The Orioles’ two greatest relievers are so as a result of they’ve two dominant pitches. Their third greatest is so as a result of he doesn’t have one.
Danny Coulombe, not like Félix Bautista, Yennier Cano and most of baseball’s high relievers, doesn’t have one or two pitches that outline who he’s. He doesn’t have Bautista’s gravity-defying fastball or devastating splitter, nor does he have Cano’s ground-and-pound sinker or his screwball-esque changeup.
Instead, Coulombe is having the perfect season of his nine-year MLB profession and is without doubt one of the sport’s high left-handed relievers due to an unconventional six-pitch arsenal — one he’s crafted by creating a eager sense of self.
“I think that half the battle is figuring out who you are and what makes you good and doing that as much as you can,” Coulombe mentioned.
Before this season, Coulombe’s profession had been marred by arm-slot adjustments, mechanical tweaks, pitch-mix tinkering and an damage. Year by 12 months, Coulombe’s mechanics would change — generally to create extra deception, generally to extend velocity. He’d decrease his arm slot when his crew on the time wished him to throw extra sinkers, then he’d carry his arm slot again up when a brand new crew wished him to depend on his four-seamer and curveball.
Throughout the changes, Coulombe had durations of success, together with in 2017 with the Oakland Athletics and in 2021 with the Minnesota Twins. But he additionally struggled, like at first of his large league profession in 2014 and 2015 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, in 2019 when he was caught within the minors with the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, or final 12 months when a change in his supply geared toward growing velocity resulted in a torn hip labrum that ended his season in May and brought on him to query if he’d ever pitch within the majors once more.
Despite the odyssey that introduced him to Baltimore, his sixth group, Coulombe mentioned he at all times believed a season like this was someplace inside him.
“No doubt,” Coulombe mentioned. “It’s about understanding who you are as a pitcher. I kind of lost my way a little bit with the A’s where I started throwing from a lower slot. It wasn’t until 2021 and 2022 when I figured out, this is what I’m good at, like this is my natural motion, this is how I should be throwing. I lost a few years in my career in 2018 and 2019, really, just trying to figure out how to throw harder. I was chasing velocity, but that’s just one component. Knowing who you are as a pitcher is the most important thing.”
The Orioles acquired Coulombe from the Twins, who Baltimore hosts at Camden Yards for a three-game sequence this weekend, on the finish of spring coaching for money issues. The 33-year-old journeyman hadn’t pitched a full season within the majors since 2017 and was coming off a surgical procedure that additionally concerned shaving down the ball of his left hip to cut back the probability of one other impingement.
After a easy surgical procedure, a full offseason, a strong spring and a change of surroundings, he shortly grew to become Baltimore’s high lefty out of the bullpen and one in all supervisor Brandon Hyde’s go-to relievers in high-leverage spots. In 27 2/3 innings, Coulombe has a 2.28 ERA and a 1.048 WHIP with 37 strikeouts.
He hasn’t simply been a key member of the Orioles’ aid corps, although. He’s been top-of-the-line relievers within the sport in a number of key metrics, particularly amongst southpaws. His 0.9 wins above alternative on FanGraphs ranks fourth amongst left-handed relievers, whereas his 26.5% strikeout-minus-walk fee is second.
He ranks within the high 10% amongst all certified pitchers in common exit velocity, strikeout share, anticipated batting common, chase fee and hard-hit share, in response to Baseball Savant as of Thursday afternoon. In 2017, his final full season, he ranked within the backside 40% in all these metrics, that are calculated by Statcast monitoring knowledge.
This 12 months, no certified pitcher within the main leagues has a decrease common exit velocity than Coulombe’s 82.7 mph, which is sort of 6 mph higher than league common. He additionally ranks first with a 17.9% hard-hit fee — about half the league common of 36.1%. His 32.7% strikeout fee is best than Toronto Blue Jays nearer Jordan Romano; his 29.7% whiff fee is best than Kenley Jansen and Clay Holmes, the closers for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, respectively; and his 34.5% chase fee is best than Bautista, whose strikeout numbers are on tempo to shatter information.
“Strikeouts are a funny thing,” mentioned Coulombe, whose strikeout share is 10 factors higher than in his 192 2/3 innings earlier than this 12 months. “They come in bunches. Unless you’re Bautista, then they always come.”
These numbers are much more spectacular when contemplating Coulombe’s fastball averages an underwhelming 91.5 mph — greater than two ticks under league common. Instead, the wily lefty is having fun with a breakout season due to a pitch combine that few within the majors have.
Coulombe has thrown six pitches at the least 10 instances (or 2%), nevertheless it’s the make-up of that arsenal that’s uncommon. Three of the six pitches are breaking balls, along with his slider (45.4%), sweeper (22.7%) and curveball (10.3%) amongst his 4 most typical choices, along with his sinker (10.7%), four-seam fastball (8.8%) and changeup (2.1%). The slider is Coulombe’s greatest pitch, whereas the sweeper is his latest addition.
“He blew my thumb up the first time I played catch with him,” mentioned fellow left-handed reliever Keegan Akin, who’s Coulombe’s catch accomplice. “Very good stuff. It might not light up the radar gun, but it definitely gets on you. The depth perception, just how the ball comes out — it’s sneaky. You can’t see the rotation of the ball, and everything looks the same and it goes everywhere. It’s definitely some elite stuff.”
In at the moment’s recreation, a pitcher mixing six pitches isn’t that irregular. Orioles starters Kyle Gibson and Dean Kremer, for instance, each have six-pitch mixes. But a aid pitcher having that many choices, is completely different. The solely different left-handed reliever within the majors to make use of six pitches at the least 2% of the time is Detroit’s Tyler Holton. No lively left-handed pitcher with greater than 10 innings pitched sports activities a slider, a sweeper and a curveball.
“It’s nice to have more options,” Coulombe mentioned. “I’ve been spinning the ball well and I rely on that a lot.”
That deviation is also why Coulombe isn’t only a left-handed specialist. While Hyde usually brings him in for “lefty pockets” within the lineup, he’s additionally been efficient in opposition to right-handed hitters. Lefties are hitting .214 with a .512 OPS off Coulombe this 12 months, whereas righties have a .210 batting common and a .612 OPS.
His unorthodox pitch combine is rarely extra noticeable than when he’s going through right-handed hitters in high-leverage spots. Twice this season Coulombe has gone in opposition to Tampa Bay Rays slugger Randy Arozarena, a 2023 All-Star starter who crushes left-handed pitching virtually as a lot as he’s dominated the Orioles, in one-run video games with runners on base.
The first time, Coulombe entered with the profitable run on the plate and struck out each Arozarena and lefty-masher Harold Ramirez, tossing seven breaking balls (three sliders, two sweepers and two curveballs). He confronted Arozarena once more final week with runners on the corners, throwing him two sweepers, a slider and a curveball to induce an inning-ending popup. The Orioles received each video games over the American League East-leading Rays.
“I feel like he’s got weapons to go against right-handers. … He’s done a great job of getting both sides out,” Hyde mentioned. “He’s been amazing for us.”
Twins at Orioles
Saturday, 4:05 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com