Bryce Miller has improved on his 2023 rookie season with the Seattle Mariners. Particularly notable are his ERA (3.46 versus final 12 months’s 4.32), FIP (3.70 versus 3.98), and OPS towards opposite-handed hitters (.685 OPS versus .917). On the similar time, a lot of his numbers have been strikingly related. After I spoke to the 25-year-old right-hander on the finish of July — he’s since made two begins — his win-loss report and common fastball velocity had been similar to final 12 months’s marks, as had been his FB% and HR/FB%. His strikeout charge differed by just some proportion factors.
I cited these similarities to the righty, then proceeded to ask him what differentiates this season’s model of Bryce Miller from final 12 months’s.
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Bryce Miller: “I believe that kind of stuff could be very related, however the lefty-righty splits are fairly a bit totally different. Final 12 months, lefties batted over .300 towards me. This 12 months, it’s round .215. I believe the addition of the splitter has been large, and I’ve additionally been finding higher. In the event you take a look at the warmth maps from final 12 months, a whole lot of the fastballs had been in the course of the plate. This 12 months, I’ve gotten them [elevated] slightly higher for essentially the most half. So getting the warmers up and the splitters down has helped me out lots with the lefties. That’s actually been the primary factor.”
David Laurila: Why is the splitter so a lot better than the changeup you had been throwing?
Miller: “I actually didn’t throw the changeup final 12 months. I imply, the utilization was most likely solely 5%. I additionally needed to drop my [arm] slot to throw the changeup if I wished any kind of horizontal. It simply wasn’t a very good pitch for me.”
Laurila: What’s the story behind your splitter? How did you be taught it, and the way lengthy did it take to show it into a high quality pitch?
Miller: “It took me just about all offseason to get snug with it. It’s not a straightforward pitch. [The] motion isn’t at all times in step with the dearth of spin and whatnot. From watching Logan [Gilbert] and [George] Kirby throw it final 12 months, I believed it might be a very good pitch for me. Once more, there was like a .100 level distinction in batting-average-against for lefties and righties. I knew that wanted to be my predominant space of focus.”
Laurila: Did Gilbert and Kirby play a job in your splitter exterior of you seeing how efficient it was for them?
Miller: “I requested each of them how they threw it, however I ended up not utilizing both of their grips. I form of took [Kodai] Senga’s grip slightly bit. It’s like a mixture of Senga and [Kevin] Gausman. I’ve the horseshoe rotated right here [on the ring side of the middle finger] after which the opposite one form of splits between the lace. I really discovered it on a Tread video on YouTube. I saved reducing the common cut up grip, after which I noticed the video the place a man was displaying that grip. He was possibly slightly extra conventional, whereas I like my pinky and ring finger up. I began throwing it that method and it began to take off.”
Laurila: Has it been extra of a swing-and-miss pitch for you, or extra of a soft-contact pitch?
Miller: “Early within the season it was near 40% whiff, however that’s form of gone down. It’s been my finest weak-contact pitch. After I throw it in end counts, in the event that they swing it’s often been a groundball or a weak fly. I believe I’ve obtained to regulate my location with it to get again to getting extra swings and misses. Both method, I haven’t given up a lot harm with it.
“I’ve thrown it near 25% of the time and have given up one residence run — and I don’t actually even rely it, as a result of it was a bizarre one. I at all times preset my splitter, and after I swap to a distinct pitch I do it the glove. The house run was to Evan Carter, in Texas, within the third week of the season. We had referred to as a distinct pitch, I switched to a fastball, after which we referred to as splitter once more. There was no time left on the pitch clock, and I used to be like ‘crap.’ I attempted to do it in my glove and the pitch simply floated in there.”
Laurila: You knew it was a foul pitch earlier than he even swung the bat?
Miller: “Yeah. And it’s the one one I’ve thrown this 12 months the place I didn’t preset. I prefer to have it deep in my hand, and on that one I needed to go to it actual fast after which throw. The end result was a house run. I ought to have simply thrown it for a ball.”
Laurila: Are there any pitches which can be tougher than others whenever you’re switching grips out of the preset?
Miller: “No. I’ve gotten used to switching to the fastball, or switching to the curveball or sweeper, or no matter. It’s all fairly simple. I simply rotate the ball and I’m there. I additionally do a whole lot of glove wiggle and maintain that to the place they will’t decide up on something.”
Laurila: Is there anything repertoire-wise we must always contact on?
Miller: “I’ve added a knuckle curve. Final sport, I didn’t throw it till the sixth inning, after which struck out the aspect with it. I stole it from Mike Baumann. It’s like a demise ball. I used to be by no means in a position to throw a standard curveball very arduous. I’ve obtained the gyro slider that’s round 2 and -2, however the brand new one I’ve been throwing has been 85, 86, 87 [mph] all the way down to -8 vert and round zero horizontal. If I maintain throwing it, will probably be a very good breaking pitch to get swings and misses.
“Because the 12 months has gone on, with lefties it’s principally both been splits away or heaters up, so that they’re form of on prime of the plate. I believe this can be a very good pitch to get them off slightly bit. But it surely’s nonetheless a piece in progress. I added it about three weeks in the past, however didn’t actually throw too a lot of them till the sixth inning of that final sport.
“I’ve been attempting to determine a breaking pitch that strikes glove aspect that will get swing-and-miss, as a result of the sweeper and the gyro… on Stuff+, I believe they’ve at all times underperformed, particularly with whiff. The gyro has been good with outcomes, however it simply doesn’t get as a lot whiff as I’d like. It might be a location factor; I don’t know. The curveball, because it has extra depth to it, ought to get extra swing-and-miss.”
Laurila: It may be your new secret weapon to overlook bats?
Miller: “Hopefully. I imply, it labored final week. In fact, they couldn’t plan for it, as a result of I hadn’t been throwing it.”