San Francisco Giants Ace Debuts New Pitch on Advice from Cy Young Winner

A San Francisco Giants veteran pitcher asked a Cy Young winner for help this offseason and has a ton of potential.

Mar 2, 2025; Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Robbie Ray (38) pitches against the Los Angeles Angels during the second inning at Scottsdale Stadium. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have an old dog on their roster that is hoping to learn a new trick.

MLB's David Adler recently did a piece highlighting some of the new pitches that have been debuted so far in spring training with great success.

In it, he pointed out Giants southpaw Robbie Ray's new changeup. Adler shared that Ray had asked reigning Triple Crown and Cy Young champion Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers for his changeup grip.

Skubal obliged and Ray is now using the same grip, hoping to replicate the dominant pitch. Both players are southpaws with a similar build, the Tigers ace is a bit bigger, so it makes sense as to why Ray wants to utilize it.

Skubal's changeup is his most valuable pitch. He throws it about 27% of the time and has a 123 Stuff+ rating. That is the second-best stuff on a changeup, right behind Michael Wacha who was sitting at 124 last year.

For many pitchers, it would be bold to assume that they could just pick up a pitch from one of the best players at the position. Ray is a former Cy Young winner in his own right, though, so it is definitely something worth monitoring.

Ray has tinkered with a changeup in the past and it never really worked out. He has a career 77 Stuff+ on it, which makes it by far the worst pitch he has thrown in the past.

The 33-year-old has never truly utilized a deep pitch mix, so those could be a nice change of pace if he keeps his fastball/slider/curve from last season as well.

He has looked incredible thus far in spring training, so he should keep doing what he is doing.

Ray has pitched five innings of scoreless ball this spring with just two hits, no walks and nine strikeouts. His new changeup has received rave reviews in that time, so he truly could have unlocked something.

Him working out would be a true saving grace for this San Francisco starting rotation.

The Giants brought in future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander to supplement their staff, but the loss of Blake Snell is still very much felt on paper.

Ray hasn't been fully healthy since 2022, so he is still looking to find that groove. It is good to see him continuing to tinker in hopes of getting back to an elite level.