Inside the Rise of MacKenzie Gore and the Mysterious Potential of Gunnar Hoglund: What You Need to Know Now
Rea is also leaning on the pitch way more, throwing his four-seamer 51% of the time after using it just 19% last year. Yet, doesn’t stand out as a pitch he needed to throw more. Last year, his four-seam fastball had a solid 13.6% swinging strike rate but a 45% ICR and was more of a two-strike offering, with Rea throwing it 49% of the time in two-strike counts. This year, Rea is no longer just using it up in the zone, but is filling up the strikezone with it and throwing it early in the count over 63% of the time, using it in two-strike counts only 22% of the time. The pitch is missing fewer bats and still giving up a 47% ICR, so the approach is a bit confusing to me. My best guess is that the Cubs like how Rea can use the four-seamer to pound the zone for strikes and then use a deep arsenal of six other offerings to play off the four-seamer for weak contact. Kind of like what Milwaukee did with Tobias Myers last year.
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