There have been a couple of good causes for me to meet up with Tanner Houck this previous week. One is that he has arguably been one of the best beginning pitcher in baseball over the primary half of the season. Together with a 2.18 ERA and a 2.20 FIP, the 27-year-old Boston Purple Sox right-hander boasts the very best WAR (3.6) amongst large league hurlers. One other is that I’ve been because of ask him concerning the pitch he depends on most. Per Statcast, Houck has thrown 41.8% sliders, 30.8% sinkers, 24.8% splitters, and a couple of.6% cutters.
Again in 2019, when he was pitching in Double-A, Houck was featured right here at FanGraphs in an interview that targeted on his sinker. Two years later, a second interview explored a growing splitter that, as my colleague Kyle Kishimoto detailed simply over a month in the past, has turn into an particularly efficient weapon. Which brings us to the right here and now. Excited about each how Houck’s slider has advanced and the way it performs inside his three-pitch arsenal, I approached him to get some solutions.
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David Laurila: How does the slider you’re at present throwing differ from the one you had final 12 months?
Tanner Houck: “It’s a distinct grip, technically. Final 12 months, I used to be operating up the horseshoe a bit of an excessive amount of and never getting as a lot side-to-side motion. This 12 months there’s a focus of making extra east-to-west, side-to-side motion with the pitch, in addition to on prioritizing throwing it extra in larger conditions. It’s my greatest pitch by far, so I’m leveraging it every time I can in these large moments.”
Laurila: Has the phrase ‘sweeper’ labored its manner into the dialog?
Houck: “I assume you possibly can categorize it as a sweeper, however I nonetheless have a look at every little thing as sliders. I assume that’s simply the older faculty a part of me; I don’t actually know the distinction on the way you classify sweeper versus slider, or something like that. It’s no matter you need to name it.
“The primary dialog I had with [new Red Sox pitching coach] Andrew Bailey was to get extra side-to-side motion on the slider. I’m an east-west man anyway. I’m very rotational, which is sort of my bread and butter. That’s why I throw a sinker. I can’t generate the verticality with a four-seam the identical as I can create the detrimental depth with the sinker.”
Laurila: How a lot has the motion of your slider modified? Together with extra sweep, I assume the vertical has modified as nicely.
Houck: “I undoubtedly gained lots of horizontal. The depth… if something, I’d say that it typically will get a bit of bit extra vertical within the sense that it sits [from] +2 to -4. That’s the place my vary is. With sweepers, most individuals now are attempting to get it within the constructive vary. I don’t thoughts it being a bit of bit extra depth-y, however not getting previous the -5 mark.”
Laurila: The splitter has clearly been an enormous pitch for you this 12 months. How do you play your splitter off your slider?
Houck: “I believe you simply sort of deal with it just like the two-seam. You’ll be able to sort of tunnel all three of my pitches off of one another actually properly. I consider throwing every little thing beginning arm-side third and enjoying all three pitches off that line. I’m trusting that the sweeper goes to get all the way in which throughout the zone, the splitter goes to be down, after which the two-seam goes to be down with extra arm-side run.
“With that mixture, all three popping out of the identical window, and with the velo distinction — the fastball can be wherever from 91-94, the splitter can be 86 to 90, after which the slider is coming in at 81 to 85 — that’s a spread of 10 or so miles an hour with three totally different motion profiles popping out of the identical window.”
Laurila: Taking a look at your Baseball Savant web page just lately, I noticed that Logan Webb is listed as being just like you in velocity and motion. Have you ever seen that?
Houck: “No, however I’ll say that with [Bailey] coming over from San Francisco, it was sort of a straightforward adjustment with the splitter grip. This 12 months, I’ve sort of gravitated to extra of what [Webb] throws. He calls it a changeup, I name it a splitter, however it’s comparatively the identical grip, producing extra seam-shifted downward motion. Bales coming over from San Francisco was an incredible, as a result of he labored with a man who’s sort of like me. I imply, to have the success Logan Webb has had, that’s one thing you hope to duplicate.”
Laurila: Did Bailey point out Webb when the 2 of you began working collectively?
Houck: “He did. In our a few of our earlier conversations, he used that comparability within the sense of us each being very east-to-west guys, large sinker, slider, after which a complementary changeup/splitter. Three pitches, and for some time there I need to say that Webb was additionally throwing a four-seam, however then scrapped it throughout [Bailey’s] tenure there. Working with him this 12 months has been nice. I really feel like I’ve realized so much. I really feel like I’ve gotten higher. I really feel like I’ve matured as a pitcher so much.”
Laurila: And also you’re undoubtedly a combination of old-fashioned and new faculty in your strategy to pitching. That’s one thing I’ve realized from the handful of conversations we’ve had through the years.
Houck: “Yeah. I undoubtedly perceive analytics, as a result of I do know that it’s a main a part of our sport. I really feel obligated to at the very least perceive the entire lingo, and the entire conversations we’ve got, as a result of it’s a part of our job. On the similar time, I grew up watching lots of old-fashioned baseball. I cherished watching earlier than all of the analytics. I cherished watching the [Adam] Wainwright’s and Chris Carpenters. A.J. Burnett was at all times a favourite. So, I grew up watching old-fashioned guys, however it’s enjoyable. [Analytics] are a instrument that may aid you solely get higher in my view.”
Laurila: Any last ideas on pitching, or on the season you’re having?
Houck: “I believe the largest factor for me this 12 months is that I’ve simply caught to my strengths. I don’t essentially command the glove-side two-seam as nicely, in order that’s a pitch I haven’t actually thrown a ton this 12 months. I’ve a handful of instances, and I’ve gotten swings-and-misses and a few weak contact, however it’s a pitch I’m nonetheless making an attempt to command at a better clip. That might be helpful for me. That goes again to the tunneling facet, trusting your greatest stuff off of 1 lane and commanding the zone.”
Laurila: What about your splitter to the glove facet? Are you able to command that fairly nicely?
Houck: “I truly do it on accident greater than something. However I generate lots of swings and misses off of it. Sometimes, every time I do misfire it extra glove-side, I imagine that I catch a bit of bit higher seam. Sometimes, I really feel like these are my greatest ones. That’s one thing I’m making an attempt to command a bit of bit higher, too. However once more, I’m largely sticking to my strengths.”
