re: FSBDL 2018 - MWG is your Champion

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His 12 swings and misses represented the highest total he’d produced since June 10, 2016 against the Brewers. Via Brooks Baseball, his four-seam fastball averaged 95.6 mph and reached 97.2, while his slider averaged 89.6 and reached 92.0.

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Still, it was Harvey’s third strong outing in a row against a contender. He allowed two runs in six innings in the aforementioned June 21 outing against the Cubs, and then one run in 6.2 innings against the Braves on June 26. Over the course of those three outings and 18.1 innings, he allowed just 13 hits and three runs while striking out 14 and walking just two (and plunking three)

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On a per-nine basis, Harvey’s strikeout rate hasn’t really budged (until Sunday, it was actually lower as a Red), but on a per-plate appearance basis, it’s climbed from 16.3% as a Met to 18.4% as a Red — that, while his walk rate fell from 7.3% to 5.5%, so his K-BB% has increased from 8.9% to 12.9%.

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the whiff rate on his slider has more than doubled, from 8.3% to 20.3% — a higher rate than in any of his full seasons, and well above his career 15.3% mark.

Entering Sunday, even including his time with the Mets, batters had hit just .167/.184/.264 for a 25 wRC+ against the pitch this year, comparable to its effectiveness in 2015 (.158/.187/.218, 20 wRC+)

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A couple of additional differences stand out between Harvey’s New York and Cincinnati tenures this year. Since the trade, he’s throwing first-pitch strikes with far more regularity (61.8%, up from 55.3% and just one point below his career average). He’s also getting batters to chase pitches outside the zone with greater frequency (28.7%, up from 21.1%, but still a far cry from the 32-35% range of his heyday).

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