BOSTON – David Price starts against the New York Yankees for the third time in 34 days on Thursday as the Toronto Blue Jays open a highly anticipated four-game series in the Bronx, and while familiarity with a pitcher can sometimes help hitters, Russell Martin sees no need for dramatic shifts in strategy.
“The thing with David is that he has so many weapons it doesn’t really matter how you attack him,” explains the catcher. “If he’s making pitches and hitting his spots, there’s a good chance you’re not going to do any damage. There’s really not that much thought of worrying about sequences, because between the combination of what he’s thinking and I’m thinking, I don’t really think there are going to be any patterns. That’s what you have to watch out for, patterns, everybody is watching video nowadays, but when you have 95 with a good changeup, good cutter and a good curveball, any of those weapons play.”
Fair point, and it’s worth noting that the ace left-hander does a pretty good job of avoiding predictability on his own.
A scan through his pitch usage at Brooks Baseball shows that teams that faced him in April and May would have seen a lot of four-seam fastballs (40-44 per cent) and only a handful of cutters (7-13 per cent), while those taking him on in August and September would have seen far fewer four-seamers (21 and 13 per cent) than cutters (20 and 38 per cent).
There’s plenty of fluctuation in the usage of his curveball and changeup, too, shifts he bases on giving hitters different looks, the feel of a given game and what’s working best at that point in time.
“There’s probably a little of all that,” says Price. “I’m pitching to the reaction of a hitter on the pitch before or the at-bat before, or to what the situation is, whether I’m trying to get a groundball or whatever the situation calls for, that’s what I pitch to. It doesn’t matter who’s hitting or what the count is, I’m going to let the things going on on the field tell me what to throw.”
Price’s pitch selection has varied widely the three times he’s faced the Yankees, especially when you compare the eight-run, 2.1 inning beating they gave him April 22 at Detroit, and the two times he’s faced them since joining the Blue Jays.
His four-seam usage went from 44 per cent to 17 to 25 per cent, while usage of his cutter went from six per cent to 18 to 15 per cent. The Yankees would be wise to expect more of what they saw from him the last two times they met, as Price held them to three runs over 14.1 innings in those games.
In all three starts Price threw plenty of changeups, between 27-33 per cent, well above his season average of 23 per cent.
“In 2012, the cutter was probably my best pitch, now I’d say it’s the changeup,” says Price. “That’s the biggest equalizer in baseball, anybody who has a really good changeup in this game has a chance to go out there and get outs. People have to respect the fastball, and if you throw a changeup that looks like your fastball, it’s a really good pitch.”
Price is very much driving the bus when it comes to what he throws, calling his own game with conviction when on the mound. He isn’t big on scouting reports, instead relying on what he sees on the field and reacting accordingly.
Over seven starts with Martin so far, their partnership “has developed pretty naturally.”
“I faced him quite a few times when he was with the Yankees and I’ve definitely evolved and I’m a different pitcher than what I was then, but Russell’s always been known for his defensive side,” Price continues. “He catches well, he receives well, he calls a good game so he’s an easy guy to throw to.”
The admiration is mutual.
“He does a good job of knowing exactly what he wants to do,” says Martin. “I try to give suggestions and really when I’m calling pitches, it’s partly what I think is going to work, but he knows exactly what he wants to do and he’s in control of his own game. It helps me out tremendously and for the most part we have good chemistry, but he’s the kind of guy that knows exactly what he wants to execute, some pitchers I wouldn’t recommend that. Some guys have that understanding and feel – he has that.”
And when they disagree on a pitch?
“If he puts something down I don’t want to throw, I’m going to shake, it’s no disrespect to him,” says Price. “A lot of times when I shake and he calls what I want, he’ll sit there and go, ‘OK, I know what you want to do here.’ Then the next pitch he’s going to know what I want to do if that one doesn’t work out.”
Since joining the Blue Jays, Price’s pitches have worked out more often than not, and as the games become more and more important from here on out, they’ll be counting on him more heavily to continue delivering.