I believe it is necessary to note, like Michael carried out in the EBS last night, that whatever roughness Tyler Chatwood provided up last night, it wasnt “old” Tyler Chatwood.
That is to say, when you believe of a rough Chatwood trip, your brain right away goes back to 2018, when he just could not toss strikes. Not just did Chatwood not stroll anyone, he wasnt truly falling behind guys either– the Royals were just getting pitches they wanted early and attacking.
So what occurred? How did Chatwood give up 11 hits and 8 earned runs over just 2.1 innings? Are we fretted about Chatwood now?
Eh, most likely not. Lets dig in to how things played out, and why I am not worried.
Out of his 63 pitches, Chatwood netted just 6 whiffs– a far, far cry from the 20 (96 pitches) he got last time against the Pirates or even the 11 (84 pitches) he got in his season debut against the Brewers. Last night, by contrast, the Royals were sending out rockets:
Out of 14 balls in play, simply THREE had an anticipated batting average under.360 (and among those ended up being a homer off the foul pole). Sure, by roll of the dice, you d have prepared for more of those.400 -.600 balls to discover gloves– there was some bad luck and meh defense involved last night as PART of the mix– but the point here is that the quality of contact last night was terrific for the Royals.
Likewise no strolls. What took place?
I reckon you might piece it together by now, even if you didnt enjoy: Chatwoods place in the zone was rather poor. Consider his area chart from the Pirates game, an appearance which might have been the very best weve ever seen him:
Nearly whatever he tossed was at the bottom of the zone, above the zone, or listed below the zone. He tossed simply two middle-middle pitches out of 96 pitches (2.1%), and simply 9 pitches in the zone middle-up (9.4%).
Now take a look at what occurred last night:
Not only did Chatwood not walk anyone, he wasnt truly falling behind guys either– the Royals were just getting pitches they desired early and attacking.
How did Chatwood give up 11 hits and 8 made runs over just 2.1 innings? Out of his 63 pitches, Chatwood netted simply 6 whiffs– a far, far cry from the 20 (96 pitches) he got last time against the Pirates or even the 11 (84 pitches) he got in his season launching versus the Brewers. Both Chatwood and David Ross recommended after the game that the things was there, however the Royals just hit it well. From Chatwood at Cubs.com: “I made good pitches, and they hit em.
Thats 4 middle-middle pitches out of 63 (6.3%– three times the rate from the Pirates start), and 11 pitches in the zone middle-up (17.4%– almost double the rate from the Pirates start). Chatwoods pitches last night found the middle far frequently, and he got punished for it.
Eight of the 10 batted balls off of Chatwood revealed in the Royals highlight bundle for the video game were pitches that missed their area by rather a bit in the zone.
Both Chatwood and David Ross recommended after the game that the things existed, but the Royals simply hit it well. From Chatwood at Cubs.com: “I made excellent pitches, and they hit em. I made bad pitches, and they struck em … I think my stuff was all still there. You know, maybe not as sharp as I wished to be with the sinker. However I still feel excellent. I made some great pitches that discovered holes and after that I left a couple cutters [in the] middle that they barreled up.”
( Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images).
I think thats a reasonable evaluation overall. Chatwood encountered a group that is incredibly aggressive at the plate, he missed his areas just enough in the zone to increase the chances of hard contact, and an out of proportion quantity of that difficult contact fell in for hits.
On that entire, this isnt always a string of things that would stress you going forward, in spite of the extremely jagged number on Chatwoods stat sheet. If he was just missing out on spots a bit because he was just missing areas a bit– which happens to all pitchers for some getaways, and hello, sometimes you even get away with it– then youre not fretted at all. The stuff, the movement, the velo all appeared fine, and it was plainly not an overall loss of control. Where you d stress is if his next outing likewise features a great deal of spots missed up in the zone (no matter whether he * in fact * gets teed off on that time).
