Rays' new bullpen ace, Edwin Uceta

Rays are well-known for fixing underrated players, especially pitchers. In 2024, they cast a spell on another player: Edwin Uceta, who became the Rays' new bullpen ace. 

Uceta joined Rays before the 2024 season under a minor league contract. Before he came to Rays, he played for six teams; in three of them, he wasn't called up to the major leagues.

He had a low arm slot and a long extension. He was evaluated as he has a good change-up from prospect age. It can induce swing in a miss, not picky about the left or right-handed hitter. And his control and command were evaluated as less than average. 

From June, he settled into the active roster, and here is his 2024 stat. 

How did the Rays change him to the best reliever in the league?

1. Add cutter to his arsenal

Before he joined Rays, he had 3 pitch types: Change-up, Four-seam fastball(FF), and Curve. The pitching percentage of the Four-seam fastball and Change-up is above 90%. 

In Rays, he started to pitch cutter and sweeper. The point is Cutter. His cutter pitch% is 21.3%. With Cutter, he became a three-pitch pitcher: FF, Cutter, and Change-up. These three pitch types' pitch% is around 95%.

Cutter is not his main weapon. He explained it as a 'pitch to maximize Change-up's efficiency.' Actually, among 143 Cutters he threw this season, only 28 were pitched in 2 strikes count. Cutter is usually used to get the upper count. 

Cutter is not a dominant pitch itself. Its wOBA is 0.333. The reason he threw this pitch is the direction it moves. His 2 main pitches, Change-up and FF, both move toward the right-handed hitter. But Cutter moves towards the left-handed batter. As pitch Cutter, the gap in horizontal movement between pitches widens. 

2. Improve Control

Uceta allows 1.73 BB/9 this season. It is objectively excellent, but it is even more surprising that he had weaknesses in control.

While watching Uceta's pitching, it reminds me of Tyler Glasnow, a former Rays pitcher. Back in the day, Rays always put catcher's mitt in similar positions. They use the same strategy to Uceta.

These are pictures of a moment right before he throws FF. The locations of these four pitches are all different. But catcher's mitt is in a similar position: all is in the high zone. This tendency appears when he throws Cutter, too.

It's not as consistent as when FF is pitched, but it is almost similar. Catcher's mitt is in the high zone. These four pitches are also pitched in different locations.

The Rays' purpose is simple. If control is hard to expect, just throw it inside the zone. Even if he watches the same mitt position and throws, the location of the ball can be different. Even if the ball didn't go where he wanted to pitch, it could be an elaborate control that he didn't even think of.

Why catcher's mitt is always in the high zone? His FF drops 10% less than others pitched in similar arm slots and similar pitch velocity. Throw a FF into the high zone from his low release point, and the batter will feel like the ball rises rather than the FF of other pitchers.


These pictures show his pitch strategy. From the left it is the heatmap of FF, Cutter, and Change-up. FF and Cutter are almost pitched in the middle of the zone, and Change-up is pitched in the low zone.

The reason this simple strategy is possible is his Change-up. It is a highly evaluated pitch since he was a minor leaguer. Batters are conscious of his Change-up, so it's not easy to swing in a fastball in the zone. And if they miss the ball in the zone, they become vulnerable to Change-up.

Original article link : https://yagongso.com/?p=22568


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