Fastball
Most Valuable: Hyun-Jin Ryu (1.94 pitch value per 100 pitches)
Least Valuable: Mike Leake (-2.26)
Ryu has been so ridiculous that he’s easily the National League Cy Young frontrunner right now. That’s what happens when you twirl a 1.27 ERA and 3.3 fWAR through just 99 innings of work, right? After watching his fastball usage drop below 38.0% in each of the last two seasons, it’s currently up at 42.1%. Strikeouts generated with the pitch have gone down (33.7% to 26.3%), but it’s been accompanied by a huge drop in OPS (.610 to .515), ISO (.144 to .089), and wRC+ (75 to 40) allowed.
After tossing his fastball at a 50.5% clip in 2014 for the Cincinnati Reds, Mike Leake’s usage of this pitch has consistently gone down each year, as has his average velocity. His 33.9% usage rate and 88.1 mph average velocity are both on track to be career lows.
Honorable Mentions: Jake Odorizzi (1.90), Brandon Woodruff (1.89), Jakob Junis (-2.13), Dylan Bundy (-1.98)
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