Mat Latos went from Futures to Majors in a week. Latos' debut with the Padres came on Sunday, making him the only rookie pitcher to make his debut in the weekend after the All Star break. Latos throws two fastballs (four-seam and two-seam), a breaking ball (let's call it a slider) and a straight change-up, according to KFFL:
Chris [Hadom] informed me that Latos actually ditched a knuckle change in favor of one with a more traditional grip.
Here's what I found, including the inning from the Futures Game:
Pitch # MPH PFX_X PFX_Z
Change CH 1 83 -3.5 10.5
Two-seam Fastball F2 4 95 -6.3 8.0
Four-seam Fastball F4 59 96 -2.8 10.2
Slider SL 14 83 1.0 -0.2
Some Video
Interview:
Warm-ups from his debut:
Some Observations
- Fly ball pitcher (28% GB, just 9% LD)
- Attacks the zone (.610 with F4, .5 with SL)
- Slider hasn't offered at (3 swings, 1 grounder, 2 fouls)
- Missed a lot of bats with the fastball (.25 whiff rate on 32 swings)
- Not enough two-seam fastballs (4) and change-ups (1) in the available data
- Possibly three different looks on slider, or inconsistency, or fatigue
Take a look at the three sliders. #3 (shown in yellow) had less sink and more sweep. #2 (dark red) is about the same as the average variety (shown in bright green), #1 was the most curve-like of the bunch, sinking without sweeping like a 12-6 pitch.
Type "3" sliders appeared only at the end of his final inning on Sunday. Something to watch for next time out.
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