Pitcher Notes - Thursday, April 18

The Commish breaks down the performance of each MLB starting pitcher who took the mound on Thursday.

(LAA) Griffin Canning

12 whiffs on 44 swings / 84 pitches
54.5% first-pitch strikes
3.82 pitches per batter faced

The good: Canning was once again extremely efficient, averaging only 3.82 pitches per batter faced. His velocity on his 4-seamer averaged 93.6 mph, which was up from 92.5 mph in his most recent turn through the rotation.

The bad: Canning’s 93.6 mph 4-seamer velocity was still down considerably from last summer, when he consistently touched 95 mph. He didn’t have a single outing in 2023 with an average velocity below 93.7 mph. Canning also continues to struggle to get ahead in the count, which continues to put him in disadvantageous situations.

The hope: Canning sees his velocity continue to increase and he starts finding the zone more frequently on 0-0 counts.

(TB) Ryan Pepiot

17 whiffs on 44 swings / 92 pitches
69.6% first-pitch strikes
4.00 pitches per batter faced

Pepiot was fantastic on Wednesday, despite a few walks. He pounded the zone early and often. All of his pitches held opposing hitters to a 67% contact rate on swings at pitches in the zone — a truly impressive accomplishment in any matchup. His slider has been electric so far in 2024.

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(TEX) Jack Leiter

9 whiffs on 38 swings / 85 pitches
68.2% first-pitch strikes
3.86 pitches per batter faced

Leiter was significantly over-matched in his first career MLB start. His 4-seamer induced only 5 whiffs on 24 swings. His slider didn’t generate a single swing-and-miss, which is a concern, considering the fact that Detroit had 6 RHB in the lineup yesterday. This was far from an ideal debut. The only positive was that he consistently got ahead in the count.

(DET) Kenta Maeda

5 whiffs on 24 swings / 63 pitches
58.8% first-pitch strikes
3.71 pitches per batter faced

Maeda has not been good at all to begin 2024. His velocity and spin rates continue to be down significantly from where they were in 2023. The result has been a 7.64 ERA, 6.32 xERA, 8.35 FIP, and 1.58 WHIP through four starts. His K% is down from 27.3% in 2023 to 15.0% in 2022. He’s better than what he has shown so far, but there isn’t any upside here until his velocity and spin rates return to where they have previously been.

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