SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When Washington Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg tamed the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series, the hard-throwing right-hander made an impression on Giants pitcher Tyler Beede.
Strasburg has above-average fastball velocity, but he didn’t use his four-seamer to dominate the Astros. Instead, the 10th-year veteran relied heavily on two of his best off-speed pitches –his curveball and changeup– to neutralize a potent Houston offense.
The result? Strasburg picked up two World Series wins and led the Nationals to a stunning triumph. This spring, Strasburg’s formula will provide a blueprint for a Giants pitcher with a pair of excellent off-speed pitches.
“It was the postseason, but (Strasburg) was only throwing like 35 percent fastballs and then throwing curveballs and changeups off of those,” Beede said. “I visualize myself increasing the usage of my two off-speed pitches and lowering the usage of my fastball, especially in two-strike counts.”
In a 2019 season in which Strasburg led the National League with 209 innings pitched, he threw a lower percentage of fastballs than he had in any other year during his career. Thanks to a curveball with a spin rate that ranks among the top 15 percent in baseball and a changeup that induced whiffs on 44 percent of swings, Strasburg was remarkably effective and finished fifth in National League Cy Young voting.
For Beede to become the front-end of the rotation force the Giants drafted him to be, the front office and coaching staff believe he’ll be at his best when he sticks with his curveball and changeup.
“One of Tyler’s initiatives is to stay with his off-speed pitches even if he doesn’t have an early feel for them,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “So if he throws a changeup that doesn’t land for a strike, he’s not going to go away from it. He’s going to keep going back to it. Same thing with his curveball.”
In an up-and-down 2019 season, Beede threw fastballs on 56 percent of pitches while using his curveball on fewer than 14 percent of his pitches. After Kapler, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and pitching coaches Brian Bannister and Andrew Bailey met with Beede this week, the pitcher became convinced that he’ll find more success if he reduces his fastball usage in favor of what the organization considers his “premium pitches.”
“Essentially it comes down to what are my best pitches?” Beede said. “You look at it from an analytical perspective, I get around a 50 percent swing-and-miss rate which is second-best in baseball behind Blake Snell.”
Beede said he’ll also think about the way he’s throwing his curveball and changeup differently this year. In the past, he’s attempted to catch hitters off guard or try to induce swings on pitches thrown purposely outside the strike zone with his off-speed offerings, but the Giants believe Beede can be just as effective if he’s commanding those pitches over the plate.
“They were mentioning, look, they’re nasty pitches,” Beede said. “Just tone it back. You don’t need to be throwing wipeout curveballs and changeups every time, just throw ones that are effective in the zone. I think it helped to have me have a different perspective about how I don’t need to be throwing the 0-2 curveball out of the zone.”
In Beede’s rookie season, opposing hitters posted a .557 expected slugging percentage against his fastball. Sixteen of the 22 home runs Beede allowed came on his fastball, but the Giants expect the change in Beede’s approach will increase his effectiveness with a pitch that will likely remain his primary offering.
Beede’s four-seamer ranks him among the top third of major league pitchers in both velocity and spin rate, which suggests there’s potential for the pitch to aid him more if he commands it well. Beede believes one of the byproducts of throwing fewer fastballs in 2020 is that his velocity will improve, which happened toward the end of the 2019 season when he first discussed mixing in more off-speed pitches with Zaidi.
“I want to have a consistent and higher velocity than last year,” Beede said. “The velocity I was tapping into at the end of the year was the velocity I can get into early on in the season. If I’m going to throw a lower percentage of fastballs, I want to have a higher intent with them.”
There’s no question Beede –a two-time first round draft pick– has always had the potential for greatness. He showed it last season with a pair of scoreless outings at Dodger Stadium against the league’s best offense, but he also frustrated the Giants with strings of inconsistent starts where command evaded him.
The 2020 season will go a long way toward determining whether Beede can reach his full potential, but he’s confident the plan that’s now in place will take him to the level the Giants have always believed he’s capable of reaching.
“First and foremost, we see him as a potentially impact major league starter,” Kapler said. “I think we can continue to focus on his development with that in mind.”
