- Player: Michael Pineda
- Resolution: Translates flashes of dominance into routine
Michael Pineda is an unbelievable riddle that not only makes everyone scratch their head but it also something that has never been seen in baseball.
Big Mike is the only starting pitcher in major league history to give up 25+ homers while maintaining an ERA over 4.80, a K/9 rate of 10+ and striking out 200 or more batters.
For the New Year, Pineda should make attacking batters early and getting ahead his primary goal.
When he’s ahead in the account, batters are hitting .184 with just four homers and an OPS of .487 but when he falls behind, those numbers jump to .344 with 10 homers and a 1.140 OPS.
Yes, that’s a general trend across baseball, but batters are also swinging at Pineda’s first pitch 43% of the time and are slashing .291/.300/.550 compared to .254/.331/.421 when they took the first pitch.
Again, that’s fixed by trust in your stuff and being able to pitch to your strengths. His wipeout slider is easily the greatest pitch in his arsenal while his fastball gets hit out of the park on almost a nightly basis.
Pineda’s resolution is a tough one, but we could undoubtedly have a CY Young dark horse candidate on their hands for the 2017 season if he can accomplish his resolution.
