The submariner with a ‘UFO’ rising slider

Tyler Rogers and the rising submarine slider

n”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”oembed”,”width”:550,”contentType”:”rich”},”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”Bailey is the one who unlocked Rogers’ slider’s full potential.nnRogers had solely pitched 17 Major League video games, as a 28-year-old rookie, when Bailey arrived because the Giants’ new pitching coach in 2020 and noticed the UFO slider in particular person for the primary time.nnIt was Bailey’s concept to let Rogers unleash his slider on the high of the zone, and defy all the normal baseball knowledge for breaking pitches within the course of. Before they began working collectively, Rogers believed he wanted to throw his slider on the backside of the zone, to pressure it to interrupt down, to attempt to induce floor balls.nnBut his slider did not wish to transfer that manner. His slider needed to rise. Bailey and the San Francisco teaching employees inspired Rogers to benefit from the pitch’s pure motion and flip the best way he was attacking the zone along with his slider vs. his fastball.”,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”Video”,”contentDate”:”2023-06-24T23:07:38.535Z”,”preferredPlaybackScenarioURL(“preferredPlaybacks”:”mp4AvcPlayback”)”:”https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/24/2a29bbc4-5113250c-a7757099-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4″,”type”:”video”,”description”:”Tyler Rogers strikes out three D-backs batters throughout two innings of reduction work”,”displayAsVideoGif”:false,”length”:”00:00:35″,”slug”:”tyler-rogers-three-strikeouts”,”tags”:[“__typename”:”GameTag”,”__typename”:”TeamTag”,”slug”:”teamid-137″,”title”:”San Francisco Giants”,”team”:”__ref”:”Team:137″,”type”:”team”,”__typename”:”PersonTag”,”slug”:”playerid-643511″,”title”:”Tyler Rogers”,”person”:”__ref”:”Person:643511″,”type”:”player”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”game-action-tracking”,”title”:”game action tracking”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”in-game-highlight”,”title”:”in-game highlight”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”highlight”,”title”:”highlight”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”highlight-reel-relief-pitching”,”title”:”highlight reel relief pitching”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”international-feed”,”title”:”International Partner feed”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”fan-duel”,”title”:”Fan Duel”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”eclat-feed”,”title”:”Eclat feed”,”type”:”taxonomy”],”thumbnail”:”__typename”:”Thumbnail”,”templateUrl”:”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/formatInstructions/mlb/phmdgq6ooepmjmh457ka”,”title”:”Tyler Rogers’ three strikeouts”,”relativeSiteUrl”:”/video/tyler-rogers-three-strikeouts”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:””Before I met Bails, it was like fighting the slider to get it to go down,” Rogers mentioned. “I was always fighting against it. And then when they were just like, ‘Hey, let it go’ — now there’s no fighting it. It’s just kind of freeing. Where I can honestly just rip it.”nnBailey noticed how Rogers’ slider generated elevate, not drop, and the way it profiled akin to a four-seamer with carry. By now, three-plus years into their relationship, Rogers is all-in on the elevated, UFO slider.nn”There’s no real aim point anymore,” Rogers mentioned. “Kind of like if you’re on a tee box and you want to hit a little baby draw, and there’s nothing to aim at, there’s just sky — you just feel it. That’s really the only way I can explain it. I just feel it and trust that it’s gonna catch and go.”nn**Sliders with probably the most “lift” in 2023** n_Lift = Positive induced vertical break_nn1. **Tyler Rogers: +16.4 inches**n2. Adam Cimber: +12.8 inchesn3. Erik Swanson: +9.9 inchesn4. Blake Snell: +8.2 inchesn5. Ronel Blanco: +8.2 inchesnn”When you see the vert on the slider, and try to forecast where those things are gonna play best — knowing that elevated four-seamers work really well — we knew that Tyler kind of had a backwards mix,” Bailey mentioned. “Seeing that and doing some deep dives on his location plots, we knew the slider would play up there, and then our first couple of years were dedicated to trying to get reps up there.””,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”OEmbed”,”html”:”

