ANAHEIM, Calif. — Zach Plesac felt like a pitcher without his complete arsenal in Wednesday’s 9-5 loss to the Angels when he suddenly found his trusty slider wasn’t playing the way it normally does.
Part of the problem that led to Plesac allowing six earned runs on seven hits was pitch execution, the right-hander admitted after the game. But there was something else — something different about the baseballs being used in the game from his previous starts.
Wednesday’s game balls felt more slick, and the new rosin bags that Major League Baseball is allowing pitchers to use this season to provide some extra grip on the ball didn’t provide much help.
Plesac entered the game averaging 32 inches of vertical drop on his slider according to StatCast. On nine sliders thrown out of 77 pitches Wednesday, he ranged between 35 and 28 inches for a net -1 average. the difference was significantly more notable among Guardians relievers who entered the game behind Plesac.
Logan Allen, who averaged 13 inches of horizontal break on his slider previously, saw his average break dip to 11 inches, while Emmanuel Clase threw one slider that broke just three inches horizontally, down from his yearlong average of six inches.
“For everyone who pitched tonight, that pitch wasn’t working,” Plesac said. “I don’t know what it was. Everything shifted over.”
It’s no secret that pitchers and hitters across the league have several complaints about the balls MLB is using this year, even going so far as to suggest that more than one type of ball is being used from game to game, as was the case in 2021. Even though all 30 teams are using humidors to keep game balls consistent relative to their environment, the end result has been a drop in leaguewide batting average and slugging percentage and a modest increase in batters being hit by pitches.
Plesac said not being able to find a grip for his slider on Wednesday caused him to alter his approach to Angels hitters.
“You’ve just got to go with what’s working,” he said. “My velo ticked up a bit, my fastball was playing good. I should have really stuck with that more instead of trying to find a pitch with the offspeed.”
Plesac’s comments echo those of Mets starter Chris Bassitt from Tuesday after a rash of hit batters led to a benches-clearing brawl against the Cardinals.
Bassit told the New York Post that MLB has a “very big problem with the baseballs.”
“They are bad,” Bassitt said after his team beat the Cardinals, 3-0. “Everyone knows it. Every pitcher in the league knows it. MLB doesn’t give a damn about it. They don’t care. We have told them our problems with them, they don’t care.”
Manager Terry Francona said Plesac was not locating his pitches like he normally does, but remained confident the 26-year-old righty will get there sooner rather than later. Failing to finish on some defensive plays hurt the Guardians as much as anything else.
“That stuff didn’t help, but (the Angels) hit a number of balls pretty hard, too,” Francona said. “He’s just not locating yet like he will.”
Plesac, who dropped to 1-2 with a 3.80 ERA in four starts, said it’s important not to press this early in the season.
”Just continue to build on the little things and do those right, that’s what’s going to help us win games,” he said. “That’s what’s really going to be important, doing those little things.”
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