Welcome to the Stuff report for your Toronto Blue Jays. Is it just me, or does Benoit have a huge head???
Starters
Let’s face it – the Stuff report is about Aaron Sanchez, and looking for signs that he’s somehow losing his stuff as a result of fatigue. While there have been ebbs and flows in his Stuff – he has remained shockingly consistent throughout the year. Last week, I looked into the Stuff metric a bit deeper. One of the things I wanted to find out was how consistent Stuff was throughout the course of the season. Sanchez has been in the top 20 of all starters for his consistency. Using PitchF/X data, there are just no signs that Sanchez is wearing down.
Aaron Sanchez, dirty 95 MPH two seam movement. pic.twitter.com/DxMtxSxKid
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 14, 2016
Sorry for all of the links, but another pitcher I have written about is J.A. Happ. When Happ signed with the Jays, I noted that his stuff has gotten better every year since he was last with the team. In this volume of the Stuff report – you can see that his stuff has jumped back up to the 2015 levels – very encouraging, given how well J.A. has pitched this year. Marco Estrada is an elite pitcher, but it wasn’t necessarily because of his stuff – though his change up is legendary. Throughout his back troubles, Estrada saw a steady decline in his Stuff. This marks the third week in a row that his Stuff has stabilized, and improved. Maybe Marco’s back is feeling a bit better again.
Relievers
Roberto Osuna has continued to dominate for the Jays in his closer’s role, but looking at his season, he appears to have made some sort of a change in how he’s approached hitters. Looking at Volume 5 of the Stuff Report – Osuna had his best stuff of the season. Since then, it has dropped off a bit, but his performance has arguably been better.
Osuna’s velocity is down nearly one mph. He is also not separating his pitches on velocity, or break distance. Obviously, there are many ways to get hitters out – and it looks like Osuna has simply just gone to his best pitches more frequently. There is no reason to think that Roberto isn’t knocking at greatness’ door.
This is Osuna & Martin’s best yet. pic.twitter.com/n12pfUWWAl
— Ian Hunter (@BlueJayHunter) August 13, 2016
It is also really encouraging to see Brett Cecil increase his Stuff since his stay on the DL. Benoit, Grilli, and Tepera have all shown increases in Stuff. This bullpen struggled early in the season, but they are starting to look like a real weapon for this Blue Jays team.