The Philadelphia Phillies have some of the best pitching in all of Major League Baseball, with Cristopher Sanchez having a strong case for the Cy Young award out of the National League.
He was the runner-up last year, and this season, he’s looked good. One of the reasons why he could be in store for another huge season is a very small change he made to one of his pitch grips.
As David Adler of MLB.com shared, Sanchez made a small tweak to his slider grip, and it’s a lot sharper than before, with a ridiculous five inches of drop more than the average slider in MLB.
Cristopher Sanchez made small tweak for big gains
“Sanchez is now spiking his left index finger when he throws his slider, and the pitch is looking a lot different as a result,” Adler writes. “The Phillies’ ace has added four whole inches of drop on his slider without sacrificing velocity (the pitch is still coming in between 85-86 mph).”
This small tweak, just changing his slider grip with one of his fingers, has resulted in a significant change to the break on this put-out pitch. He’s getting four inches more drop than usual.
Adler noted how this pitch had “2 1/2 inches more drop than an average slider” last season. That was already a good sign.
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But now, Sanchez’s slider has some “really sharp movement (five inches more drop than average),” according to Adler.
This is an incredible change for the Phillies’ lefty ace, as now he has another filthy pitch to use to punch out batters this season.
His changeup is one of, if not the best, in all of Major League Baseball. And now, he’s improving his slider to have a lot more movement than it did last year.
If this change can stay for the rest of the season, and he can continue pitching at an elite level, the NL Cy Young wouldn’t be out of reach at all after finishing as the runner-up last year.
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