the good thing is that in playoffs he should only face good teams so there is that 😉
It is pretty crazy. He also seems to pitch poorly against the bottom of the order at times. Maybe it’s something mental? I can’t explain it either.
Hopefully there are no bad teams in the playoffs!
He pitched well against a bad team last night.
Imo most of the time he pitches a bad game it’s really on Hinch for not pulling him when he should. He almost always starts off well for a few innings.
Over .500 teams have a .681 OPS against him
Teams under .500 have a .778 OPS
Edit: .721 is league average.
The adrenaline rush of a good matchup/away crowd hating on him boosts his fastball velocity to where he regularly needs it to be
It also means he’s probably more sore for the next game so he struggles the next time around
The table is set for any number of guys to be “that guy” during the playoffs. No guarantee that it happens, but we’re well rounded enough that just a little bucking up by just one or two studs could carry us to glory. Jack’s not a bad bet.
Just a classic “plays to the opponent.” There are always underdogs who seem to play beyond their level when facing the best teams (army vs k state last week is a recent example in college football) and favourites who seem to struggle against the ‘dogs. He’s just a mix of the two lol
If he shows up in the playoffs I’m all good with it
Sometimes I feel this way about the whole team
I have two hypotheses.
One, he’s just more dialed in when facing good teams. But, counterpoint, he had ~7 ERA in 15 innings against the Padres and Mets in the playoffs last year.
Two, as Peaches pointed out last night, Jack’s breaking pitches don’t break that much. His slider breaks 15.8 inches, which is on the lower side. For comparison, Jobe is around 18. Last night, he was painting the corners with his breaking pitches because they aren’t breaking so much.
Now, let’s say Baez is batting against Jack. Baez is going to swing at slider a foot out of the zone. He’s going to mash anything Jack throws. Replace Baez with Judge. Judge is going to see a slider and isn’t going to bite. Except the slider hits the corner and now is a strike. Next time, Judge thinks it is going to be a ball until the last moment and swings late resulting in a GIDP.
Juan Soto career against Jack? 712 OPS.
Judge? 200 OPS.
Schwarber? 418 OPS.
Ke’Bryan Hayes? Career OPS of 616? 1029 OPS against Jack in 17 PAs. If you watch Hayes play, he’s gonna remind you a lot more of Baez than Judge or Soto.
Dansby Swanson? Career OPS of 732? 1462 OPS against Jack in 13 PAs.
Counterpoint, there are still good players who mash Jack like Ryan Braun, Bichette, and Freeman. All three have at least 10 PAs against Jack and OPS greater than 950.
He’s gotta practice locking in
Ill take it cause that means he’ll hopefully be lights out in October
Flaherty is Akuma in Third Strike. Glass Cannon. If you hit him, he’s nearly done but if you let him get an advantage —
18 comments
the good thing is that in playoffs he should only face good teams so there is that 😉
It is pretty crazy. He also seems to pitch poorly against the bottom of the order at times. Maybe it’s something mental? I can’t explain it either.
Hopefully there are no bad teams in the playoffs!
He pitched well against a bad team last night.
Imo most of the time he pitches a bad game it’s really on Hinch for not pulling him when he should. He almost always starts off well for a few innings.
Over .500 teams have a .681 OPS against him
Teams under .500 have a .778 OPS
Edit: .721 is league average.
The adrenaline rush of a good matchup/away crowd hating on him boosts his fastball velocity to where he regularly needs it to be
It also means he’s probably more sore for the next game so he struggles the next time around
The table is set for any number of guys to be “that guy” during the playoffs. No guarantee that it happens, but we’re well rounded enough that just a little bucking up by just one or two studs could carry us to glory. Jack’s not a bad bet.
Just a classic “plays to the opponent.” There are always underdogs who seem to play beyond their level when facing the best teams (army vs k state last week is a recent example in college football) and favourites who seem to struggle against the ‘dogs. He’s just a mix of the two lol
If he shows up in the playoffs I’m all good with it
Sometimes I feel this way about the whole team
I have two hypotheses.
One, he’s just more dialed in when facing good teams. But, counterpoint, he had ~7 ERA in 15 innings against the Padres and Mets in the playoffs last year.
Two, as Peaches pointed out last night, Jack’s breaking pitches don’t break that much. His slider breaks 15.8 inches, which is on the lower side. For comparison, Jobe is around 18. Last night, he was painting the corners with his breaking pitches because they aren’t breaking so much.
Now, let’s say Baez is batting against Jack. Baez is going to swing at slider a foot out of the zone. He’s going to mash anything Jack throws. Replace Baez with Judge. Judge is going to see a slider and isn’t going to bite. Except the slider hits the corner and now is a strike. Next time, Judge thinks it is going to be a ball until the last moment and swings late resulting in a GIDP.
Juan Soto career against Jack? 712 OPS.
Judge? 200 OPS.
Schwarber? 418 OPS.
Ke’Bryan Hayes? Career OPS of 616? 1029 OPS against Jack in 17 PAs. If you watch Hayes play, he’s gonna remind you a lot more of Baez than Judge or Soto.
Dansby Swanson? Career OPS of 732? 1462 OPS against Jack in 13 PAs.
Counterpoint, there are still good players who mash Jack like Ryan Braun, Bichette, and Freeman. All three have at least 10 PAs against Jack and OPS greater than 950.
He’s gotta practice locking in
Ill take it cause that means he’ll hopefully be lights out in October
Flaherty is Akuma in Third Strike. Glass Cannon. If you hit him, he’s nearly done but if you let him get an advantage —
https://i.redd.it/3fjriiu0ekof1.gif
IDK he had a pretty good game against the Yankees last night 😉
He plays to his level of competition which is a very frustrating trait
Hes just like me frfr we need the stress