Detroit Tigers Breakout Pitcher Replicating Tarik Skubal's Off-Speed Success
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Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal has found a ton of success in large part because of his dominant changeup.
It is in the discussion as the singular best offering in the MLB, playing off his excellent fastball perfectly. This year, he is generating more movement than he ever has with the offspeed offering, taking his stuff to another level.
It turns out, Skubal isn’t the only Tigers hurler who features a dominant changeup in his arsenal.
Young starting pitcher Reese Olson also features a changeup in his repertoire and has turned it into an impressive weapon himself.
As shared by Michael Salfino of The Athletic (subscription required), Olson was generating an absurd 47.5% whiff rate with his offspeed pitch entering his fifth start of the season on Wednesday against the San Diego Padres.
Opponents were left baffled by the pitch, generating a measly xwOBA of .160.
“If he threw the change 40% of the time instead of 25%, I bet it would make his fastball perform at least average, and he’d be a plus pitcher in mixed leagues. However, we have to wait and see if there are any signs of this,” Salfino wrote.
Well, Olson provided a preview of what the adjusted pitch usage could look like in that start against the Padres.
Out of his 85 pitches thrown, it was the changeup he threw most frequently at 26 times. That was one more time than his sinker, which he threw 25 times. His slider was thrown 21 times, his four-seam fastball 11 times and his curveball only twice.
It wasn’t the 40% benchmark that Salfino mentioned, but given how dominant Olson was against San Diego, it is something he and the coaching staff need to consider expanding on even more.
The whiff percentage on changeups thrown is only going up, with nine out of his 17 swings and misses coming on that pitch. Seven times, Padres batters made contact on that offering, hitting the ball foul four times and hitting into an out on three occasions.
None of the base hits Olson allowed came via his changeup; they were all off of his sinker.
It was another incredibly impressive performance from the emerging Detroit starting pitcher, who has not allowed a run since April 11 against the Minnesota Twins.
That puts his season numbers at 27.1 innings pitched with a 3.29 ERA and 25 strikeouts. He is doing a wonderful job of limiting damaging contact, keeping the ball on the ground with regularity to overcome some regular hard-hit contact in the early going.
As long as he keeps leaning into his changeup usage, his production will continue heading in the right direction.
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Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism. During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News. Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network. He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker. In addition to his work here, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at teapester725@gmail.com.