Matt Bush on Velocity, Spin, and Missing Bats

Six weeks ago, August Fagerstrom wrote about how Matt Bush’s fastball approximates Aroldis Chapman’s in terms of velocity and spin rate. Not much has changed. The Texas Rangers reclamation project — Bush was in prison and hadn’t pitched for four years — is still throwing heat. This past weekend the 30-year-old right-hander sat 98-99 in a scoreless inning at Fenway Park.

Much has been made of the former first-overall pick’s fall from grace and the Rangers’ willingness to give him another chance. (The attention is warranted: Bush’s substance-abuse and legal issues are serious matters.) Far less attention has been paid to the arsenal and mindset he brings to the mound. With that in mind, I sat down with Bush to talk pitching on the Fourth of July.

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Bush on why he’s having success: “I think it’s my arm action. My fastball has a lot of life to it. I’m also doing a good job of locating; I’m hitting my spots down in the zone. A lot of times it looks like the ball is going to be down and out of the zone, but it has extra life to it, which keeps it there in the zone. Other than that, I have an understanding that it’s not easy to hit a pitch that’s thrown as hard as I throw. I’m going out there with confidence.

“My spin rate is 2,500-something. Someone had mentioned it to me, so I looked into it and was pretty surprised to find out that it’s one of the highest in the game. That’s an indicator of why my fastball is tough to square up. I’m not afraid to go right after hitters, because with that spin, the ball has life. It’s not straight. You also don’t have very much time to pull the trigger.

“When I’ve been hit, it’s mostly been because my ball has been flattening out a little bit. I work on trying to stay tall and creating a good angle, and my mechanics aren’t always perfect. Location is also a factor. Looking back, there have been a few balls hit really hard, by Mookie Betts and Mike Trout, two of the best hitters in the game, and the pitches weren’t where I wanted to throw them.”

On utilizing his arsenal: “I have a four-seamer, a two-seamer, a slider, a curveball, and a changeup that I don’t throw often. My curveball is probably my second-best pitch, although I don’t throw it as much as my slider.

“My slider sets up my curveball. Sometimes I go fastball, slider, then curve, and they’re really fooled because most hitters are expecting guys who throw really hard to feature two pitches. I can throw what I consider my second-best pitch and get a bad swing, or no swing at all because they’re fooled by it.

“My curveball is a hard breaker. It’s 80-83 mph and has a good downward break to it; it has good depth. It’s a pitch that looks a little harder than it is. That’s what makes it difficult coming out of my hand. I’m throwing it with the same effort as my four-seam fastball, so hitters see fastball, then have to react to something that’s 80 and not 95.”

On his two-seamer and missing bats: “I’ve been throwing my two-seamer a lot lately as well. I’m getting used to that pitch. Right now I’m getting a lot of run on it, and I’m trying to figure out where I need to start it, and how I really need to stay on it. It’s a great pitch for me to miss the barrel of the bat. For me, that’s the most important thing. I’m going to pound the zone with my four-seamer, and I feel confident that I can run my two-seamer out of the zone. If a guy wants to swing at my very first pitch — if I feel a guy is very aggressive — I can throw the two-seamer and run it off the plate to him.

“I’m trying to miss bats. I’ve been consistently throwing 98-99 and I have an understanding that my four-seam fastball alone is very difficult to hit. If I can give a hitter another look with a two-seamer , that puts a little doubt in his mind and when I do throw the four-seamer, it’s going to zip in there really quick on him.”

On his slider: “When I was looking to get signed by the Rangers, one of the scouts showed me a cutter. I didn’t throw it in spring training, because I wanted to give my arm a chance to adapt again. I was throwing 98, so I knew, OK, let’s hold off on this cutter-slider and stick with fastball-curveball. That will make it easier for my arm.

“When the season got going in Double-A, my pitching coach there, Brian Shouse, showed me the slider. I picked up on it pretty fast. I almost broke his thumb in the bullpen, throwing it to him. Then I threw it in a game. It was weird, because I didn’t know he was calling the pitches that day. I went out there and my very first pitch was a slider. I was like, ‘OK.’ I threw it and it was great. The next pitch was a slider. I was like, ‘OK, great.’ The next pitch was slider again and I shook. The catcher was like, ‘No.’ Then I kind of looked in the dugout and could tell my pitching coach was calling them. I ended up throwing mostly sliders and had a quick outing. Then I got called up. It was the only minor-league outing where I threw a slider.”

On having a feel for pitching: “Pitching has always come really natural to me. I was blessed with a really good arm and good accuracy. I pitched when I was growing up, all the way through high school, and did really well. I feel like I have a lot lot of weapons, and a lot of room to grow with all of my pitches.

“Dominick Johnson, my pitching coach back in Poway — in San Diego — has helped me out tremendously. The mental side of pitching. The confidence. He’s taught me good tempo and good mound presence. Mechanics; he’s taught me my checkpoints. My coaches here have obviously helped a lot as well.”

On his mindset: “I channel the adrenaline out there. The excitement. I’m calm and collected in the sense that I know what I’m out there to do. I know that I’m going to be aggressive and go right after guys. I’m not this crazy, emotional guy who looks like he’s going to war, or anything like that. It’s all channeled.

“I could see myself (starting someday). Whatever the team needs me to do. My arm is fresh, but it would obviously take time to work up to that. We’d need to have discussions about what’s best. But I’m happy with whatever they need. I love pitching.”