Tyler Rogers, Alien Rising Sliders. 🛸👾👽 pic.twitter.com/DArSKlINdz

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 28, 2022

nn”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”oembed”,”width”:550,”contentType”:”rich”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”The rising impact is compounded by the truth that Rogers’ sliders find yourself over a foot and a half larger than they begin out. This season, he is releasing them simply 1.10 toes off the bottom, they usually’re reaching the plate 2.72 toes off the bottom.nn**Highest avg. slider location in 2023**nn1. **Tyler Rogers: 2.72 toes**n2. Erik Swanson: 2.59 feetn3. Adam Cimber: 2.54 feetn4. Ryan Feltner: 2.53 feetn5. Mike Baumann: 2.49 feetnn**Highest % of sliders elevated in 2023** n_Elevated = Thrown to higher third of zone or higher_ nn1. **Tyler Rogers: 48.0%**n2. Erik Swanson: 44.3percentn3. Zack Wheeler: 43.2percentn4. Adam Cimber: 41.7percentn5. Ryan Feltner: 41.5percentnn”I bought in because, to get the slider to go down originally, I had to almost come up a little bit on my release point,” Rogers mentioned. “So it wasn’t like an instant success, or a specific swing and miss, that showed me it was working — it was just, like, ‘I don’t have to fight this anymore. I can just throw it.’ That was probably the biggest thing.”nnHe paused.nn”I guess it’s not really a ground-ball pitch anymore.””,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”Image”,”caption”:null,”contextualCaption”:null,”contextualAspectRatio”:null,”credit score”:null,”contentType”:null,”format”:”gif”,”templateUrl”:”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/formatInstructions/mlb/bmjewc9wdwzwgbxjhzv3″,”type”:”image”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”When Rogers was within the Minors — the place he spent over six years earlier than his first huge league callup — coaches would see his submarine supply and sinker-slider pitch combine and attempt to push him right into a righty ground-ball specialist position. That’s what made Rogers battle himself in his supply. But as soon as he received to the Majors, and particularly since Bailey turned the Giants’ pitching coach, there was no extra boxing him in.nn”Beforehand, it was all about trying to get everything to move down to induce the ground balls — but that was a long time ago,” Rogers mentioned.nnIt’s not that Rogers is now a strikeout artist hastily. His largest energy continues to be inducing weak contact. He persistently holds hitters to among the many lowest exit velocities, hard-hit charges, barrel charges and expected slugging numbers in the league.nn**Rogers’ 2023 quality of contact allowed**nn* **Avg. exit velocity:** 84.5 mph (98th percentile of MLB)n* **Hard-hit rate:** 29.4% (93rd percentile of MLB)n* **Barrel rate:** 1.5% (99th percentile of MLB)n* **Expected SLG:** .256 (99th percentile of MLB)”,”type”:”text”,”__typename”:”OEmbed”,”html”:”

Tyler Rogers, Slider & Fastball Overlay.

