Ryne Nelson Continues to Tinker with His Slider
One of the key offseason goals for Diamondbacks right-hander Ryne Nelson was to develop a secondary pitch that could generate swings and misses. Nelson is coming off a challenging 2023 season that saw him post a 5.31 ERA in 27 starts, get demoted to Triple-A Reno, and finish the year in mop-up duty for the postseason. He enters the 2024 season competing for the fifth and final spot in the D-backs Opening Day rotation.
Nelson threw two different sliders in 2023: a harder slider, identified as a cutter, at 85.5 MPH and a sweeping slider at 81.6 MPH. Early in spring, he opted to go with the harder slider. Last week, I published a piece about Nelson and other young starters adding velocity to their sliders. The goal was to have a pitch carry more to home plate, tunneling more effectively with a four-seam fastball, then have a sharp, late break to miss bats.
In his first three spring starts, Nelson's harder slider averaged 87.8 MPH, which was 6 MPH slower than his 4-seamer. The results were encouraging in his first start, as the pitch generated five whiffs on 12 swings, but it did not last as hitters started catching up to pitches. Over his next two starts, Nelson did not generate a single whiff on the hard slider. Not only was the lack of whiffs a problem but opposing hitters batted 3-for-9 with a 96.6 MPH average exit velocity.
For his next start, Nelson wanted more horizontal sweep on his slider to get more whiffs on the pitch. He altered his slider grip to be somewhere between the hard slider and the sweeper. The pitch averaged 83.5 MPH, four ticks below the velocity of his harder slider, and generated three whiffs on seven swings against the Oakland A's. Nelson explains the approach behind that.
"Just trying to get something I can get more swing-and-miss in the zone whereas the harder one kind of feels like in the zone it floats a little bit."
Asked about balancing working on his pitches vs. trying to make the rotation, Nelson believes improving his pitch quality is more important as it will lead to him getting more outs and making the team. Improving the quality and confidence in his slider and changeup will allow his plus fastball to play up more. In his start against Oakland, he threw sliders on 3-1 counts to Esteury Ruiz and Miguel Andujar in the third inning before getting an out on a 4-seamer on the next pitch.
Even as he gains more confidence in his secondary stuff, he still carries a plus fastball to lead his repertoire. Nelson's 4-seamer has averaged 94.8 MPH this spring, with 17.9 inches of induced vertical breaks and 4.5 inches of arm-side run. The vertical shape of the pitch is ideal for getting whiffs and weak contact. So far the results have been solid, as opponents are hitting .172 with an average exit velocity of 80.3 MPH and a -18.8° launch angle this spring. That could speak to his ability to keep hitters off balance and not have them sitting dead-red on fastball counts.
With the competition for the final rotation spot still going on, Nelson has likely two more opportunities to make his case. So far he has posted better results than Tommy Henry, who entered the year with a leg up over everyone else in the competition. Nelson's spring ERA is 3.09 ERA in 11 2/3 innings and he's posted a 14/2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. If the current trends continue, Nelson could be the starter against the Yankees come April 1st.
