httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmy-7jDNU9E
We’ve spent a lot of time worrying about Johnny Cueto’s second half, and how it portends doom for the Giants and this contract, and how everything will be a disaster until 2020, when a ragged, recently demoted Cueto will make an emergency spot start against the Cardinals to help the Giants to the World Series.
I wasn’t wild about the idea of pulling up Cueto’s very best career game and saying, “SEE? SEE HOW GOOD HE CAN BE?” … until I found out that that start was from last July.
If you figure that a four-seamer, cutter, and sinker are all part of the same genre, Cueto was throwing hard stuff about two-thirds of the time.
I’m a sucker for a good change, and Cueto’s pairs his well with a three-headed fastball approach.
Unlike Jeff Samardzija, who showed up to Chicago and was asked to change his approach, Cueto was basically the same pitcher in Kansas City, at least when it came to pitch selection.
Very, very hittable pitches, and the reason I remembered to look up the Inside Edge report is because I was thinking Cueto was sure getting away with a lot at the time.
Eno Sarris has a great look at how that adds to Cueto’s value, and how his historically low BABIP doesn’t have to be all luck.