SB Nation    •   7 min read

Nic Enright Has The Stuff

WHAT'S THE STORY?

Houston Astros v Cleveland Guardians
Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images

When talking about Nic Enright, it is impossible to not mention his journey to the big leagues. Enright was diagnosed with cancer in December of 2022, and has since battled through that as well as the inherent struggle of a 20th round pick. If you haven’t, I implore you to read this article from Guardians beat reporter Tim Stebbins.

Cleveland Guardians v Detroit Tigers Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images

Now onto the diamond, Enright has thrown 14.1 innings this season amidst two MLB stints and on Thursday he returned for his third. He has done a phenomenal job so far

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with a 1.88 ERA. Like so many Guardians pitchers before him; Enright doesn’t have big velocity or a unicorn pitch but his stuff is effective.

His primary offering, the 4-seamer, is thrown about 65% of the time and is his best pitch. Enright has a high arm-slot and gets a lot of spin on the fastball (95th percentile spin rate). These two factors enable him to have a 4-seamer with 20 inches of Induced Vertical Break (IVB) AKA ride. That ranks 2nd in the league, but due to the high arm-slot it is 10th in most ride above expected. So far big league hitters have a .152 batting average and .242 slugging percentage against Enright’s fastball. Pictured below is where Enright’s arm-slot compares to other pitchers:

 Baseball Savant

Enright’s good fastball is supported by an average slider that doesn’t pop on paper. However, it separates very well from the 4-seamer with a difference of ~18 inches of IVB. It is a prototypical bullet/gyro slider that generates only a few inches of break to the glove side. That is to be expected for a guy with a high arm-slot, and it makes Enright a primarily north/south pitcher.

Enright throws a curve as his tertiary offering, just like the slider it doesn’t pop on paper but creates good separation from his other two offerings. He technically has a splitter but has barely used it in both the majors and minors. Pictured below is a full summary of his pitch mix, provided by TJStats:

His pitch repertoire is extremely similar Triston McKenzie’s. The biggest difference is McKenzie extends further down the mound than Enright. We all know how well McKenzie’s stuff can play when its located and sequenced well and I think a similar ceiling applies to Nic Enright.

In his 14.1 major league innings he hasn’t been in the zone as much as he is capable of. In MLB he has a 43.8 zone% versus in AAA this year he was in the zone 51% of the time. With some more experience and confidence in his stuff I expect to see him attacking the zone more often. When that happens, Enright can be a key piece for this bullpen.

As the year goes on I would love to see Nic Enright stay on the big league roster and get opportunities in leverage situations. It is incredible how much promise he is showing, and he hasn’t even finished his cancer treatment yet! I’d be willing to bet a guy with the guts to pitch through cancer can keep his cool in the big moments.

Let me know what you think of Nic Enright and if there is any details I missed down in the comments!

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