Chad Patrick, the Artist

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

Nearly every pitcher will say that above all else, their objective on the mound is to compete. Each individual is wired differently, though. Some can maintain that competitive focus while thinking with precise detail about pitch sequencing and strategy. Some can diagnose and correct mechanical problems in the middle of the game. Others function best when they block out all of the noise and simply throw with conviction. Chad Patrick leans toward that approach.

"As far as being on the mound, I try not to think about those things," Patrick said. "I think this game is based off of confidence, and it's a mental game. If I'm not out there thinking I'm good enough to be out there, then I shouldn't be out there."

That mindset has shaped how Patrick's coaches present information to him and how they evaluate his performance. He needs space to do his thing.

"Chad is a feel guy," pitching coach Chris Hook said in Cincinnati last week. "I think you could look into him every time, and he's a little bit different. I can't cage that. He flows. He wants to go."

In a data-driven era of player development, pitching has become more of a science than ever. But in many ways, it's also still an art, and Patrick approaches it as such. Like a creator, his work is often driven by what he's feeling in that moment. That's why the brightest lights—the situations where the competitive juices flow the strongest—have often unleashed the best version of Patrick's stuff.

"He's an artist," Hook said. "He's got a nice little paintbrush, but he's got to be in position to use it."

Patrick's cutter has always been a unique pitch capable of special brushstrokes, and he should now have a better mastery of his canvas than he did early in the season. After a couple of tweaks since his move to the bullpen, his stuff is the best it's been all year.

The Brewers want all of their pitchers to move quickly and repeatably. Patrick was doing neither early in the year as a starter, when he pitched out of the windup with the bases empty. As a reliever, Patrick has pitched exclusively out of the stretch, and he's moving more explosively, with a much quicker time to the plate.

"He's ready to throw the baseball more often," Hook said. "I like him out of the stretch. I think it just takes the thinking out of it. I mean, we're seeing it all over baseball."

"I think it does simplify a lot of different things, a lot of moving pieces," Patrick said. "Like, my windup's a little unconventional. It's a step forward, a rock back, my foot slides a little bit. So I kind of [have] to gather myself over the rubber better, whereas in the stretch I'm already in that position of being successful."

By pitching in shorter stints and moving faster down the mound, Patrick has increased his velocity. His four-seamer and two-seamer averaged 94.2 MPH as a starter, but they've averaged 95.8 MPH since his last traditional start on May 4.

Finding the best version of Patrick's cutter (or, more accurately, his two cutters) has been an ongoing process. He still manipulates it between a shorter version for back-door called strikes to left-handed hitters and a longer version to jam them or get swings and misses off the outside corner against righties. This spring, he temporarily switched to a four-seam cutter grip, and it often backed up, with slight arm-side movement rather than true cut.

In late April, Patrick revived his normal cutter, a sweeper grip that has more velocity and carry than a breaking pitch due to how his long fingers spin the ball. That restored some of the glove-side movement, but the rest of it returned more consistently after a mechanical tweak. Patrick didn't just need space mentally. He literally needed more physical space between his head and his right hand in his delivery.

"It's probably not a recommendation we talk about for guys, to say, 'Let's keep your head away from your hand,'" said pitching coordinator Jim Henderson. "He's just kind of a unique cat with that."

Patrick throws his best cutters when his hand can drive through the pitch along the outside of the baseball and spin it on the proper axis. Creating space between his head and his hand lowers his arm slot slightly, putting him in the best position to execute his cutter. He was in that spot late last year, but this spring, his hand was getting stuck in that higher slot. Because he wasn't releasing the ball on time at foot strike (the moment a pitcher's front foot hits the ground), Patrick was yanking too many cutters and throwing them with too much backspin.

"Sweeper guys have to kind of have some freedom," Henderson said. "He can't be tight with a curveball kind of arm angle or arm slot. You kind of have to have some freedom with it. When he gets [his arm] a little bit closer to his head on his cutter, we just notice that there's not as great movement."

With the adjustment, Patrick's stride has become slightly more cross-fire toward home plate, and his arm angle has kept dropping. His slot is now comparable to last September, when he began a dominant stretch of relief pitching that extended into the postseason.

To confirm that Patrick is working through the ball properly, the Brewers monitor his horizontal release point. When he throws his cutter, Hook wants to see him release the ball about 1.5 feet from the center of the rubber toward the third-base side. Since May 22, Patrick's average cutter release point is -1.4 feet. Before that, it was -1.2 feet.

"I think his release side got a little close to his head early on, and as part of it, there just was no hip-shoulder separation at all," Hook said. "It was just like he was a one-piece mover, and when you're one-piece, and you're kind of stuck, and you're close to your head, he just couldn't get his hand through the ball the way he wanted."

Since May 22, most of Patrick's cutters have had true glove-side movement. The lower arm slot and synced-up mechanics have also turned his two-seamer into more of a true sinker, with less carry and more depth.

"Two-seams, you have to drive through this ball," Henderson said. "If you leak front side early, or you lose your lower half, you're not gonna be able to hold onto this. You'll just be on the side of the ball, and it would be more [running, not sinking]. So just to be able to get a little bit more on top of the baseball and making sure the front side is strong is going to give you a better sinker, in my opinion."

Better velocity and better movement sound nice on paper, but Patrick has found himself weathering storms throughout the last three weeks. Since June 10, he's pitched to a 9.95 ERA, 7.07 xERA, and 7.45 FIP. Free bases and home runs have been the problems, as Patrick has issued six walks and allowed five home runs while facing 60 batters during that time.

Patrick's stuff has continued to play well against right-handers. Most of the damage has come against lefties, who have pulverized his cutter. He must jam them with the pitch for it to miss barrels, and he's left more of them down the middle lately.

In his manager's eyes, the tone of Patrick's art changed.

"He's a great competitor, but he's also very critical of himself, and he's very emotional," Pat Murphy said. "He's very anxiety-ridden, and things easily bother him. We got to get him over that."

Patrick may have turned a corner this week, logging scoreless multi-inning outings with no walks on consecutive nights. He felt he was moving too fast in some of his recent appearances and said he found a way to move quickly while still being in control of his body. That's not something he wants to think about on the mound, though.

"It's not really physical," Patrick said. "It comes down to competing."

As their bullpen searches for consistency behind Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe, and Aaron Ashby, the Brewers need big innings from Patrick. He's been closer to figuring things out than it seemed for most of June. The artist just needs space to work.

"I still consider him a young major leaguer," Hook said. "He's still figuring out what he needs to do. He's such a feel guy, so we're kind of always balancing all of those things."

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[Local Man Brewer Fan]

This is the type of content that keeps this site a daily stop for me. Incredibly informative.

The Brewers are able to adapt their coaching approach to each individual pitcher. And that is an enormous competitive advantage.

Thank you for helping me to recognize those things that are helping the Brewers be special right now. Learning how this team continues to improve is really excellent.

And I suspect that the concepts can be applied to things beyond athletics. Leadership is one area that comes to mind.