Drew Hutchison is having a season of extremes.
At home he’s been dominant, posting a 2.12 ERA with five times as many strikeouts as walks. On the road, he’s been a disaster, with 42 earned runs in as many innings.
As bizarre as those numbers are, Hutchison knows these things have a way of evening out. Last year he started strong on the road while scuffling at home before the results balanced out.
“We’ve talked about every split ever possible we can talk about. It comes down to making pitches,” Hutchison says. “You can take stats and make them say whatever you want to. Whatever point you’re trying to make.”
But the home-road results might not be Hutchison’s most concerning split. Right-handed hitters are hitting .330 against him, a major reason for his inflated 5.23 ERA. The Toronto Blue Jays are working with Hutchison on a potential solution: create more deception by challenging righties with his third pitch.
“He definitely has to utilize his change-up more,” Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker says. “He’s not an overpowering guy with the fastball all of the time. It’s 92-93 (mph) and it has to be well-located. Sometimes I think he pitches a little bit more like a power pitcher and he still has to execute pitches and use his change-up.”
LISTEN: Discussing Drew Hutchison on At the Letters
If you’re a right-handed hitter facing Drew Hutchison, there’s not much mystery about what you’re going to see. There’s a 97 percent chance he’ll throw either a fastball or a slider.
Maybe it’s not a coincidence that right-handed batters have an .892 on-base plus slugging against Hutchison this year, compared to the .684 mark compiled by left-handers. Using the change-up more will make him less predictable.
“Absolutely,” Walker says. “Not just to lefties, but righties. That’s something that’s still being worked on. It’s to keep hitters off-balance, disrupt timing … You look at some of the most effective pitchers in the game and they’re definitely using that off-speed stuff to keep them off balance. You don’t have to be as pinpoint with your fastball at times. But if you’re predictable with your fastball, it’s certainly much easier to hit.”
Walker suggested that Hutchison may have stopped using his change as much against right-handers after getting hit hard on occasion. The 24-year-old right-hander throws his change-up 17 percent of the time to left-handed batters, which leaves them guessing between three pitches, including his fastball and slider. He expects using his change more against right-handers should help.
“I hadn’t been throwing it as much and the last few starts I’ve started throwing it a lot more, which I think has been good,” he says.
It has added up to a frustrating season for Hutchison, who has allowed 109 hits in 93 innings spanning 17 starts. He’s now one of 10 qualified starters with an ERA over 5.00, but the Blue Jays point to his past success and say better things are ahead.
“We’ve all seen him really, really good,” manager John Gibbons says. “There’s no doubt he’s struggled at times, but it’s not like he’s never had success up here. There’s a difference, you know. There’s a big difference.”
Aside from pitch selection, location is key for Hutchison. That means pitching down in the strike zone with his fastball and elevating when he needs a strikeout. Pitch mix only matters so much unless it’s paired with command.
Hutchison’s clearly not satisfied with the results so far this year. The Blue Jays got much more from him in 2014, when he posted a 4.48 ERA with 184 strikeouts in 184.2 innings. Many expected another step forward in 2015.
“We put some pressure on him early to be the guy and not that he hasn’t responded, but that’s not an easy task,” Walker says. “He’s still learning how to pitch at this level and learning how to handle adversity at this level, so I think it’s only going to make him stronger in the long run, but right now he’s working through some things.”
Walker acknowledges that “it’s been very frustrating” to find answers, but Hutchison says he’s mostly able to tune out the talk about his puzzling season.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” he says. “The only time I have to talk about it is really before or after a start. That’s not really what my focus is. For me it’s just being ready to take the mound every five days.”
His next chance comes on the road Wednesday, but it’s against the Chicago White Sox, who have the worst offence in baseball.
If the Blue Jays’ adjustment works, the overall numbers against right-handers will improve, both at home and on the road. At that point, maybe the extreme splits smooth out and Hutchison has the kind of second half the Blue Jays believe he’s capable of. Now more than ever their starting rotation could use the stability.