No lefties? No problem! Newest Blue Jay reliever to the rescue
Photo credit: https://www.usatoday.com
Although the Toronto Blue Jays have made significant improvements to their bullpen this offseason, one problem still remains. They are very right-handed.
Brendon Little is currently the only left-hander in the bullpen for the Blue Jays though others such as Josh Walker and Mason Fluharty, will be fighting for the final spot in the pen.
But the Blue Jays may not need another lefty after all.
Enter Nick Sandlin.
The sidearmer, who was acquired alongside Andres Gimenez in the deal that sent Spencer Horwitz to the Cleveland Guardians in December, is a secret weapon against left-handed bats.
Not only has he thrown more high-leverage than the three left-handers currently on the Blue Jays active roster (Little, Walker, and Easton Lucas), has also has a higher K-BB% and lower batting average against left-handed hitters over the last two seasons than that trio as well.
The key? A devastating splitter.
Over sixty pitchers threw at least 50 splitters to left-handed batters last season. Sandlin had the lowest xwOBA rate of them all.
Righties aren't fairing much better either. They came away with only three hits off Sandlin's splitter last season, whiffing 50.8 per cent of the time they swung at it. That is a massive amount.
The splitter's been the last pitch to develop for me. I always had the split grip. But I was working on a circle changeup in college and just put it on the back burner for a while. Getting into pro ball, I could throw the changeup and it would tumble. But I feel like hitters could pick up on it a little easier. So, I started using the split grip to give me that changeup-like weapon against lefties. That was the grip that gave me the best late movement to where I could get the swing-and-miss on it
Combine his splitter with his submarine delivery, and Sandlin could prove to be a very effective weapon for John Schneider in the mid-to-late innings.
MUST READ
