Sabermetrics news: Jake Arrieta has been consistent for the Phillies

Anthony Rizzo vs. The Shift; Jake Arrieta version 2.0; pitchers whose velocity has increased

FanGraphs | Craig Edwards: Anthony Rizzo is back to his normal, elite-hitting self, and a lot of that has to do with how he has handled the shift. That has traditionally hurt his BABIP numbers, so he has instead done what is prescribed so casually by fans, literally just taking pitches on the outside part of the zone and taking it the other way. Combine that with good two-strike hitting and you get a 166 wRC+.

Baseball Prospectus | Matthew Trueblood ($): Jake Arrieta is in the second phase of an excellent career, and his new adjustments show him to be stubbornly good by DRA- standards: between an 87 and 91 DRA- from 2017 to today. Part of that is making better use of his changeup, and another is using his slider and sinker in tandem and forcing hitters to identify the narrow separation between the two.

The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): Increasing velocity is a sure sign of a pitcher getting better, and a few pitchers in particular have been effected out because of it. Lucas Giolito has bumped up nearly 2 mph, and now his command is about league average to boot. On the other hand, Jack Flaherty has gained velocity and hasn’t changed anything else, yet results have suffered.