in all of baseball.
Is Michael Wacha officially "back?"
Good article on him here: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/michael ... -its-2013/
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
He is back.
*knocks on scapula*
*knocks on scapula*
- wart57
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
Way to go Amoco - I bet you jinxed him.
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
He's beyond back.
He was never this good, was he?
He was never this good, was he?
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
My phone still autocorrects his name to WACHA because of the '13 playoffs. He was this good, once.
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
He seemed like he was this good.Socnorb11 wrote:He's beyond back.
He was never this good, was he?
But, the point, to me, is that Wacha is not the same pitcher he was whenever he used to be good. His change hasn't *ahem* changed. But, that cutter is fairly new and it appears to be a game *ahem* changer. I know that PitchFX or whatever Fangraphs is using these days has Wacha throwing a cutter only slightly more often than in previous years but Wacha himself has indicated it's something relatively new this season. So, not sure what to make of that. Regardless, it's incredibly effective in tandem with the change. There's also some peripheral stuff that might go south on Wacha, but I personally think he's going to beat the peripherals.
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
Apparently there is reason to think that his changeup is legitimately more deceptive this year. The release point stuff in that article is interesting.His change hasn't *ahem* changed.
Code: Select all
Michael Wacha’s Release Point Differences From Fastball
Season Cutter Changeup Curveball
2013 3.8 in. 3.3 in. 1.0 in.
2014 5.3 in. 5.0 in. 4.3 in.
2015 5.6 in. 2.9 in. 3.1 in.
2016 4.7 in. 3.1 in. 3.8 in.
2017 3.4 in. 1.2 in. 2.4 in.
2018 2.6 in. 0.6 in. 2.0 in.
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
If he can maintain such a consistent release point between fastball/cutter/change, that's really hard to adjust to as a hitter. Looks like the exact same pitch coming in, but at 3 different speeds and 3 different movements.
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
The Cubs have absolutely owned him. Friday night will be a good test.
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Re: Michael Wacha is good again
Wacha has thrown his cutter almost since he came up, he's just never been all that comfortable with it (same with his curveball). I think what he was saying is new this year is that it's the first time he's gone into a season with a good feel for all four pitches and had full confidence in all of them.