An East-to-West Slider Is Tanner Houck’s Bread and Butter

There have been just a few good causes for me to meet up with Tanner Houck this previous week. One is that he has arguably been the very best beginning pitcher in baseball over the primary half of the season. Together with a 2.18 ERA and a 2.20 FIP, the 27-year-old Boston Purple Sox right-hander boasts the very best WAR (3.6) amongst huge league hurlers. One other is that I’ve been on account of ask him concerning the pitch he depends on most. Per Statcast, Houck has thrown 41.8% sliders, 30.8% sinkers, 24.8% splitters, and a couple of.6% cutters.

Again in 2019, when he was pitching in Double-A, Houck was featured right here at FanGraphs in an interview that centered on his sinker. Two years later, a second interview explored a creating splitter that, as my colleague Kyle Kishimoto detailed simply over a month in the past, has change into an particularly efficient weapon. Which brings us to the right here and now. Fascinated by each how Houck’s slider has advanced and the way it performs inside his three-pitch arsenal, I approached him to get some solutions.

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David Laurila: How does the slider you’re presently throwing differ from the one you had final 12 months?

Tanner Houck: “It’s a unique grip, technically. Final 12 months, I used to be operating up the horseshoe slightly an excessive amount of and never getting as a lot side-to-side motion. This 12 months there’s a focus of making extra east-to-west, side-to-side motion with the pitch, in addition to on prioritizing throwing it extra in larger conditions. It’s my finest pitch by far, so I’m leveraging it every time I can in these huge moments.”

Laurila: Has the phrase ‘sweeper’ labored its method into the dialog?

Houck: “I assume you’ll be able to categorize it as a sweeper, however I nonetheless have a look at every little thing as sliders. I assume that’s simply the older faculty a part of me; I don’t actually know the distinction on the way you classify sweeper versus slider, or something like that. It’s no matter you wish to name it.

“The primary dialog I had with [new Red Sox pitching coach] Andrew Bailey was to get extra side-to-side motion on the slider. I’m an east-west man anyway. I’m very rotational, which is sort of my bread and butter. That’s why I throw a sinker. I can’t generate the verticality with a four-seam the identical as I can create the damaging depth with the sinker.”

Laurila: How a lot has the motion of your slider modified? Together with extra sweep, I assume the vertical has modified as properly.

Houck: “I positively gained quite a lot of horizontal. The depth… if something, I’d say that it typically will get slightly bit extra vertical within the sense that it sits [from] +2 to -4. That’s the place my vary is. With sweepers, most individuals now try to get it within the constructive vary. I don’t thoughts it being slightly bit extra depth-y, however not getting previous the -5 mark.”

Laurila: The splitter has clearly been a giant pitch for you this 12 months. How do you play your splitter off your slider?

Houck: “I believe you simply sort of deal with it just like the two-seam. You’ll be able to sort of tunnel all three of my pitches off of one another actually properly. I consider throwing every little thing beginning arm-side third and enjoying all three pitches off that line. I’m trusting that the sweeper goes to get all the way in which throughout the zone, the splitter goes to be down, after which the two-seam goes to be down with extra arm-side run.

“With that mixture, all three popping out of the identical window, and with the velo distinction — the fastball might be wherever from 91-94, the splitter might be 86 to 90, after which the slider is coming in at 81 to 85 — that’s a variety of 10 or so miles an hour with three completely different motion profiles popping out of the identical window.”

Laurila: Taking a look at your Baseball Savant web page lately, I noticed that Logan Webb is listed as being just like you in velocity and motion. Have you ever seen that?

Houck: “No, however I’ll say that with [Bailey] coming over from San Francisco, it was sort of a straightforward adjustment with the splitter grip. This 12 months, I’ve sort of gravitated to extra of what [Webb] throws. He calls it a changeup, I name it a splitter, nevertheless it’s comparatively the identical grip, producing extra seam-shifted downward motion. Bales coming over from San Francisco was an incredible, as a result of he labored with a man who’s sort of like me. I imply, to have the success Logan Webb has had, that’s one thing you hope to copy.”

Laurila: Did Bailey point out Webb when the 2 of you began working collectively?

Houck: “He did. In our a few of our earlier conversations, he used that comparability within the sense of us each being very east-to-west guys, huge sinker, slider, after which a complementary changeup/splitter. Three pitches, and for some time there I wish to say that Webb was additionally throwing a four-seam, however then scrapped it throughout [Bailey’s] tenure there. Working with him this 12 months has been nice. I really feel like I’ve realized loads. I really feel like I’ve gotten higher. I really feel like I’ve matured as a pitcher loads.”

Laurila: And also you’re positively a mix of old skool and new faculty in your strategy to pitching. That’s one thing I’ve realized from the handful of conversations we’ve had over time.

Houck: “Yeah. I positively perceive analytics, as a result of I do know that it’s a main a part of our recreation. I really feel obligated to no less than perceive all the lingo, and all the conversations now we have, as a result of it’s a part of our job. On the identical time, I grew up watching quite a lot of old skool baseball. I cherished watching earlier than all of the analytics. I cherished watching the [Adam] Wainwright’s and Chris Carpenters. A.J. Burnett was all the time a favourite. So, I grew up watching old skool guys, nevertheless it’s enjoyable. [Analytics] are a device that may enable you to solely get higher for my part.”

Laurila: Any closing ideas on pitching, or on the season you’re having?

Houck: “I believe the largest factor for me this 12 months is that I’ve simply caught to my strengths. I don’t essentially command the glove-side two-seam as properly, in order that’s a pitch I haven’t actually thrown a ton this 12 months. I’ve a handful of occasions, and I’ve gotten swings-and-misses and a few weak contact, nevertheless it’s a pitch I’m nonetheless making an attempt to command at the next clip. That may be helpful for me. That goes again to the tunneling side, trusting your finest stuff off of 1 lane and commanding the zone.”

Laurila: What about your splitter to the glove aspect? Are you able to command that moderately properly?

Houck: “I really do it on accident greater than something. However I generate quite a lot of swings and misses off of it. Usually, every time I do misfire it extra glove-side, I consider that I catch slightly bit higher seam. Usually, I really feel like these are my finest ones. That’s one thing I’m making an attempt to command slightly bit higher, too. However once more, I’m principally sticking to my strengths.”