He’s been working with the four pitch mix since 2021, so not sure if it was really the birth so much as maybe a tweaked version thereof.
Here are his pitch percentages each of the last three years…
FB: 53.1, 54.9, 53.3
SL: 26.4, 18.3, 20.8
CB: 10.9, 16.3, 14.0
CH: 9.7, 10.4, 11.9
Pretty consistent. Slider usage dropped off in 2022 in favor of more curves, while the change has been gradually thrown more.
Here are the pitch values per 100 pitches over the last three years…
FB: +1.40, +0.67, -0.21
SL: +1.14, +0.19, -0.86
CB: +2.43, +1.99, -0.35
CH: -0.90, +1.24, -0.61
Ouch. In 2021/22 he was positive on seven out of eight. This year all four pitches are getting negative results. Fastball, slider and curve all waaay down from 2021.
I think the main thing is Freddy’s fastball losing effectiveness requires him to be more precise with his location, which has never been a strong suit.
Here’s the resulting batted ball results over the last three years…
BABIP: .230, .246, .286
HR/9: 0.87, 0.69, 1.65
Barrel%: 6.0, 3.5, 9,9
HardHit%: 27.7, 26.9, 31.6
Diminished stuff + poor command in the zone = nightmare batted ball profile.