After trade, Detroit Tigers' Kyle Finnegan flips pitch mix: more splitters, fewer fastballs

A Splitter-Heavy Approach: The Detroit Tigers Unlocking Kyle Finnegan

Detroit Acquired the Reliver at the Trade Deadline and Immediately Made a Pitch Mix Adjustment.

Kyle Finnegan joined the Detroit Tigers at the July trade deadline. The right-handed reliever, known for his ground ball inducing pitches, quickly found himself with a revamped approach thanks to the Tigers' analytical staff. Since joining Detroit, he’s thrown 4⅓ scoreless innings with six strikeouts in four games, converting all three save opportunities.

The secret? More splitters, fewer fastballs.

"It's adapt or die in this game," said Finnegan, who turns 34 in early September. "I'm always constantly looking for ways to get better. I guess they identified some things. Maybe that's why they brought me over here. I'm embracing it, and I'm trusting it. There are a lot of really good minds over here."

The Numbers Tell the Tale

Finnegan’s numbers speak for themselves. With the Nationals, he had a 4.38 ERA and a 21.7% whiff rate, below the MLB average of 26.2% for relievers. For the Tigers (entering Tuesday's game in Chicago), he has yet to allow a run and carries a 23.3% whiff rate - an improvement, but still shy of the MLB average.

A Shift in Philosophy

The biggest difference between Finnegan in Washington and Detroit? His pitch mix. With the Nationals, he threw 65.7% four-seam fastballs, 29.6% splitters and 4.7% sliders. With the Tigers, he's at 48.1% four-seam fastballs, 42.3% splitters and 9.6% sliders.

Before joining the Tigers, Finnegan always believed his fastball was his best pitch. "The four-seamer was one of my better pitches, so I wanted to throw my better pitch more often," he said, explaining his pitch mix with the Nationals. "I kept falling back to the bread and butter — the fastball."

But the Tigers believe the splitter is Finnegan's best weapon.

"It's really good," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Finnegan's splitter. "We're getting to know him, and he's getting to know us, and we're trying to bring out the best version of him because he only pitches when the game is on the line."

Building Confidence Through Success

Catcher Dillon Dingler explained why Finnegan is throwing more splitters. "We're going to lean on his best pitch," Dingler said. "He still has a really good fastball. He can go at the bottom with it and at the top — generate whiffs at the top and steal strikes at the bottom. It’s going to be hard to be on the heater because it’s 97 (mph) and then also cover a good downward-movement splitter."

The new approach appears to be working. More splitters have led to more swinging strikes, while fewer fastballs have produced more called strikes. His strikeout rate has jumped from 19.6% with the Nationals to 42.9% with the Tigers, albeit in a small sample size.

“Lean on their best stuff,” Dingler said. "With Finney, we're going to go splitter, we're going to go heater, and we're going to go occasional sliders to righties."

Harris Saw Potential in Finnegan

Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris hinted at this plan after acquiring Finnegan from the Nationals on July 31. "I think there's going to be some more swing and miss in there," Harris said. "I think there are some things that he can do a little bit differently that will help him miss a few more bats, both with the four-seamer and the splitter."

So far, the results have been promising.

"He wants to use some good stuff," Hinch said. "He's got multiple pitches to use. He shouldn’t fall into the trap of having to do it any one way.”