Bryce Miller has improved on his 2023 rookie season with the Seattle Mariners. Particularly notable are his ERA (3.46 versus final yr’s 4.32), FIP (3.70 versus 3.98), and OPS towards opposite-handed hitters (.685 OPS versus .917). On the identical time, lots of his numbers have been strikingly comparable. Once I spoke to the 25-year-old right-hander on the finish of July — he’s since made two begins — his win-loss file and common fastball velocity had been an identical to final yr’s marks, as had been his FB% and HR/FB%. His strikeout fee differed by only a few proportion factors.
I cited these similarities to the righty, then proceeded to ask him what differentiates this season’s model of Bryce Miller from final yr’s.
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Bryce Miller: “I feel that sort of stuff could be very comparable, however the lefty-righty splits are fairly a bit totally different. Final yr, lefties batted over .300 towards me. This yr, it’s round .215. I feel the addition of the splitter has been huge, and I’ve additionally been finding higher. If you happen to have a look at the warmth maps from final yr, a number of the fastballs had been in the course of the plate. This yr, I’ve gotten them [elevated] a bit of higher for essentially the most half. So getting the warmers up and the splitters down has helped me out rather a lot with the lefties. That’s actually been the primary factor.”
David Laurila: Why is the splitter so a lot better than the changeup you had been throwing?
Miller: “I actually didn’t throw the changeup final yr. I imply, the utilization was in all probability solely 5%. I additionally needed to drop my [arm] slot to throw the changeup if I needed any sort of horizontal. It simply wasn’t a very good pitch for me.”
Laurila: What’s the story behind your splitter? How did you be taught it, and the way lengthy did it take to show it into a top quality pitch?
Miller: “It took me just about all offseason to get snug with it. It’s not a simple pitch. [The] motion isn’t all the time in keeping with the dearth of spin and whatnot. From watching Logan [Gilbert] and [George] Kirby throw it final yr, I assumed it might be a very good pitch for me. Once more, there was like a .100 level distinction in batting-average-against for lefties and righties. I knew that wanted to be my foremost space of focus.”
Laurila: Did Gilbert and Kirby play a task in your splitter outdoors of you seeing how efficient it was for them?
Miller: “I requested each of them how they threw it, however I ended up not utilizing both of their grips. I sort of took [Kodai] Senga’s grip a bit of bit. It’s like a mixture of Senga and [Kevin] Gausman. I’ve the horseshoe rotated right here [on the ring side of the middle finger] after which the opposite one sort of splits between the lace. I truly discovered it on a Tread video on YouTube. I saved chopping the common break up grip, after which I noticed the video the place a man was displaying that grip. He was possibly a bit of extra conventional, whereas I like my pinky and ring finger up. I began throwing it that means and it began to take off.”
Laurila: Has it been extra of a swing-and-miss pitch for you, or extra of a soft-contact pitch?
Miller: “Early within the season it was near 40% whiff, however that’s sort of gone down. It’s been my greatest weak-contact pitch. Once I throw it in end counts, in the event that they swing it’s normally been a groundball or a weak fly. I feel I’ve obtained to regulate my location with it to get again to getting extra swings and misses. Both means, I haven’t given up a lot injury with it.
“I’ve thrown it near 25% of the time and have given up one house run — and I don’t actually even depend it, as a result of it was a bizarre one. I all the time preset my splitter, and after I change to a distinct pitch I do it the glove. The house run was to Evan Carter, in Texas, within the third week of the season. We had referred to as a distinct pitch, I switched to a fastball, after which we referred to as splitter once more. There was no time left on the pitch clock, and I used to be like ‘crap.’ I attempted to do it in my glove and the pitch simply floated in there.”
Laurila: You knew it was a foul pitch earlier than he even swung the bat?
Miller: “Yeah. And it’s the one one I’ve thrown this yr the place I didn’t preset. I wish to have it deep in my hand, and on that one I needed to go to it actual fast after which throw. The end result was a house run. I ought to have simply thrown it for a ball.”
Laurila: Are there any pitches which can be harder than others once you’re switching grips out of the preset?
Miller: “No. I’ve gotten used to switching to the fastball, or switching to the curveball or sweeper, or no matter. It’s all fairly simple. I simply rotate the ball and I’m there. I additionally do a number of glove wiggle and hold that to the place they’ll’t decide up on something.”
Laurila: Is there the rest repertoire-wise we should always contact on?
Miller: “I’ve added a knuckle curve. Final sport, I didn’t throw it till the sixth inning, after which struck out the aspect with it. I stole it from Mike Baumann. It’s like a loss of life ball. I used to be by no means in a position to throw a conventional curveball very onerous. I’ve obtained the gyro slider that’s round 2 and -2, however the brand new one I’ve been throwing has been 85, 86, 87 [mph] all the way down to -8 vert and round zero horizontal. If I hold throwing it, it will likely be a very good breaking pitch to get swings and misses.
“Because the yr has gone on, with lefties it’s principally both been splits away or heaters up, so that they’re sort of on high of the plate. I feel this shall be a very good pitch to get them off a bit of bit. However it’s nonetheless a piece in progress. I added it about three weeks in the past, however didn’t actually throw too lots of them till the sixth inning of that final sport.
“I’ve been making an attempt to determine a breaking pitch that strikes glove aspect that will get swing-and-miss, as a result of the sweeper and the gyro… on Stuff+, I feel they’ve all the time underperformed, particularly with whiff. The gyro has been good with outcomes, however it simply doesn’t get as a lot whiff as I’d like. It might be a location factor; I don’t know. The curveball, because it has extra depth to it, ought to get extra swing-and-miss.”
Laurila: It may be your new secret weapon to overlook bats?
Miller: “Hopefully. I imply, it labored final week. After all, they couldn’t plan for it, as a result of I hadn’t been throwing it.”
