FAYETTEVILLE — Call it the “cutter” or the “splitter.” It's often the same pitch and it is showing up more and more with an improved Arkansas pitching staff.
“Our pitchers have that now,” said Grant Koch, the Arkansas catcher. “It's a big pitch for a lot of our guys and it's missing barrels.”
That's one way to say it, but the easy thing to see is that Arkansas pitchers are getting more swings and misses. It's a big reason the Hogs are 17-4 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. They take a five-game winning streak into a non-conference date with New Orleans at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Baum Stadium.
“Some of our guys had that pitch last year, but it's really evolved this season,” Koch said. “They are throwing it for a lot of strikes. I think that's what has improved for a lot of our guys, they are throwing more strikes. They are in the zone with 100 percent of their pitches and they have breaking pitches they can throw for a strike.”
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn agreed with his catcher. He loves the strikeout to walk ratio for his staff under new pitching coach Wes Johnson.
“I think Coach Johnson will tell you they really worked on their command of the breaking ball,” Van Horn said. “A lot of our guys are able to throw the breaker in any count. They have the ability to come back and throw strikes so they are able to waste the pitch out of the zone, knowing they can throw it for a strike at any count. That helps you.”
The UA pitching staff has 225 strikeouts against just 59 walks. Conversely, the UA hitters have 139 strikeouts against 98 walks. Both of those are good numbers and translate into victories.
Outfielder Jake Arledge knew something was up in the fall with more breaking balls for strikes by the pitchers.
“I think they changed the way they pitched,” Arledge said. “They added speed to their breaking balls and part of that is the cutter. It looks like a fast ball then has late break. They worked so hard on that pitch.
“It's weird. You think you've got a fast ball, although you might see the spin late and know different. It looks like you've got it, then it misses your barrel. You don't miss it by much, or you just get a piece. Our guys are very good with it.”
Van Horn said the pitching staff has worked hard to develop a better off-speed pitch.
“Call it what you want – cut fast ball, splitter – but it's something that has a little speed and is coming at you harder than a curve ball,” he said. “We have some targets set up in our pitcher's performance center, our old batting cages, and our guys are in there on their off days. They are in there spinning it, trying to hit those targets.
“I don't know all of the guys we have throwing the cutter now, but it's a lot more. Blaine Knight, Josh Alberius and Trevor Stephan are some of those I know throw it. It's the pitch Drew Smyly is throwing.. It's a big pitch for us right now.”
It's clear that Johnson's coaching has produced a tighter break to the off-speed pitches for the UA pitchers. Some have made big jumps, like Cannon Chadwick. He threw almost all breaking pitches – curve and change-up – while picking up saves on Friday and Saturday night during the sweep of Mississippi State.
Chadwick has 24 strikeouts in 16 innings. He's held opponents to a .193 batting average, mostly in crunch time. Stephan has 40 strikeouts in 30.1 innings with opponents hitting just .156. Knight has 34 strikeouts in 26.1 innings.
“I don't think Cannon cares if he gets behind in the count, because he can throw that curve at any time,” Van Horn said. “I don't think he's getting behind much, but he's not going to change the way he pitches if he does. He can throw a pitch or two out of the zone to get them to chase, then come back with a good breaking ball on 3-1 for a strike.
“I think it's clear that the teams we are playing know they are going to see good breaking pitches. So they are going after the first pitch they see. They are swinging early in the counts. They don't want to be behind with what we've shown on the mound so far.
“It's a by product of very good workouts, very good training by Coach Johnson. Everyone knows we are throwing strikes so they better go to the plate swinging.”
The irony is that the talk in the fall was about increased velocity for the pitchers. That's happened.
“I think it's more velocity on the breaking pitches, too,” Koch said. “The key is that our guys have more than one breaking pitch they can throw for strike.”
Arledge sees the work ethic among the pitchers.
“Something like this doesn't just happen,” he said. “They've worked so hard. We see how hard our pitchers have worked to get better. They've developed some pitches and they are throwing strikes. Out there in the field, it's fun to play defense when the pitchers are throwing strikes.”