Earlier this week, I start looking at the Statcast year-to-year changes leaderboard. I’m hoping to find a pitcher that has made progress. I’ve done a lot of hitters, and I wanted to mix it up a little. I was shocked to find Luke Weaver had gone from a less-than-ideal starter to the kind of reliever he has been in 2024. This Reds fan watched him be consistently overmatched in every start last season, needing the lineup to climb out of the hole he made.
After bouncing from Cincinnati to Arizona to New York, Weaver emerged from the Yankees bullpen as a multi-inning force. Here’s the changes that have occurred:
Keeping the pitches that work
Pitching fewer innings allows Weaver to focus on the effective pitches he had and use them more often. His cut fastball usage is up from 2023, and it shows. It was one of his most effective pitches, and that hasn’t changed this season. When a pitcher has confidence in a pitch, they will go to it when they need it.
Staying out of the middles
A common point of instruction for pitchers is to stay away from the middle of the plate and the middle of the strike zone for a hitter. The combined zones to avoid will look like a plus sign. Here’s where Weaver located his pitches in 2023, and how hitters did against them:
A third of his pitches ended up in zones to avoid, and hitters smashed them in 2023. Let’s now see which spots Weaver is hitting this season, and how hitters are doing:
By having only 26% of his pitches in that plus sign, Luke Weaver has made himself significantly less hittable. Staying out of the middles has kept hitters guessing, and not guessing correctly.
Missing bats
An additional benefit to Luke Weaver hitting his spots has been forcing a lack of plate discipline in the opposing hitters. He is currently enjoy career-highs in whiff and chase rates, which allow him to keep pitches out of the strike zone against hitters. As you can see, this will also affect contact rates for pitches in the strike zone.
The complete overhaul of Luke Weaver has turned him into an All-Star candidate. He’s been able to successfully change when he throws, what he throws, and where he throws it. The new-found success could be the first step for Weaver having a long-term home in the Bronx.