Inside the Phillies: Curveball a bigger part of staff's arsenal
Jerad Eickhoff was three years removed from being a 15th-round pick and even further from being considered a prospect. The pitcher was instead a middling minor-leaguer, struggling to find success on baseball's lowest rungs.
Jerad Eickhoff was three years removed from being a 15th-round pick and even further from being considered a prospect. The pitcher was instead a middling minor-leaguer, struggling to find success on baseball's lowest rungs.
Then, in the summer of 2014, he struck up a conversation with Mark Connor, a roving pitching instructor in the Texas Rangers' farm system. Connor told Eickhoff to throw his curveball more. He believed that American League pitchers who offered a heavy dosage of curveballs were more likely to succeed.
Eickhoff gave it a try. The curveball put his career on track. He became one of the team's top pitching prospects and a key piece of last summer's trade with the Phillies that sent Cole Hamels to Texas. Connor's advice clicked, Eickhoff said. And just two years later, he is using the pitch to navigate through the beginnings of a promising major-league career.
"It gave me an identity," Eickhoff said. "It gave me a plus-plus pitch. A strikeout pitch. A way to get outs. That's what every pitcher in this clubhouse has. You have to find the pitch that when your back is against the wall, you can throw it and know you have a pretty good chance at getting an out."
Eickhoff has thrown his curveball more in his first 11 major-league starts than he has his change-up and slider combined. He has used the curveball this season to earn 17 of his 21 strikeouts.
He fired 100 pitches on Monday, 39 of which were curveballs. Eickhoff offered more than one curveball to 15 of the 29 batters he faced. The curveball was responsible for eight of his nine strikeouts. He leaned on the advice from Connor and did not shy away from his breaking pitch.
"In years past, I would get to a curveball count, throw it once, and that was it," Eickhoff said. "I would say, 'There's my curveball. I threw it.' Now, if I miss with it, I can come back with it. Or I can throw it early in the count and throw it two times right from the get-go."
Each of the five Phillies starters - Eickhoff, Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez, Charlie Morton, and Jeremy Hellickson - throws a curveball as his best secondary pitch. Rick Kranitz, the new bullpen coach, told Eickhoff that this is the first staff he has seen in a long time in which each pitcher throws a curveball.
According to FanGraphs, the Phillies have thrown more curveballs this season than any other team. Phillies starters have thrown curveballs on 27.9 percent of their pitches this season, through Friday, according to PITCHf/x data. The rate is more than three times higher than last season's mark. The Oakland A's starters - the next-closest staff - have thrown curveballs this season on 21.2 percent of their pitches. The Phillies' curveball usage is in a league of its own.
The Phils ranked last in curveball percentage in 2014 and had not thrown curveballs on more than 10 percent of their pitches in any of the last four seasons. Manager Pete Mackanin said the team has not made a concentrated effort to throw more curveballs this season. It is just a by-product of having a staff of curveball pitchers.
Pitching coach Bob McClure implored Morton to use his curveball more this season. Nola has relied on a strong curveball since his college career at Louisiana State. Velasquez has showed a much more efficient curveball this season than when he was with Houston. Hellickson has used more of his curveball and cutter and eased back on his fastball and change-up. And Eickhoff thinks back to that conversation with Connor and throws his curveballs in batches.
Each offering, Eickhoff said, brings trust. The pitcher said he had to trust the curveball - understand its break and know its movement - before he could throw it consistently. The pitch has grown to have a devastating break. Eickhoff has used it to strike out Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Yoenis Cespedes, and others.
He ended his night Monday with the Citizens Bank Park crowd cheering as the Mets' David Wright swung through a dipping curveball. Wright smacked the barrel of his bat against his foot, looked at Eickhoff in disbelief, and walked back to the dugout. The pitcher has been throwing the pitch steadily for just two years. And already it is making batters look foolish.
"For some guys, it's natural," Mackanin said. "When you're teaching a guy a pitch, you try different grips. Some guys pick it up real quick, and other guys don't. It seemed natural to him, and, boy, it's a good one."
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