PEORIA, Ariz. -- ‘Tis the season to tinker, and so many among the Mariners’ pitching staff are working on new weapons this spring that it’s almost hard to keep track.
Many of the new pitches that guys are throwing aren’t immediately deciphered until Statcast’s team can get into the plumbing of the data and sort it out. So until then, we went asking for more specifics.
Logan Gilbert
Pitch: The “Big Mike” curveball
Purpose: More depth than his current curve
The name is a recognition of former Mariners reliever Mike Baumann, who played in Seattle for just seven weeks last season but left a lasting impression with his big breaking ball. Gilbert was motivated because his current curve shares tendencies with his sweeper.
“If you have eight pitches, it starts getting more difficult to keep them all separate,” Gilbert said. “You want them to tunnel, but you don't want them to blend.”
Gilbert also hinted that he’s working on another variation of a fastball after toying with a “splinker” last season, but he’s been more mum on details.
“It's a version of a sinker that was really good in the bullpen, and then I didn't throw a strike with it in the game,” Gilbert said. “So we're getting there. Baby steps.”
Emerson Hancock
Pitch: Sweeper
Purpose: More horizontal movement
“I think it's something that's been missing a little bit,” Hancock said.
Hancock already throws a slider and generated a 31.7 percent whiff rate with it last year, but the pitch was tagged for a .300 batting average and .600 slugging percentage. The sweeper, which carries more vertical drop, could be a pitch that entices more chase.
“As many sinkers as I'm going to throw to right-handed hitters, to just have it dive off and then [throw my] sinker in to just kind of have a little bit of a crisscross.”
George Kirby
Pitch: Cutter
Purpose: Another weapon for lefties
“I'm trying to make it a four[-seam fastball] all the way until it's not,” Kirby said. “It kind of gets in on their hands on a lefty, kind of crowds them a little bit. I can use it on the outside of the plate a little more, even down with the curveball. It kind of just opens up all of the offspeed.”
Lefties had a .725 OPS against Kirby last year and saw most of their success against his offspeed, specifically against the splitter (.275 batting average), slider (.266) and knuckle curveball (.341). The cutter, when executed, can jam them for more whiffs or weak contact.
“I just think three heaters is better than two,” said Kirby, who famously added a two-seam fastball midway through his rookie year with guidance from former teammate Robbie Ray.
Bryce Miller
Pitch: Cutter
Purpose: Pitching deeper in games
This side project actually goes back to last year, when Miller hinted that he was attempting to mimic Gilbert’s cutter, then unveiled it later on.
“It would cut, but then sometimes it wouldn't cut,” Miller said. “So really, I just dialed that in, got it to actually cut now. So I guess it's a new pitch, kind of, but it's just moving different.”
It’s interesting to hear that Miller was motivated by pitch efficiency, too, after accumulating a career-high 180 1/3 innings last year.
“Just kind of going off of how the sinker helped me with righties, just kind of using something similar to lefties if I’m behind in counts, or early in counts, getting a ground ball, kind of getting through at-bats a little quicker.”
Andrés Muñoz
Pitch: Kick changeup
Purpose: Because why not?
Muñoz gets a special mention here, even though he’s not a starter, because his new weapon has been the biggest talk of them all. Already armed with a fastball that touched 103 mph in 2022 and a slider that generated a 48.5 percent whiff rate last year, Muñoz was intrigued by a grip he saw on Instagram. He toyed with it in a bullpen at the outset of camp, but he hasn’t yet used it in Cactus League play.
Muñoz said that he throws it like a fastball but lets the grip do the rest.
“It looks like a splitter, but as soon as I can command that in the middle, just throw it in the middle without leaving it in the middle,” Muñoz said. “Like, just throw it in the middle and let it drop. I think it's going to be good.”
Daniel Kramer covers the Mariners for MLB.com.