Liberatore's breakout, López's curveball, and Smith-Shawver's new splitter
May 9 2025
Liberatore Has Better Control
Matthew Liberatore (LHP, STL) has shown better control in his early 2025 sample. That was evident again on Tuesday, with a 30.3% in that game compared to his 33.1% going in. Most of his four-seam whiffs came in the upper third of the zone, mainly toward the arm side and inside to left-handed hitters in his most recent outing.
How is Liberatore's control faring better? It seems to be due to him throwing his slider, four-seamer, and sinker, three of his four most-used pitches, more in the zone. We saw similar ball rates (33.3%) in 2024, aligning with the improved pitch-level zone rates. Theoretically, throwing more pitches in the zone leads to more strikes.
Liberatore has maintained the improved control and...
Almost!
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