Cleveland Indians: Trevor Bauer Has Turned the Corner

Keeping It Simple

The assortment of pitches in Bauer’s repertoire is legendary, but having a dozen varieties doesn’t guarantee success if they can’t be commanded, and his current success points to less most definitely being more in this case.

As the PITCHf/x data shows, over the course of the past three seasons, Bauer has relied less on his four-seam fastball and has basically completely ditched his slider, splitter, and screwball. The focus has instead shifted to throwing more sinkers and using the curveball and cutter to keep hitters off-balance.

“He’s turned into more of a conventional pitcher, from what I see,” pitching coach Mickey Callaway said after Wednesday’s win. “He’s simplified his mix. He’s doing a very good job of attacking the zone with both sides of the plate and multiple pitches and leading with his curveball when he needs to. He’s throwing fastballs down and away when he needs to and becoming more of a conventional guy.”

What’s more, concentrating on fewer pitches has resulted in throwing more strikes overall. Bauer’s is posting career bests with a 50 percent zone percentage, 9.7 percent swinging strike percentage, and 78.2 percent contact percentage. What that all means is that better command appears to be leading to less contact in addition to the aforementioned increase in ground balls.

Next: A calming influence.