Yes, his Slider ‘rises’ more than his Fastball. pic.twitter.com/NZbbuuhTLY

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 9, 2022

nn”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”oembed”,”width”:550,”contentType”:”rich”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”But the distinction is his strategy to getting outs. It’s now not about maintaining the fastball and slider down in a counterproductive effort to get grounders. It’s about letting his pitches play naturally and specializing in attacking the zone, interval.nn”For me, it’s ‘strikes at all costs’ with him,” Bailey mentioned. “There’s some release point metrics we follow with him. But being over the white is priority.”nnIf Rogers stays over the white of the plate, the Giants consider within the one-of-a-kind nature of the submariner’s stuff to handle the remainder.”,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”Image”,”caption”:null,”contextualCaption”:”Rogers’ mechanics seen with Statcast’s 3D monitoring”,”contextualAspectRatio”:”uncooked”,”credit score”:null,”contentType”:null,”format”:”gif”,”templateUrl”:”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/formatInstructions/mlb/wbu0rda0ljrihecefxqw”,”type”:”image”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”Rogers’ new catcher is getting a front-row seat to what that stuff appears like for the primary time. In San Francisco, Patrick Bailey is catching somebody in contrast to anybody he is ever caught.nnIn Bailey’s MLB debut on May 19, Rogers got here in to shut out the sport in opposition to the Marlins. It was simply the second huge league inning Bailey had ever caught.nn”When I first got up here, Tyler was probably the most — I don’t know if ‘nervous’ is the right word, but I felt like I had to be super locked in to catch him,” Bailey mentioned. “Just because the stuff moves differently, and it always moves differently at different points.””,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”Video”,”contentDate”:”2023-05-20T04:43:15.473Z”,”preferredPlaybackScenarioURL(“preferredPlaybacks”:”mp4AvcPlayback”)”:”https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/156c7d86-069e-4f65-b69a-ae609a3131f5.mp4″,”type”:”video”,”description”:”Tyler Rogers reveals off some depraved breaking balls as he whiffs Garrett Hampson for the ultimate out, and the Giants defeat the Marlins 4-3″,”displayAsVideoGif”:false,”length”:”00:00:08″,”slug”:”garrett-hampson-strikes-out-swinging-oxduve”,”tags”:[“__typename”:”InternalTag”,”slug”:”season-2023″,”title”:”Season 2023″,”type”:”season”,”__typename”:”GameTag”,”__typename”:”PersonTag”,”slug”:”playerid-643511″,”title”:”Tyler Rogers”,”person”:”__ref”:”Person:643511″,”type”:”player”,”__typename”:”TeamTag”,”slug”:”teamid-137″,”title”:”San Francisco Giants”,”team”:”__ref”:”Team:137″,”type”:”team”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”pitching”,”title”:”pitching”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”highlight”,”title”:”highlight”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”in-game-highlight”,”title”:”in-game highlight”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”game-action-tracking”,”title”:”game action tracking”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”wow”,”title”:”wow”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”fan-duel”,”title”:”Fan Duel”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”international-feed”,”title”:”International Partner feed”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”eclat-feed”,”title”:”Eclat feed”,”type”:”taxonomy”],”thumbnail”:”__typename”:”Thumbnail”,”templateUrl”:”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/formatInstructions/mlb/qtrvxnrhc5q9gintj7zq”,”title”:”Tyler Rogers will get Okay for remaining out”,”relativeSiteUrl”:”/video/garrett-hampson-strikes-out-swinging-oxduve”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”The remaining pitch Rogers threw that day, the ultimate one which Bailey needed to catch, was the UFO slider. It struck out Garrett Hampson to seal the Giants’ win.nnThat Rogers slider began 1.11 toes off the bottom when he launched it. It was 3.42 toes excessive by the point it reached Hampson. It had over 17 inches of induced rise.nn”It’s like a rising Frisbee,” Bailey mentioned. “The ones that clip the bottom of the zone look like they scrape the dirt, and then the ones that end up elevated look like they’re right down the middle. And then they just keep going.””,”kind”:”textual content”],”contentType”:”news”,”subHeadline”:null,”abstract”:”Tyler Rogers, the one true submariner of the Statcast period, breaks all the things we learn about how pitch motion is meant to work.nWhen you launch the ball a foot off the bottom, bizarre issues occur. Rogers is like no different pitcher in Major League Baseball as we speak. 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2:34 AM UTC

When you launch the ball a foot off the bottom, bizarre issues occur. Rogers is like no different pitcher in Major League Baseball as we speak. He’s like no different pitcher Statcast has ever tracked.

Lowest avg. vertical launch level, Statcast period
Min. 1,000 pitches thrown in MLB since 2015

Tyler Rogers: 1.17 toes
Adam Cimber: 2.05 toes
Tim Hill: 2.96 toes
Brad Ziegler: 2.99 toes
Joe Smith: 3.46 toes
Darren O’Day: 3.60 toes

Here’s one lens to view the individuality of the Giants reliever. Rogers, who posted a 2.17 ERA in 41 appearances within the first half, throws the commonest pitch combo in baseball: fastball-slider. But his fastball-slider combo is distinct from each different fastball-slider combo within the huge leagues.

