February 21, 2023
Ryan has added a new slider and a split-finger pitch to serve as his changeup this spring, the
Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. "Joe's slider, to me, really stood out. I'd call it a new pitch. He may call it the same pitch and a different version of it. But that's really exciting," said manager Rocco Baldelli.
ANALYSIS
Ryan threw his fastball 60.1% of the time last season with success (.300 slugging against), but he gave up eight of his 20 home runs allowed on his slider (.497 slugging allowed). He also visited the Driveline baseball performance center to help with the new pitches. Ryan doesn't have great velocity (91.5 average mph fastball), but he has an extremely deceptive four-seam fastball that helped him generate an above-average 9.2 K/9 and 12% swinging-strike rate. As a flyball pitcher (27.7% GB%), home runs can be a worry (1.2 HR/9), so an improved offspeed repertoire could work wonders. Monitor the progress of his new pitches this spring.