Michael Lorenzen Throws the Kitchen Sink

When the Angels signed Michael Lorenzen this offseason, it was exhausting to say what to anticipate from him. A longtime member of the Reds’ bullpen for practically his whole main league profession, he entered his first time by free company on the lookout for a chance to start out once more; making that soar to the rotation got here with all types of uncertainty. However after simply two begins for his hometown crew, the early returns have been promising.

The previous thirty eighth general choose started his profession as a member of the Reds’ rotation, making 21 begins throughout his rookie season again in 2015 however posting a 5.45 ERA and a 5.48 FIP and getting relegated to the bullpen by the top of the yr. He loved a little bit of success in shorter outings the subsequent yr and wound up in that function for the remainder of his time in Cincinnati. At varied factors throughout his time there, Lorenzen frequently expressed a need to return to the rotation, however spring accidents usually performed a job in pushing him again to the bullpen. In 2016, it was a sprained ligament in his elbow; in ‘18, a shoulder harm. He was on monitor to affix the rotation final spring till one other shoulder harm derailed that plan once more.

The truth that Lorenzen made it by spring coaching with out an harm and really made a begin this season needs to be seen as an accomplishment. Not solely that, however his first outing towards the Marlins was excellent: two hits over six innings and a single run that scored on a Jesús Sánchez solo dwelling run. He didn’t stroll a batter and struck out seven. His subsequent begin was a a lot stiffer problem towards the Astros in Houston, the place he lasted into the fourth inning however was finished in by a lapse in command, issuing a stroll and hit by pitch each with the bases loaded. He wound up permitting 4 runs on 4 hits and two walks in 3.1 innings of labor, putting out two.

Whereas the beginning in Houston didn’t go in addition to his first, Lorenzen has proven some fascinating modifications to his pitch arsenal that might point out some extra success on the horizon. In his postgame comments after his Angels debut, he mentioned his pitch profile:

“I labored actually exhausting this offseason to get my stuff the place it must be. It’s much more enjoyable within the rotation. I’m in a position to make use of all the pieces and set guys up sure methods for the subsequent time by. It’s simply extra enjoyable to try this as a substitute of being restricted. I’ve too many pitches to be restricted within the bullpen, so I used to be simply in a position to benefit from my pitch profile.”

At the same time as a reliever, Lorenzen continued to make use of a full, six-pitch repertoire. He leaned on his four-seam fastball and cutter for probably the most half, but additionally sprinkled in a sinker, changeup, slider, and curveball.

The utilization of that sinker has shot up dramatically this season; he’s tossed 60 throughout his first two begins, making it his most-thrown pitch. In the meantime, the utilization of his cutter has correspondingly fallen. What’s extra fascinating is that each one however a type of sinkers have been thrown to right-handed batters. That offers him a sinker/slider focus when holding the platoon benefit whereas leaning on his four-seamer, cutter, and changeup to cope with left-handed batters.

Lorenzen’s sinker has been a helpful pitch for him prior to now. Previous to this yr, he generated a floor ball on 56.8% of the balls in play off of it and a .317 anticipated wOBA on contact. Opposing batters whiffed 16% of the time they provided on the pitch, a contact above the league-average fee for sinkers. In his two begins this yr, he’s already generated 9 whiffs with the pitch — a 25.7% fee — and a .202 xwOBAcon on 11 batted balls.

What’s extra, the form of Lorenzen’s sinker has seemed a lot improved this yr:

As you may see, he’s added greater than three inches of drop and an inch and a half of run to the pitch. The spin composition on the pitch has additionally modified with the bodily traits; he’s now imparting extra motion regardless of a much less environment friendly spin profile with the next spin differential. That tells us that there’s some seam-shifted wake results happening, giving the sinker extra motion than we’d anticipate merely primarily based on its measured spin profile. Right here’s what it seemed like in follow throughout his first begin of the yr:

Almost each single whiff that Lorenzen has generated with the pitch has come when it’s situated beneath the palms of a right-handed batter, like that instance above. (On the finish of the clip, you may clearly see Brian Anderson mouthing, “That’s fucked up.”) Lorenzen racked up 5 strikeouts together with his sinker throughout his debut and added one other in his begin towards the Astros. As well as, practically two-thirds of the balls in play off his sinker have been placed on the bottom.

The extra vertical and horizontal motion definitely helps the pitch stand out by itself. However when taken into consideration with the remainder of his repertoire, it’s clear the enhancements have a number of knock on results.

The brand new form of his sinker strikes it additional away from the “line of normality” and additional differentiates it from his four-seam fastball. It additionally helps him mirror the form of his changeup extra intently, with a velocity differential of eight miles per hour.

Lorenzen’s slider, in the meantime, has been his simplest pitch at producing swings and misses. He’s earned a 33.8% whiff fee with the pitch throughout his profession, and that’s jumped as much as 46.4% during the last three years. That breaking ball has additionally undergone some modifications, although they have been applied final yr.

During the last two years, his slider has gained virtually 4 inches of horizontal motion. That places it in “sweeper” territory, although his was developed independently of the Dodgers’ pitching manufacturing facility. Right here’s what it appears like now:

When situated on the surface fringe of the zone, that pitch is lethal. It additionally offers Lorenzen two pitches that break free from one another, shifting the batter’s focus horizontally throughout the zone.

Means again in 2016, Lorenzen threw his slider 38.9% of the time; the very best it’s been since then is 17.4% in ‘20. Via two begins this yr, he’s throwing it 18.5% of the time, and it’s earned a whiff a 3rd of the time batters swing at it. It definitely looks as if he has optimized his pitch combine to function his two new toys rather more usually. Each his bowling ball sinker and sweeping slider needs to be extraordinarily efficient towards right-handed batters. He’ll must lean on the remainder of his repertoire to carry left-handed batters at bay.

The primary two begins of Lorenzen’s effort to rejoin the rotation have been crammed with promise. He had a little bit of a hiccup towards Houston, however the underlying metrics and improved particular person pitch traits are positively constructive indicators. Even when this experiment as a starter doesn’t find yourself understanding for no matter motive, the modifications he’s made to his repertoire bode properly for his skill to proceed to excel in a reduction function, significantly as a right-handed specialist. And if he does stick within the rotation for the remainder of the season, that may be a pleasant payoff for the pitching-starved Angels.