Does a one-pitch homer count as a sequence for anyone? It’s a fair question but bending the rules is ok.
What’s also ok is what Adolis Garcia is doing at the plate. The results haven’t been flashy and the underlying stuff is just fine. He is hitting the ball harder but is also not pulling the ball as much, which generally suppresses overall numbers.
But there are real changes that have be made to his approach. He has sort of cheated his way into newfound plate discipline by simply swinging less in general.
His zone-swing rate is down 5.6% but he cut his chase down 6%. Over three-fourths of his at bats start with a take, and he has been swinging less at the best kind of pitches to hit.
In the aggregate, these have led to productive changes that should allow for a solid season. Because he is swinging less, his walk rate jumped over three percent as well.
Teams have started to catch on to the adjustments and have changed their game plans accordingly. Garcia might be ready to lean back into an aggressive approach or this was just a really bad pitch from Jeffrey Springs.
There are some reasons to believe these adjustments have more or less raised his floor than anything else. The ball still jumps off his bat but his pull flyball rate has taken a nose dive, which is part of why he is hitting some loud outs.
But a .707 OPS with his defense in right field is a very good one-year deal. There are very good reasons to believe that will continue.
Jonathan Bowlan’s weird inning in Miami.
Jonathan Bowlan three 31 pitches in Miami against five Marlins hitters. He threw 15 four-seam fastballs in those 31 pitches and only started two hitters with one.
His four-seam fastball is roughly 97 mph with about 18.5 inches of induced vertical break and 8.6 inches of run. It’s one of the best in the majors and has gotten very good results in his limited time as a Phillie. Hitters are only hitting just .111, no extra base hits, and are whiffing over 30% of the time on it. Given that Bowlan is a one or two inning reliever, it just feels like the pitch needs to be thrown more.
15 out of 31 in Miami is actually better than his general season usage at 41.4%, which seems low. He does throw a lot of offerings but given the role, would it be best if he simplified the mix?
The other pitches in his arsenal have been mixed. The changeup has not played very well with hitters hitting .500 on the pitch with a slugging of .625. He picked up a sweeper after joining the Phillies and it’s looked like his best secondary offering to start the season with the slider looking solid as well. He has struggled to land curveballs in the zone consistently and the sinker has generated some weak contact but not a lot of whiffs either.
A four-seam, sweeper, slider pitcher is may run into potential platoon issues but given that those are clearly his three best pitches, they should be what’s featured. The plan around that has to get simplified, given the role he is in and the fact that it isn’t working. He is a much better reliever than the 8.31 ERA would indicate.