Think about how a standard fastball-slider combo works. Think about how a standard pitcher, one whose knuckles do not skim the floor of the mound, may deploy it — fastballs up, sliders beneath them. Fastballs carrying by the zone, sliders following in the identical pitch tunnel earlier than breaking off down beneath.

Rogers inverts it. He throws sliders up and fastballs down. His fastball drops. His slider rises.

“Goodness,” laughed Giants rookie catcher Patrick Bailey. “He’s different. The fastballs go down and the breaking balls go up. It’s funny — you get the reactions of hitters, and umpires even, and it’s like, I’m glad I’m catching and not hitting or umpiring.”

Rogers’ fastball drops practically a foot and a half greater than his slider on its method to the plate. His fastball drops 53 inches; his slider solely drops 36 inches.

All pitches are pushed down by gravity. But we are able to additionally take gravity out of the equation and take a look at a pitcher’s “induced vertical break” — basically, the motion he generates himself.

From the best way he releases his pitches, Rogers induces 16 inches of “lift” on his slider — and 12 inches of drop on his fastball.

Rogers’ vertical motion in 2023

Fastball: 53 inches complete drop / -12 inches IVB (sink)
Slider: 36 inches complete drop / +16 inches IVB (elevate)

“Bonkers,” mentioned Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey. “It breaks the break chart.”

So Rogers elevates the slider. He retains his fastball down. His slider arrives six inches larger within the strike zone, on common, than his fastball does.

That is, after all, the alternative of a typical huge league pitcher. In 2023, the typical MLB fastball arrives within the strike zone over 9 inches larger than the typical MLB slider.

“You just take the plot and just … turn it,” Rogers mentioned, gesturing as if he was flipping the strike zone the wrong way up. “Kind of like how my head does when I pitch. That’s pretty much it.”

The slider is the magic pitch. Anyone can throw a sinking fastball. But who throws a rising slider? Who needs to throw their sliders on the high of the zone?

“I’ve never seen a slider like it. It’s a unicorn slider,” Andrew Bailey mentioned. “The type is tremendous distinctive. Obviously there’ve been some submarine pitchers traditionally — nobody within the Statcast period that we are able to emulate motion or use as a comparability. I do know he is had some conversations with different submariners, however when it comes to pitch information and motion, it is tremendous unicorn-y.

“We call it a UFO slider. That’s what it is.”

Bailey is the one who unlocked Rogers’ slider’s full potential.

Rogers had solely pitched 17 Major League video games, as a 28-year-old rookie, when Bailey arrived because the Giants’ new pitching coach in 2020 and noticed the UFO slider in particular person for the primary time.

It was Bailey’s concept to let Rogers unleash his slider on the high of the zone, and defy all the normal baseball knowledge for breaking pitches within the course of. Before they began working collectively, Rogers believed he wanted to throw his slider on the backside of the zone, to pressure it to interrupt down, to attempt to induce floor balls.

But his slider did not wish to transfer that manner. His slider needed to rise. Bailey and the San Francisco teaching employees inspired Rogers to benefit from the pitch’s pure motion and flip the best way he was attacking the zone along with his slider vs. his fastball.

“Before I met Bails, it was like fighting the slider to get it to go down,” Rogers mentioned. “I was always fighting against it. And then when they were just like, ‘Hey, let it go’ — now there’s no fighting it. It’s just kind of freeing. Where I can honestly just rip it.”

Bailey noticed how Rogers’ slider generated elevate, not drop, and the way it profiled akin to a four-seamer with carry. By now, three-plus years into their relationship, Rogers is all-in on the elevated, UFO slider.

“There’s no real aim point anymore,” Rogers mentioned. “Kind of like if you’re on a tee box and you want to hit a little baby draw, and there’s nothing to aim at, there’s just sky — you just feel it. That’s really the only way I can explain it. I just feel it and trust that it’s gonna catch and go.”

