SPECULATOR: In-season pitch changes, 2019

As we all know, in-season pitcher performance comes with peaks and valleys. Sometimes we can chalk it up to simple variance—a hot or cold stretch where command comes or goes, balls find holes at the wrong time, etc. Other times, a tangible change in a pitcher's pitch mix, release point, or velocity might be driving those new levels of performance. It's those "other times" that draw our speculative eye.

The advancement of pitch-level data allows us to track such things, so we'll look at eight pitchers who've switched things up this season to the benefit of their skills and/or results. All pitch graphs are courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net, with statistics through July 28.

American League 

Lucas Giolito (RHP, CHW)

We can see a big change in...

Almost!

You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

More From Speculator

With skills so bad, we can only speculate on an underlying injury. We hope we're wrong!
Apr 29 2026 3:05am
Our annual "draft skills, not roles" using projected skills and year-to-date playing time.
Apr 22 2026 3:05am
With most pitchers 3-4 starts in, we dive into the sub-indicators to see who's rising and falling.
Apr 15 2026 3:06am
Using our Quality of Batted Ball (QBaB) metric to make some speculative hitter snap judgments.
Apr 8 2026 3:06am
Baseball is back, and it's time to overreact... because what else are we supposed to do?
Apr 1 2026 3:08am

Tools