Sizing Up Tony Cingrani

The Reds received a scare when Johnny Cueto was placed on the disabled list with a strained lat muscle. As he returned to Cincinnati for further testing yesterday, the minor leagues’ hottest pitcher took the mound in Louisville awaiting to hear whether he would replace Cincinnati’s ace. In three Triple-A starts, Tony Cingrani destroyed the International League: he struck out 26 batters in 14.1 innings. But is he ready?

Cingrani’s success can be partially attributed to his deceptive delivery. He relies on his long limbs to attack hitters from a low three-quarter arm slot and hide the ball until the last possible moment. Listed at 6-foot-4, he is a “tall-and-fall” pitcher with a short stride, which causes his release point to be farther from the plate than if he had a longer stride. His early release doesn’t aid his deceptiveness, but it’s essential to his effectiveness. When Cingrani releases the pitch, he’s upright. That causes his release point to be high despite a low arm slot, which creates a downward plane.

Cingrani’s low-90s fastball is his best offering and he heavily relies on it. His downward plane and deceptiveness make it a swing-and-miss pitch despite its lack of movement. When Cingrani repeats his delivery, he can spot his fastball to either side of the plate, but at times his short stride cuts off his delivery and he loses his release point.

His reliance on the pitch is supported by PITCHf/x data from his major league debut. Last season PITCHf/x recorded over 85% of his pitches as fastballs. After watching each of his 2013 starts with Triple-A Louisville, that trend hasn’t changed significantly. For reference, in 2012, Justin Masterson and Ross Detwiler led their leagues in fastball percentage by using their heaters 80% of the time. After that pair, the pitchers who used their fastball most frequently were Wade Miley (72%), Gio Gonzalez (71%) and Joe Saunders (71%). In all, there were just 15 starters who threw the pitch more than 65% of the time.

The 23-year-old’s excessive use of his four seamer isn’t by design, it’s out of necessity. In 2012, Cingrani threw a slider and a changeup, but neither were average offerings and he used them sparingly. This year, Cingrani has added an intriguing new 11-5 sweeping curveball. It’s a slow breaker with tight rotation and consistent shape that he can throw for strikes.

With the addition of his curveball, Cingrani’s development is now tied to his changeup and his ability to improve his command. Rarely can one survive as a starting pitcher with fastball and curveball alone, and neither of Cingrani’s offerings is so outstanding to make him an exception. He needs a quality third pitch both to prevent hitters from sitting on his fastball when he’s behind in the count and to use against right handed hitters. Against Triple-A opponents, Cingrani is effectively wild and able to blow his fastball by them. That won’t work for long against major league hitters, who will adjust to his deceptiveness.

Should Johnny Cueto miss a few starts, Cingrani is a capable short-term solution. A promotion to the majors might be best for Cingrani’s development because once major-league hitters adjust to him, he’ll need to make changes if he wants to continue to have success. Thus far, Triple-A batters haven’t challenged Cingrani and he hasn’t had to adapt his approach to be successful.  But Cingrani — who currently projects as a fourth starter — isn’t going to replace Cueto’s productivity if he’s run out there for an extended period of time.





Formerly of Bullpen Banter, JD can be followed on Twitter.

37 Comments
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Peter Stout
10 years ago

Great analysis. It does beg the question as to why Cincinnati is bringing him up to the big leagues without making him work on his secondary stuff. In other words, why have they been letting him throw such a high percentage of fastballs at Louisville?

Peter Stout
10 years ago
Reply to  Peter Stout

Also, I see that you called Cingrani “effectively wild.” I’ve read elsewhere that his control is impeccable. Can you expound on your comment?

Doug Gray
10 years ago
Reply to  JD Sussman

Let me chime in to back up what both of you guys have said. As I pointed out to JD when we talked, I watched Cingrani at times last year, mostly before July, and his fastball command was very good. He would pound the mitt on the corners all game with his fastball. But that started to go away later in 2012 and so far in 2013, as JD noted, he has been able to throw strikes but has been all over the zone with his fastball.

Peter Stout
10 years ago
Reply to  JD Sussman

I appreciate the responses JD and Doug, and you make me ask again: why are they (possibly) recalling Cingrani? From your report, not only is his control of his faceball poor, but he throws it way too much. These sound like two issues to be corrected on the farm.

Doug Gray
10 years ago
Reply to  JD Sussman

He is the most ready of the bunch, and I, unlike JD, think he is mixing in the offspeed stuff enough at this point (and he wasn’t doing it last year nearly enough) to keep guys off balance. The fastball command needs improvement, but as long as he is still throwing strikes with it, I think he will be fine. Not dominate like in the minors, but good enough.

Sean
10 years ago
Reply to  Peter Stout

Yup, been wondering the same thing. Maybe he’s stubborn and needs to get hit a bit.