Kevin Gausman: "I Think It's Pretty Obvious That We're Kind Of Struggling Right Now"

[PressBoxOnline]

"I think it's pretty obvious that we're kind of struggling right now," Orioles starter Kevin Gausman said, "but hopefully we can just kind of turn it around and even this series up."

https://www.pressboxonline.com/2016/06/01/mookie-betts-red-sox-power-past-slumping-orioles-again

[WEAVERMAN]

"I think it's pretty obvious that we're kind of struggling right now," Orioles starter Kevin Gausman said, "but hopefully we can just kind of turn it around and even this series up."

https://www.pressboxonline.com/2016/06/01/mookie-betts-red-sox-power-past-slumping-orioles-again

It would nice if Gausman could start pitching better.

[LookitsPuck]

It would nice if Gausman could start pitching better.

No kidding. His last 5 games: 5.34 ERA .282/.331/.556 - .886 OPS. Perhaps most alarming? 8 homers in only 29 IP.

I will say, he looked like a completely different pitcher from the 3rd inning on last night. Hopefully he can build on that. He's showed progress this year...so hopefully he can make adjustments because clearly the league is making adjustments to him.

Looking at this splits, here's something interesting:

On the first pitch: .250/.250/.563 - .813 OPS

On 1-0: .313/.313/1.000 - 1.313 OPS

On 2-0: .400/.429/1.000 - 1.429 OPS

On 0-1: .429/.429/.429 - .857 OPS

On 1-1: .308/.357/.538 - .896 OPS

On 2-1: .357/.357/.643 - 1.000 OPS

Looking at his PitchFx data, his fastball is still pretty good. But 5 out of the 9 homers allowed were on it. His slider is still getting hit pretty well (318 batting average against).

So once again, the issue here is that hitters are sitting fastball because they know he's being aggressive. 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 0-1, 1-1, 2-1...I'm guessing this is all sequencing. He doesn't want to throw his splitter (although arguably he should throw it more 0-1) when he's behind in the count or to start an AB because his splitter is a change of pace pitch.