Sliders with probably the most “lift” in 2023
Lift = Positive induced vertical break

Tyler Rogers: +16.4 inches
Adam Cimber: +12.8 inches
Erik Swanson: +9.9 inches
Blake Snell: +8.2 inches
Ronel Blanco: +8.2 inches

“When you see the vert on the slider, and try to forecast where those things are gonna play best — knowing that elevated four-seamers work really well — we knew that Tyler kind of had a backwards mix,” Bailey mentioned. “Seeing that and doing some deep dives on his location plots, we knew the slider would play up there, and then our first couple of years were dedicated to trying to get reps up there.”

The rising impact is compounded by the truth that Rogers’ sliders find yourself over a foot and a half larger than they begin out. This season, he is releasing them simply 1.10 toes off the bottom, they usually’re reaching the plate 2.72 toes off the bottom.

Highest avg. slider location in 2023

Tyler Rogers: 2.72 toes
Erik Swanson: 2.59 toes
Adam Cimber: 2.54 toes
Ryan Feltner: 2.53 toes
Mike Baumann: 2.49 toes

Highest % of sliders elevated in 2023
Elevated = Thrown to higher third of zone or larger

Tyler Rogers: 48.0%
Erik Swanson: 44.3%
Zack Wheeler: 43.2%
Adam Cimber: 41.7%
Ryan Feltner: 41.5%

“I bought in because, to get the slider to go down originally, I had to almost come up a little bit on my release point,” Rogers mentioned. “So it wasn’t like an instant success, or a specific swing and miss, that showed me it was working — it was just, like, ‘I don’t have to fight this anymore. I can just throw it.’ That was probably the biggest thing.”

“I guess it’s not really a ground-ball pitch anymore.”

When Rogers was within the Minors — the place he spent over six years earlier than his first huge league callup — coaches would see his submarine supply and sinker-slider pitch combine and attempt to push him right into a righty ground-ball specialist position. That’s what made Rogers battle himself in his supply. But as soon as he received to the Majors, and particularly since Bailey turned the Giants’ pitching coach, there was no extra boxing him in.

“Beforehand, it was all about trying to get everything to move down to induce the ground balls — but that was a long time ago,” Rogers mentioned.

It’s not that Rogers is now a strikeout artist hastily. His largest energy continues to be inducing weak contact. He persistently holds hitters to among the many lowest exit velocities, hard-hit charges, barrel charges and anticipated slugging numbers within the league.

Rogers’ 2023 high quality of contact allowed

Avg. exit velocity: 84.5 mph (98th percentile of MLB)
Hard-hit price: 29.4% (93rd percentile of MLB)
Barrel price: 1.5% (99th percentile of MLB)
Expected SLG: .256 (99th percentile of MLB)

But the distinction is his strategy to getting outs. It’s now not about maintaining the fastball and slider down in a counterproductive effort to get grounders. It’s about letting his pitches play naturally and specializing in attacking the zone, interval.

“For me, it’s ‘strikes at all costs’ with him,” Bailey mentioned. “There’s some release point metrics we follow with him. But being over the white is priority.”

If Rogers stays over the white of the plate, the Giants consider within the one-of-a-kind nature of the submariner’s stuff to handle the remainder.

Rogers’ new catcher is getting a front-row seat to what that stuff appears like for the primary time. In San Francisco, Patrick Bailey is catching somebody in contrast to anybody he is ever caught.

In Bailey’s MLB debut on May 19, Rogers got here in to shut out the sport in opposition to the Marlins. It was simply the second huge league inning Bailey had ever caught.

“When I first got up here, Tyler was probably the most — I don’t know if ‘nervous’ is the right word, but I felt like I had to be super locked in to catch him,” Bailey mentioned. “Just because the stuff moves differently, and it always moves differently at different points.”

The remaining pitch Rogers threw that day, the ultimate one which Bailey needed to catch, was the UFO slider. It struck out Garrett Hampson to seal the Giants’ win.

That Rogers slider began 1.11 toes off the bottom when he launched it. It was 3.42 toes excessive by the point it reached Hampson. It had over 17 inches of induced rise.

“It’s like a rising Frisbee,” Bailey mentioned. “The ones that clip the bottom of the zone look like they scrape the dirt, and then the ones that end up elevated look like they’re right down the middle. And then they just keep going.”

Content Source: www.mlb.com