I was always very pleased when he used his four seam on occasion last year. If My recall is correct, he did only throw it rarely but upped its usage noticeably with 2 strikes.
Even the if pitch metrics forecast limitations, I was very disappointed to see they just had him ditch it. He throws it harder than his sinker and it plays much differently up in the zone, as stated in the article. I will never understand ditching a quality pitch BEFORE it gets hit hard. I think it should be proven over a solid sample size first.
Hopefully they correct the error of their ways shortly. They almost always do when it comes to pitching.
Great read by the way. Thanks.