{"id":621585,"date":"2026-03-13T10:40:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/621585\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:40:42","slug":"ryan-weathers-clay-holmes-and-5-more-pitchers-showing-improved-stuff-this-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/621585\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Weathers, Clay Holmes and 5 more pitchers showing improved stuff this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re sometimes throwing against minor leaguers in a split-squad game. They\u2019re not stretched out to five innings yet. They might be working on an inferior pitch. They might be veterans with a spot safely secured on a pitching staff who just don\u2019t care that much about results right now. There are all sorts of reasons to question any spring training pitching statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And yet, they\u2019re still throwing, at least semi-competitively. They\u2019re still showing us new pitches or new shapes or new pitch mixes. Some of these pitchers impressing in the spring are actually in the midst of what will be a breakout season. There is some signal from spring data, especially when you look at the way the pitches move through space. That carries over to the regular season pretty well, even if velocity might change as pitchers stretch out further.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, here are the top 15 starters with at least 100 pitches thrown this spring so far, ranked by Stuff+<\/a>, which judges pitches by their physical qualities alone.<\/p>\n

Top Spring Starters by Stuff+<\/p>\n

PlayerPitchesS+L+P+<\/p>\n

131<\/p>\n

123<\/p>\n

114<\/p>\n

138<\/p>\n

130<\/p>\n

119<\/p>\n

91<\/p>\n

109<\/p>\n

115<\/p>\n

119<\/p>\n

111<\/p>\n

126<\/p>\n

132<\/p>\n

118<\/p>\n

122<\/p>\n

132<\/p>\n

155<\/p>\n

118<\/p>\n

124<\/p>\n

135<\/p>\n

100<\/p>\n

117<\/p>\n

121<\/p>\n

136<\/p>\n

123<\/p>\n

116<\/p>\n

106<\/p>\n

116<\/p>\n

120<\/p>\n

116<\/p>\n

96<\/p>\n

111<\/p>\n

108<\/p>\n

116<\/p>\n

117<\/p>\n

124<\/p>\n

149<\/p>\n

115<\/p>\n

117<\/p>\n

130<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a surprise at the top of the list! Los Angeles Angels right-hander Walbert Ure\u00f1a sits 99 with his sinker and reminds some people in Angels camp of Jos\u00e9 Soriano, but the 22-year-old had only a tiny taste of Triple A last year and could work on adding more swing and miss to his elite ground-ball profile. There are also clearly at least a couple veteran pitchers who are just feeling froggy in shorter outings on here \u2014 Chris Sale, as an example, hasn\u2019t changed much in his arsenal.<\/p>\n

But there are also a few pitchers on this list, as well as other pitchers who have made significant improvements this spring, who deserve more attention.<\/p>\n

Ryan Weathers, LHP, New York Yankees<\/p>\n

Since Weathers came up with the Padres and until this moment in spring with the Yankees, he has changed so much as to be nearly unrecognizable in his current form.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s:<\/p>\n

Added more than 4 mph on the four-seamer
\nAdded an inch of ride to the four-seamer
\nAdded 3 mph to the sinker
\nAdded three inches of glove-side movement to the sinker
\nAdded 3 mph to the slider
\nAdded three and a half inches of drop to the slider
\nAdded an 85 mph sweeper
\nAdded 2 mph to the changeup
\nAdded 10 inches of drop to the changeup<\/p>\n

That\u2019s intense. His first spring outing got everyone\u2019s attention, but his second outing wasn\u2019t as good by results. Still, this spring his strikeout and walk rates are pristine, his ground-ball rate is through the roof, and his arsenal looks optimized for success. He has a terrible injury history and hasn\u2019t topped 100 innings since 2023, but for now he\u2019s soaring up rankings lists.<\/p>\n

Clay Holmes, RHP, New York Mets<\/p>\n

There are the physical aspects of Holmes\u2019 pitches that have improved this spring, that\u2019s one thing. He\u2019s added more fade and drop on his sinker, another six-plus inches of drop on his changeup, and has made his sweeper more of a frisbee with less drop. All of these things contribute to his pitches scoring better by Stuff+.<\/p>\n

They should really work well in tandem, especially since he\u2019s added a curveball. Now he can play the deeper curveball off the frisbee sweeper or throw the harder slider \u2014 that\u2019s three breaking balls that might look similar out of the hand and do completely different things thereafter. The curveball looks like it will work better against lefties than the sweeper, so he\u2019s improved against lefties, at least theoretically.<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s another wrinkle that Holmes is throwing at batters that could really ramp up the deception. Generally, he\u2019s moved closer to the first base side of the rubber to alter the way the pitches are coming into the plate. It\u2019s made his sinker seem more severe at the very least. And now he\u2019s playing with his place on the rubber. From pitch to pitch.<\/p>\n

Here, Holmes moves right-ward on the rubber and then throws the same pitch again to the same batter. That has to be confusing to the hitter. Adding some deception to his increased stuff could let Holmes take a real step forward in his second year as a starter, and he was already pretty decent last year.<\/p>\n

Mike Burrows, RHP, Houston Astros<\/p>\n

One of the revelations from Stuff+ research was how important release point was to the outcomes for pitches. Basically, pitchers need to surprise hitters by showing them shapes that aren\u2019t predicted by their arm angle. Now, we\u2019re seeing the average arm angle drop, year to year. Maybe those things are linked. Because Burrows, like Holmes, moved on the rubber (more towards third base, in his case) and also dropped his arm angle a little.<\/p>\n

