Adam Ottavino had another regular night in the park Wednesday night, pitching eight scoreless innings, striking out one and allowing a stolen base.
This was his ninth consecutive scoreless and hitless appearance, continuing an impressive first month of the season for the right-handed pitcher, with 15.2 strikeouts per nine innings, a WHIP of just .416, and a walk in comparison. He entered the game with a significant reduction. spending most of his career.
Since giving up runs in his first two appearances of the season, he has not allowed a hit to a batter in 34 consecutive games, including a 1-0 loss to the Cubs in his most recent appearance.
The 38-year-old was coming off a decent but lackluster year in 2023. Although he terminated his contract with the Mets, he ultimately ended up re-signing with Queen’s for less money than he would have received if he had kept his contract. Original deal.
Ottavino knows he’s not trying to “wow everyone” with his work at this point in his career, but he knows what he can do, especially after a tough few months in the middle of last season. He said he felt there was more.
“Some things scared me last year,” Ottavino said before the game. “For most of this year, my tongue was down, my slider didn’t feel right, and the movement didn’t feel right.”
“I was able to get around it and throw it,” Ottavino said.
“I felt like I threw pretty well, even though it wasn’t as dangerous as I usually feel,” he said. “I found a way to get through it and got a zero for the most part through the end of the year.”
He took a leap forward this season and was as effective as he has been at any point in his career.
Despite the drop in velocity from last year, batters are able to hit almost all of his pitches, and his sinker now hits just 92 mph compared to over 94 mph two years ago. It remains at a level exceeding .
Ottavino said he made changes to his pitching mix in the second half of last season, including avoiding cutters as his primary pitch against left-handed batters and increasing the use of changeups against right-handed batters.
“I was happy with my pitching at the end of last year,” Ottavino said. “But this year we were able to finish off our opponents better than last year.”
He pointed to a time in the middle of the season when no one could match him. He appeared in 12 games from July 15 to August 13, striking out only four batters in 10/3 innings.
“It kind of killed me,” Ottavino said. “I was pitching a lot for ground balls, and that’s still part of the game, but now I’m getting more two-strike pitches and getting a chance to end my at-bat.”
His put-away rate (the percentage of pitches that result in a strikeout with two strikes) is nearly double what it was on all pitches a year ago, and Ottavino believes that’s due to winning in the count. .
“I went into this year not knowing what the game was going to be like, and I was definitely concerned about throwing harder,” Ottavino said. “It still matters, but velocity seems to matter less this year.”
Part of that is because Ottavino isn’t trying to throw his slider as hard because the reduced speed makes the sinker look faster.
“It makes the play livelier and more effective,” Ottavino said.
“I’ve always worked towards the results and process that I’m getting right now, to have a lot of options that I can throw for strikes and chases,” Ottavino said. “If you have the ability to see the game clearly, you have a high probability of making the right decision. That’s the pitcher I’ve always wanted to be, and I had a hunch of that throughout my career. The hard part is that. It’s about keeping the feel and execution going, so I’m really excited about the start.”
