Joe Musgrove In Midst Of Breakout Season
4 years agoSan Diego Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove's breakout season is in progress in his first season in San Diego. The San Diego native tossed the Padres first no-hitter in franchise history, has allowed three earned runs in four games and has a 39.8 percent strikeout rate, seventh-best in baseball. Musgrove's turnaround began late in the 2019 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, when he began to conceal the ball from hitters like Cleveland's Shane Bieber. It improved the spin on his pitches and increase his strikeout rate considerably. Musgrove's slider and curveball had swing-and-miss rates north of 50 percent in 2020, with only Bieber having two pitches on that list as well. He's throwing less of his four-seam fastball and has been using one of baseball's best pitches -- his slider -- nearly 30 percent of the time. Musgrove has become a fantasy must-start, even against the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night.
Source: MLB.com - Mike Petriello
Source: MLB.com - Mike Petriello