FanGraphs Audio: Janson Junk and Clayton Richard Talk Pitch Science

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July 2, 2021

Episode 929

On this week’s show, David Laurila has a pair of interviews with pitchers eager to discuss the nitty gritty of their craft.

  • In the first half, David welcomes Janson Junk, a 22nd-rounder in the Yankees system who is currently dominating Double-A. The pair talk about his hot stretch and what got him there, including being an early adopter of Driveline research. Junk details each of his pitches and the design work he’s done on them, such as improvements to his consistency, pitch shapes, and strategy. They also discuss Junk’s college teammate Tarik Skubal, who is now in the Tigers rotation. [2:32]
  • After that, David is joined by former major leaguer Clayton Richard to talk about the many things about pitching he wishes he knew when he debuted. The left-hander is currently focused on his children and youth coaching, but he has done a lot of pitching research in recent years. David and Richard also discuss pitching with conviction, how Mark Buehrle would have felt about modern pitching analytics, and Richard’s possible path as a quarterback. [18:09]

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Audio after the jump. (Approximate 43 minutes play time.)

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Dylan assists in producingFanGraphs Audio, Effectively Wild, and the FanGraphs Live Twitch channel. He also enjoys the Waxahachie Swap (RIP), the Air Bud principle, and the Oxford comma. You can Tweet him about any of those things @dhhiggins.

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