That has helped his four-seamer and curveball play up, with both up above average in Stuff+ for the first time in his career. Nobody this spring has a hit off of either pitch. Even if the fastball is being devalued across baseball, that\u2019s a good sign. His most-used pitch is better. The new arm angle has possibly devalued his changeup, which is down by Stuff+, but that might still be a good trade-off.<\/p>\n

Overall, the new arm slot could be a positive for Burrows, as it improves two of his worst pitches into positives. This kind of process is why \u2014 as a fantasy player, fan or baseball executive \u2014 you might be more intrigued with pitchers with many pitch types. There are more pathways to success this way.<\/p>\n

Hunter Barco, LHP, Pittsburgh Pirates<\/p>\n

Speaking of having a lot of pitch types, Hunter Barco has completely revamped his arsenal by adding three new pitches this spring.<\/p>\n

New is the sweeper. It may not get the most sweep out there (only 10 inches), but that\u2019s eight inches more than his other slider and definitively a different look. Even after the Stuff+ revision tamped down the numbers on sweepers, it\u2019s a pitch that does well in that model.<\/p>\n

New is the changeup. Barco already threw a splitter, but this new changeup has 13 more inches of fade than his split-finger and hums along a couple ticks harder. The newest trend in baseball might just be pitchers with multiple changeups. Credit Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n

New is the sinker. This one might not make it to Opening Day because it\u2019s being hit pretty hard right now and Stuff+ doesn\u2019t love it. Regardless, having multiple fastballs is still a good trick to pull, so even if he ramps down the usage during the regular season, it\u2019ll be a good wrinkle.<\/p>\n

\"Hunter<\/p>\n

\n Hunter Barco is throwing multiple changeups like his rotation-mate Paul Skenes. (Sam Navarro \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the new arsenal looks according to the Stuff+ model.<\/p>\n

Hunter Barco’s new arsenal<\/p>\n

Pitch typePitchesS+L+P+<\/p>\n

Four-Seamer<\/p>\n

66<\/p>\n

109<\/p>\n

111<\/p>\n

113<\/p>\n

Sinker<\/p>\n

26<\/p>\n

99<\/p>\n

68<\/p>\n

76<\/p>\n

Slider<\/p>\n

19<\/p>\n

107<\/p>\n

99<\/p>\n

101<\/p>\n

Changeup<\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

88<\/p>\n

87<\/p>\n

77<\/p>\n

Splitter<\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

119<\/p>\n

77<\/p>\n

78<\/p>\n

Sweeper<\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

115<\/p>\n

147<\/p>\n

175<\/p>\n

Barco seems very likely to take the fifth starter job in Pittsburgh and run with it.<\/p>\n

Matthew Liberatore, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, no model liked Matthew Liberatore. He came up from the minor leagues with below-average Stuff+, middling fastball velocity and poor strikeout minus walk rates. Some of his ERA estimators for the first two years of his career were over five. He spoke to me of \u201ctaking his career into (his) own hands,\u201d and sounded frustrated.<\/p>\n

Since then, he\u2019s gone to work. He\u2019s raised his release point. He\u2019s added a cutter. He\u2019s added a little velocity. He\u2019s made his fastball even a little more different than his sinker. He\u2019s throwing his curveball four ticks harder. He\u2019s getting more drop on the slider. Only four starters have improved their stuff more this spring when compared to last year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wide, six-pitch arsenal with command now. He has five pitches that are above average by stuff, and five pitches that are above average by location. He\u2019s the Cardinals\u2019 Opening Day starter in a great home park.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you just need to give guys more time.<\/p>\n

Will Warren, RHP, New York Yankees<\/p>\n

Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before. Will Warren has \u2026 changed where he stands on the mound. He\u2019s moved over a foot towards third base.<\/p>\n

There are other things that he\u2019s done. He\u2019s added a half-tick of velo that might be gone by the time he has to go deeper into games. He\u2019s added a little ride on the four-seamer. He\u2019s throwing the sweeper with less movement but two more ticks of velocity, which should be an improvement that sticks around. His curveball is also straighter but two ticks harder.<\/p>\n

The two pitches that have improved the most by Stuff+ with his shift on the rubber? His fastball and curveball. Maybe something as simple as moving towards first base improves those two pitches.<\/p>\n

If Warren really has an OK four-seamer and curveball this year, that could change everything for him. His sinker and sweeper are real weapons against righties, and he\u2019s been looking for better pitches against lefties.<\/p>\n

Dustin May, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals<\/p>\n

Do you remember the old Dustin May? Gingergaard? The one with multiple fastballs with great velocity? The one who paired great strikeout and ground-ball rates?<\/p>\n

He might be back.<\/p>\n

May\u2019s velocity is up almost three ticks, which is enough to expect him to have better velocity this year than last. His changeup is harder. He\u2019s brought the curveball out of the dustbin. He almost has two more inches of ride on the four-seamer, which is a pitch that was a differentiator for him when he was at his best.<\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t his strikeout rate better this spring if this is the case? It looks like he\u2019s spraying that revamped four-seamer a little.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He has a little command work to do over the next few weeks if he\u2019s going to get back to being the guy who had ERAs in the twos with great strikeout rates and paired a lethal sinker\/sweeper righty-killer combo with a great fastball\/curveball duo against lefties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re sometimes throwing against minor leaguers in a split-squad game. They\u2019re not stretched out to five innings yet.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,28,54,56,4,61,62,64,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-621585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-fantasy-baseball","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-los-angeles-angels","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-new-york-yankees","16":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","17":"tag-st-louis","18":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","19":"tag-stlouis","20":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116221447040001231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}