*This article was originally published here on Medium.com*
While MLB Summer Camps are (trying to) ramp up, baseball continues across the ocean in Korea with the KBO. The action is heating up as teams approach 60 games played and tiers start to become more defined. The NC Dinos and Kiwoom Heroes sit atop the KBO standings and kicked off a 3-game series today.
In his first start since May 22nd, Jake Brigham pitched 5 innings of 1-run ball, holding a potent NC Dinos lineup in check as the Kiwoom Heroes look to close the gap to the 1-seed. Brigham missed 5 weeks due to an undisclosed elbow injury and only threw 82 pitches against NC, but he was extremely effective and efficient in his limited outing.
After posting a 3.23 FIP in 2019 with Kiwoom, Brigham struggled at the start of the 2020 season, allowing an ERA of 5.00 in his first 18 IP. He was striking out 8 batters per 9, but walking 4 per 9 with a WHIP of 1.56. In this first start back, he only struck out 2 batters, but walked just 1 and induce a lot of contact on the ground thanks to his sinker and curveball.
Of the 15 balls in play that Brigham induced, only 2 were hit in the air; a solo HR that he allowed on a fastball right down the middle and 1 flyout versus 11 ground outs. Keeping the ball on the ground helped mitigate the 33% hard contact rate that Brigham allowed, as well as the fact that he scattered his base runners over his five innings.
Brigham primarily worked low in the zone and away to both right-handed hitters (RHH) and left-handed hitters (LHH). Combined with the sinking action on his 2-seamer, curveball, and slider, the Dinos just kept pounding the ball into the infield. He did struggle a little to throw strikes, with just a 59% strike rate and a bad first-pitch strike rate of 39%. I’d like to see those numbers, especially the first-pitch strike rate, tick up into at least the low 60s, but if he’s inducing 11 groundouts per game, whatever works.
Brigham’s 4 pitches spanned a range of about 15 mph. His sinker came in the hardest, around 89 mph, working in the mid-to-upper part of the zone to set up his curveball and slider. He threw it pretty evenly versus both RHH and LHH but used it more down in the zone against LHH whereas it was more of a setup pitch to righties. Brigham did have success with the sinker as a swing and miss pitch when he elevated it and pumped it up to 91 mph.
While Brigham’s fastball is his most-used pitch at a 55% usage, his curveball, which he threw 20% of the time, versus both RHH and LHH, is his most effective pitch. It’s a strong 12–6 breaking curve at 77 mph and Brigham pounded it low as a chase pitch, tunneling it with his fastball for maximum effectiveness. It worked spectacularly, inducing 4 whiffs on just 10 swings.
The broadcast mentioned how effective the pitch has been for Brigham in Korea, an indicator of how much he’s changed as a pitcher in his 4 years there. During his cup of tea with the Braves, Brigham only threw his curveball 4% of the time and his sinker 26% of the time (throwing a 4-seam fastball 37% of the time). He’s really embraced his curveball and sinker in the last few years with the Heroes and it seems to be paying off with his recent success (his 4 starts to begin 2020 notwithstanding).
His slider was thrown around 20% of the time as well around 85 mph and almost exclusively against RHH. Brigham primarily located it as a strike and to induce contact on the ground. His changeup, which was used infrequently overall, only 6% of the time, was more used against LHH and as a change of pace pitch from the rest of his stuff.
Brigham started the game extremely fastball heavy but started to incorporate his slider and curveball more as the game went on. He was fairly efficient, only topping 17 pitches in an inning once when he threw 24 in the 1st, pitching to contact as his just 2 Ks indicates. However, when Brigham found himself in a 2-strike count, he went for the K, using his curveball as his swing and miss pitch. Hitters should sit fastball for a strike early in the count, pivoting to curveball if they go down or slider/fastball when Brigham needs a strike.
*Stats from FanGraphs.com, myKBO.com, Baseball Savant, and the KBO on ESPN broadcasts*