#BlueJays ⚾️🧵Mason Fluharty Included below: *Simple *Sneaky *Soft Contact *Spin And more... Let's start here: 1.1 IP last night building on a crazy-good run...

Fluharty Last 5 Weeks 14.1 IP 47 batters faced 1 ER 1 hit allowed (.024 opp avg)

He's not like most relievers. He doesn't blow the ball past people, and yet, he doesn't have a wide variety of pitches to keep them on their toes either... Cutter. Sweeper. 2 pitches that each move in the general same direction. Nothing coming back arm-side... but it's working.

Crazy stat of the day: Fluharty as you saw above, has faced close to 50 hitters over the last 5 weeks, and essentially, hasn't given up a hit. The one hit he's been tagged with was 99% catch probability off the bat that Springer just misread (this led to lone ER as well)

Here's another oddity: For someone who doesn't strike a lot of guys out, he doesn't get a lot of grounders either (only 6 in that 5-week sample)

So that means, a lot of balls in the air.

But few of those balls in the air are hit at the *right* launch angle. Fluharty has a knack for making guys get under the baseball.

One reason why: elite spin rates... Fluharty can really spin a baseball, and one of the by-products of that is that his pitches don't necessarily move the way hitters expect.

Like, look at how... *different* Devers needs to swing to get on top of a Fluharty cutter at the top of the zone. That's an elite hitter recognizing the type of pitches he's seeing and adjusting his swing. Most guys can't do that.

Worth pointing out: there's been some luck involved over the last few weeks. And there always will be when you're a dude who throws 90 with 2 pitches and don't keep the ball on the ground. But the BABIP-gods have been with him.

But, it's not smoke & mirrors. He messes with guys. And one pitch tells that story. The backdoor to RHB.

22% of the pitches Fluharty throws are taken for called strikes. That's a team-best mark & among the best in MLB. Righties just want to give up, ball out of hand, really often when Fluharty works that outside corner.

But, it makes sense. Dude stands extreme 1st base side of rubber, with his back rotated around, he releases the ball at a low arm angle... and he's spinning it towards that outside corner. In other words, those pitches are never strikes... until they are.

If you were to pick one factor for his success: the outside corner vs righties would be it. He's owning that half of the plate.

And it's one of the reasons why he has one of the lowest swing rates in MLB. He doesn't generate a ton of chase, but dudes don't swing in the zone against him either. The combo of his mound position, arm angle, his spin, and the unexpected movement on his pitches all factor in.

But the cutter is a real pitch. Dominant.

Most guys who throw a ton of cutters are doing it with high velo. Fluharty... is not.

But because of everything we talked about... the deception, the movement, the spin... Fluharty makes 90 look like 95 (at least when you look at the swings against it). Oh, and he also threw the 2 hardest pitches of his season last night (while avg'ing season-high 90.4 on cutter)

There will be a regression. Fly-ball pitchers always go thru rough patches. And once hitters see him a few times, the novelty could wear off. But is there more in there? Could the velo tick up even more? Could he add a split or a change next off-season?

Cimber... Richards... Fluharty.... I like watching guys find success without the usual tools for doing so. And I'm pulling for this kid this season (wait, he's only 23!).... Enjoy your Sunday folks & Happy Mother's Day.

Looking forward to connecting with you! #eddymeme #CryptoNews #TopNews