Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander is simply one of the best pitchers of the current generation and should be a future no doubt Hall of Famer. He’s won a MVP award, a Cy Young award and should have picked up two more Cy Youngs along the way.
Verlander is just a dominant pitcher even into his mid-30s. It’s incredible that we can look back at the mega-contract he signed back in 2013 and say that that deal has been a bargain. Verlander might have the best array of stuff in the game. He was already listed at #3 on the best fastball list and here he is ranked third again on the top curveball list.
The accolades for his curveball begin with the high spin rate. It’s not surprising that Verlander possesses one of the highest spin curveballs in the game as he also had the highest spin rate on his fastball.
This attributed to his league-leading xwOBA against his curveball. Verlander only allowed a .134 xWOBA against his curve. Not only was this number the best xwOBA against anyone’s curveball, but it was also the lowest mark against any single pitch in baseball last season. It is interesting that this number was so low because the other characteristics of his curveball were not nearly as impressive.
He gets above average movement on the pitch but it’s really the hard late bite on the pitch that makes it effective. He also doesn’t generate an extraordinary amount of swings and misses with the curveball.
Regardless of the other factors, according to xwOBA Justin Verlander’s curveball was the best pitch in baseball in 2018. It will be interesting to see how effective he can continue to be with the pitch in 2019.