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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This one from June 3rd against Jazz Chisholm is particularly incredible. Broke like a true curveball, confusing both the batter and the catcher.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Gerrit Cole start I'm referencing led to one of my favorite quotes ever, by the way.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A thing I sometimes look at: pitch count prior to final inning, as it reflects the manager's decision to send a guy back out better than raw pitch count. Schlittler's game yesterday (107 before the 7th) was second-highest in the Boone era, behind only the Gerrit Cole shutout in Houston in July 2021.

Pitch count going into final inning graph, Yankees since 2018. Schlittler's game yesterday (107 pitches heading into the 7th) is the most in a Yankees game since Gerrit Cole (112 heading into the 9th).

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Good shot from YES of Brendan Beck's kick-change, with his middle finger spiked on release. He's the only pitcher on the Yankees who throws one.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A very simple graph of team bunt attempts and whether or not they were "good," irrespective of game state (sacrifices or bunt hits=good, misses or fouls or non-sacrifice outs=bad). Bunts are up by a lot across the league this year with the Rays (unsurprisingly) doing it more than anyone.

2026 bunt attempts graph by team, with the Rays having the most attempts

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Gerrit Cole is expanding his mix again after being a four-pitch guy (four-seam, slider, curve, change) for his dominant starts out of the all-star break. He's sprinkled in a few cutters the past month, threw 10 sinkers yesterday, and also appeared to try a sweeper (he wasn't happy with it).

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Didn't see it posted so here's the Sims+Suzyn call of Volpe's grand slam from last night. Really cool moment and they did a great job with it.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

José Soriano has some interesting pitch grips. One-seam sinker, very narrow splitter (kind of like a "splinker"), and this breaking pitch which is a true knuckle-curve. Most pitchers spike their breaking pitches with their fingertip, but Soriano uses his whole knuckle.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I really enjoy Gerrit Cole's interviews.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

One of the tweaks Gerrit Cole has made since returning is to his changeup, which he's using twice as much as he was during his CYA season. In addition to adjusting the grip/orientation (see the images from Getty), he's taken ~1.5mph of velocity off it, using it as more of a timing pitch off his FB.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Angel Chivilli's fastball was getting terrible results, so he simply doesn't use it anymore.

Angel Chivilli's pitch selection trends, with his fastball seeing its lowest usage this past month

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I don't think I've ever seen a team PR statement like this. #prudent

"Today, José Soriano will not make his scheduled start. With the trade deadline on Monday and the uncertainty of the next 48 hours, we decided to take a prudent approach and see where these next few days lead us."

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Grabbed this with the bases loaded and no one out to say that I've never seen this line before.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Henry Davis opted not to challenge the 2-2 pitch, and Jazz hit the next one out for a homer.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

A very 2023 Yankees paragraph

The Padres have reinstated right-hander Randy Vásquez from the 15-day injured list and designated reliever Ron Marinaccio for assignment, according to a team announcement. Marinaccio’s designation leaves an open spot on San Diego’s 40-man roster. In separate moves, lefty Wandy Peralta was reinstated from the bereavement list, while right-hander Jhony Brito was optioned to Triple-A El Paso.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

As you might have heard, Roki Sasaki throws both a splitter and a forkball – started with the forkball, threw them both for a bit, and now seems to have settled on the splitter. Looking at velocity x spin rate (one of my favorite views for tagging) does a decent job of showing their difference.

Roki Sasaki mph vs rpm on splitters and forkballs (in 2026)

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

First place my mind went is how David Peterson keeps cutting his fastball more and more every year, and the Cubs LOVE that pitch. No comment on whether or not it will work in Chicago.

David Peterson's fastball horizontal movement by month/year

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

As I've mentioned on here, I enjoy looking at which pitchers add/subtract velocity in-game, and Miz is one of the more consistent velo-decliners as the game goes on. But...he bumped it back up in the 9th inning and hit 103! BUT...he was still sitting 1.5mph slower than the 1st! He's a freak!

Jacob Misiorowski's fastball velocity chart from his complete game yesterday.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

A Carlos Rodón velocity graph in advance of his start today. He’s been back to velo-conserving after his anomalous first game back. (Same thing happened in 2024, in addition to plenty of outliers in his rough 2023)

Graph showing Carlos Rodón's in-game velocity increase since 2021.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Thinking about this since Mason Englert pitched a lot today – anyone else know of other pitchers using this pitch that he throws? It's a spike changeup, but it's the index finger that's spiked, not the middle finger (the kick-change grip).

