Was Blue Jays Starter Kevin Gausman Tipping His Pitches?
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Kevin Gausman’s splitter fools the best hitters in baseball.
The deception and drop on the split are normally impossible to lay off. It’s what earned him Cy Young votes last season, got him paid this winter, and carried Gausman to a league-best 1.57 FIP to start 2022.
But on Sunday, the Twins weren’t fooled at all. Swinging at six of Gausman’s 19 splits, the Twins rarely offered at the righty’s signature weapon. Minnesota sat fastball, hammering it around in the opening innings of their 8-6 win. Regularly watching the split fall below the zone, it’s almost like the Twins knew what was coming. Neither Gausman nor Manager Charlie Montoyo definitively claimed he was tipping his pitches, but Minnesota's takes spoke for themselves.
"Some of their guys just laid off some really good splits that I was just kind of flabbergasted that they didn't swing at," Gausman said.
Assisted by some defensive gaffs, the Twins touched up Gausman for five runs (three earned) on eight hits in the first two frames. With help warming in the bullpen behind him, Gausman returned for the third inning with a new plan—the splitter was scrapped. The righty settled for a clean 12-pitch inning, throwing only four-seam fastballs and a single slider to retire the side.
But when Gausman returned for a fourth frame, looking to test the waters with his splitter once again, the competitive takes continued. With two strikes, Jermaine Palacios calmly watched as a split broke toward the middle of the zone, destined for plenty of the plate before falling just below for a ball. The delivery was what makes Gausman so good, a diving splitter that has every indication of a strike until it’s not. Palacios watched the two-strike pitch like it was bounced halfway home.
Every team knows Gausman is going to throw his dancing split, and each squad comes with a unique game plan, the righty said. Sometimes that plan involves never swinging at the split, he said, but that's usually "easier said than done." Twins hitters swung at six of Gausman’s 19 splitters on the day, and 37 of his 56 fastballs. Garnering a 66.2% swing rate on his split this season, the mark dropped to 32% in his Sunday start against Minnesota. Gausman entered Sunday with the best chase-rate in baseball and on Sunday he had only three swinging-strikes outside of the zone.
"It's obviously an outlier, this outing today," Gausman said. "So yeah, a little frustrating obviously, you know. Trying to go win a series, to go out and do that is unacceptable, to be honest."
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Toronto starter Ross Stripling dealt with pitch-tipping last season, giving away his pitches with visible grip adjustments on the mound. Working with Toronto’s pitching development team and coach Pete Walker, Stripling tweaked his glove location during his wind-up to shield any giveaways. Stripling began the best run of his season after the fix in 2021, allowing 12 earned runs (2.35 ERA) in his following eight starts.
"Anytime a good pitcher either gets hit or something like that happens, we go 'what's going on?' Montoyo said. "That's part of the game."
Gausman's proved all season he's one of baseball's most difficult pitchers to hit. Even with Sunday's outing, he hasn't let up more than three earned runs in a start. If there's a tipping issue to be found, a fix should quickly return Gausman's splitter to chase-inducing glory.
"We'll take a look at some things," Gausman said.