When Jason Hammel takes the mound tonight against the A’s, he’ll be visualizing the shape of his pitches. He’ll also be throwing a lot of two-seamers and sliders. Last season the Baltimore Orioles right-hander threw his signature offerings 34.5% and 22.2% of the time. This year – according to PITCHf/x — those numbers have merged somewhat to 27.8% and 23.7%, respectively.
Originally with Tampa Bay, Hammel spent three years with Colorado before being traded to Baltimore — in exchange for Jeremy Guthrie — in 2012. Last year he went 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA, and 8.6 strikeouts-per-nine-innings, in 20 starts. Hammel talked about his development as a pitcher when the Orioles visited Fenway Park earlier this month.
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David Laurila: How have you evolved as a pitcher?
Jason Hammel: First of all, I throw harder. I’ve basically grown into my body. I probably have a sounder delivery. There’s also the idea of just knowing how to pitch.
Out of high school, I was 89 [mph], then I went to college and got up around 91-92. As I started getting a little deeper into the minors, my velocity began to show up more. I got into the mid-90s.Velocity opens up more room for error. If you make a bad pitch you can maybe get away with it because you’re throwing harder. I’ve always been a max-effort guy.
DL: What is the history behind your two-seamer?
JH: I experimented with it in Denver, in my first year out there [2009], but it wasn’t successful for me. I wasn’t getting any movement, so… well, I was, but it was too inconsistent. I wasn’t about to keep working on it in the middle of the season. I got traded to the Rockies right after spring training, from the Rays, and started working with Bob Apodaca, their pitching coach. I worked on it for maybe the first two months of the season.
DL: When did it become a quality pitch for you? Read the rest of this entry »