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This is honestly one of the craziest things I can remember seeing in a baseball game.

Yankees offense: 13 runs and 11 hits in 3rd inning (0 runs and 0 hits rest of game)

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

95mph changeup from Camilo Doval, which is a new pitch for him. The board says sinker, but it's an offspeed pitch. Much slower than his other sinkers and with more horizontal break (15") and a lower spin rate (~1800rpm).

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

This is one of the goofiest swings I have ever seen

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

A simple chart showing something I've been thinking about recently. (Lower number=more drop.)

Chart showing the MLB average vertical break on changeups since 2020; changeups are dropping more this year than any year this decade

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

The strikeout pitch to Juan Soto registered as a cutter on the board (Soto looked very confused by it too) but it was actually a splitter.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Vibes are different from last week.

Yankees calling up Volpe, per Francys Romero

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Via Stathead: 8+ innings, 7+ runs this century before today. These are some names.

Carlos Silva, Bartolo Colon, Josh Fogg, Josh Beckett, Mark Buerhle, Paul Byrd, Alex Cobb, Randy Johnson, Kevin Millwood, Hideo Nomo, Ismael Valdez, Zack Wheeler

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

I see Carl Pavano's name is floating around today, and that inspired me to revisit some old articles about him. Boy, his Yankees teammates HATED him. (Also, could you imagine this level of dysfunction on a present-day Yankees team?) www.nytimes.com/2007/02/16/s...

Quotes from Mike Mussina and Jorge Posada about how they questioned Carl Pavano's desire to pitch for the Yankees

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Good shot from YES of Camilo Doval's odd one-seamer (it must be weird because it confused David Cone)

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Not going great for the Red Sox at the moment

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Keeping an eye on Luis Gil's slider, which was moving quite a bit more than usual in Tuesday's start.

Chart of Luis Gil's slider horizontal break since 2025, showing substantially more movement last night

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

A crisp sweeper (86mph) -> sinker (96mph) pair from Will Warren.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

The Camilo Doval tweaks continue. The YES closeups show a slider orientation change from last season – you can see the one seam wobble around the MLB batter logo in last year's version, and a true four seam flight in this year's, which has a few inches more depth (no matter to Mike Trout, though).

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Tristan Peters leads the way with 11 bunt attempts so far, split up into two singles, three groundouts (no sacrifices), four fouls, and one whiff. This one from Thursday is by far the most awkward:

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

In today's installment of "everyone throws a sinker now," Carlos Lagrange debuted his new two-seam this afternoon (this was 102mph)

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Mildly concerned about Schlittler's stark velocity drop last night, something that didn't happen in either of his first two starts.

Cam Schlittler's velocity by inning last night, with a notable drop in the 4th inning.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Dave Sims' call of Amed Rosario's go-ahead homer in the 8th inning.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Funny aside about the screwball thing though, when I was watching video on him in NPB last year I noticed he actually *was* throwing something like a screwball, with more drop, less velo, and using a vulcan-change grip. (He's shelved it for now though)

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Hi Mike! I came across this, taken from the archives of the other site. I remember live-tweeting the 4/29 game where Garcia threw that crazy forkball and my mind being blown by how a pitch could move like that. (Hope all is well with you!)

Old tweet conversation between me and Mike Fast about Freddy Garcia's splitter.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Pitch classification note: Luis Gil threw his new sinker 28 times in his start with Scranton this afternoon (33% of his 85 pitches). He'd been working on it during Spring Training.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Personal favorite Sean Paul Liñan made his Yankees org debut this afternoon, striking out four in a short 2 2/3 inning start. His changeup will presumably be one of the best individual pitches in the system this year.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

When your DH gets picked off second base down six runs in the 9th inning

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

A pitch type note in advance of tonight's game. Logan Gilbert is throwing a changeup again, which had been on the shelf since 2022. It moves a lot horizontally (this one that struck out José Ramírez last week broke 16 inches); he's still using the splitter too, which has a lot more vertical drop.

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

As @mikeaxisa.bsky.social pointed out early this year (and others have brought up subsequently), Will Warren moved about a foot towards the third base side of the rubber this spring. It ostensibly gives him a better angle on his sweeper.

Brooks Baseball plot showing that Will Warren moved about a foot to the third base side of the rubber this spring

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Lucas @dbitlefty.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Coming back to this with Doval's dominant, sinker-heavy outing today. He's back to a one-seam after last year's experiment. (Not the easiest to tell with the lighting, but hopefully you can see the grip and the one-seam wobble on the way to the plate.)

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