The Adjustment That Could Alter Ross Stripling's Season

Blue Jay SP Ross Stripling had been hesitant to make mechanical changes, but with an ERA over seven he was searching for answers

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

When Ross Stripling looked up at the scoreboard and saw six Boston runs, it was hard to be confident.

After a five-run first and a leadoff homer in the second, the Blue Jays right hander had allowed a half dozen Red Sox to score before could even settle in. It was Stripling's sixth start of 2021, and after 3.2 innings his ERA had risen over seven — the highest mark of his career. Opposing hitters were barreling up pitches at more than double his career rate and he wasn't inducing much soft contact or garnering many chases.

Stripling decided to make a change, the biggest of his career, and five days later it worked.

"I've been stubborn about mechanics in the past for sure," Stripling said. "But when you're rocking a seven ERA and you feel like your career's crumbling around you, you're gonna … ask for suggestions."

Toronto’s bullpen coach Matt Buschmann and pitching coach Pete Walker had a consensus fix: stabilize his glove during the windup. Stripling’s inconsistent glove placement was leading to bad timing and big misses — and those big misses were being hammered. In Stripling’s 3.2 inning outing against the Red Sox, he allowed seven pieces of contact over 100 MPH, including five over 105.

“They both had the same suggestions,” Stripling said. “Which meant that there was an obvious glaring hole and fix that needed to be made.”

The Blue Jays coaching staff also thought the 31-year-old was tipping his pitches and holding the glove closer to his body and flaring his fingers would help shield grip adjustments. Stripling dealt with pitch tipping during his time with the Dodgers and the .276 batting average and .552 SLG opponents had on his fastball in 2021 would certainly back up the idea.

Stripling glove placement over last two outings / Sportsnet

Stripling had just four days to implement the adjustment and was hidden behind a Trent Thornton opener, but the results were immediate.

Staring back at the Tampa runner on second, Stripling pressed his glove to his stomach and turned to home plate. He drove toward his catcher and exhaled as he released, pushing a fastball by the outstretched bat of Mike Zunino for his fifth strikeout.

In seven innings, the righty struck out 30% of the Rays batters he faced, allowed zero barrels, and had an average exit velocity of just 88.5 MPH — 3 MPH below his season average.

Stripling doesn’t expect every start to now be seven shutout innings against one of the best lineups in the league, but he hopes his outings fall somewhere in between, and closer to his career norms.

With the debut of Alek Manoah, emergence of Robbie Ray, and steadiness of Hyun Jin Ryu, Toronto isn’t asking Stripling to be much more than a fifth starter. So far, his six ERA as a Blue Jay hasn’t met even that standard.

But Stripling is a guy with a career 3.9 ERA, who the Jays traded legitimate prospects for and the World Series chasing Los Angeles Dodgers gave recent playoff starts to. It’s unclear if something as simple as a minor glove adjustment will help Stripling return to that form, but for a guy who has been searching for answers for the past two seasons, there is now hope.