Opposing pitchers

Scouting Reports from Brooks Baseball.

Brandon Woodruff: Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2020, Brandon Woodruff threw 3,670 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2017 and 2019, including pitches thrown in the MLB Regular Season and the MLB Postseason. In 2019, he relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (97mph) and Sinker (96mph), also mixing in a Slider (89mph) and Change (87mph). He also rarely threw a Curve (82mph).

His fourseam fastball generates a high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ fourseamers and is blazing fast. His sinker generates a high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, is blazing fast and results in many more groundballs compared to other pitchers’ sinkers. His slider is thrown extremely hard and results in somewhat more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ sliders. His change is much firmer than usual and has slight armside fade. His curve has very little depth, has primarily 12-6 movement, is much harder than usual and results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ curves.

Sean’s Note: The hard-throwing Woodruff generated a ton of whiffs in his first full season as a starter. He struck out a whopping 10.56 batters per 9 innings of work. Left handed hitters hit for a much higher average and slug more against him than right handers.

Corbin Burnes: Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2020, Corbin Burnes threw 1,622 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2018 and 2019, including pitches thrown in the MLB Regular Season, the MLB Postseason and Spring Training. In 2019, he relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (96mph) and Slider (88mph), also mixing in a Curve (82mph). He also rarely threw a Sinker (96mph) and Change (91mph).

His fourseam fastball has much less armside movement than typical, results in many more groundballs compared to other pitchers’ fourseamers, has some natural sinking action and has well above average velo. His slider is thrown extremely hard, generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ sliders, has short glove-side cut and has some two-plane movement. His curve generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ curves, results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ curves, has little depth, is slightly harder than usual and has slight glove-side movement. His sinker is basically never swung at and missed compared to other pitchers’ sinkers, is blazing fast, has less armside run than typical, has little sinking action compared to a true sinker and results in somewhat more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ sinkers. His change is thrown extremely hard, generates a high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ changeups, results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ changeups and has some natural sink to it.

Sean’s note: Burnes worked mainly from the bullpen in 2019 and struck out an eye popping 12.86 hitters per 9. The home run ball bit him very hard with 17 allowed in just 49 innings pitched. Lefties posted a whopping 1.272 OPS off him in 18.1 innings.

Freddy Peralta: Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2020, Freddy Peralta threw 3,085 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2018 and 2019, including pitches thrown in the MLB Regular Season, the MLB Postseason and Spring Training. In 2019, he relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (94mph) and Curve (78mph). He also rarely threw a Change (90mph).

His fourseam fastball generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers’ fourseamers and has essentially average velo. His curve has a sharp downward bite. His change is thrown extremely hard, generates fewer whiffs/swing compared to other pitchers’ changeups and results in somewhat more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ changeups.

Sean’s note: Peralta, like his teammates is a big strikeout pitcher with a K/9 of 12.18. Most of the contact against him is in the air with just a 32% ground ball rate. Right handed hitters actually fare better off him than lefties.