Jordan Hicks, St. Louis Cardinals
Career Strikeout Rate: 22.0%
2018 Strikeout Rate: 22.7%
2019 Strikeout Rate (so far): 33.3%
Nobody throws a fastball with more velocity than Jordan Hicks. His 100.7 mph average on the ol’ number one currently leads all pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched. Despite that tremendous speed, the knock on him during his rookie campaign was that it didn’t come with an abundance of strikeouts and a lot of walks.
Well, the walks are still happening (12.8% in 10.1 innings), but the strikeouts are starting to pour in. A big reason for this is that he’s becoming less reliant on that fastball. He threw it at a 78.6% clip as a rookie, but that number is down to 61.1% so far in ’19, which has coincided with a huge rise in slider usage (22.0% to 32.5%).
His sinker has seen a rise in strikeout rate (13.0% to 22.5%), but the thing about high velocity is that big-league hitters will adjust to it. There are so many hurlers tossing in the upper 90s and hitting triple digits that it’s not incredibly rare anymore. When he drops in the slider more frequently, though, it keeps them on their toes.
That pitch has produced a 66.7% strikeout rate and 44 wRC+ against in the early parts of 2019.
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