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I still recall the reaction when Drew Storen was sent down to Syracuse last season in late July. Nats' setup man Tyler Clippard had some choice words about how the Storen situation was handled at the time:
I think he needs to go down and regroup, get out of this environment, take a deep breath and regather himself… I’ve been through adversity in my career, so I know how to handle it. This is a tough day. He’s going to be part of this organization for a long time, I hope, because he’s good, and we need him.
Yeah. I'm leaving some things out that Clippard said. We're not going to dwell on the fact that Drew Storen was demoted last season. Instead, we're going to look at how it's made him a better pitcher.
Let's have fun with arbitrary end points!
We're going to look at three different statistical periods. First, we're going to look at Storen's performance from 2010-2012, when he was a strong reliever who would eventually emerge as the Nats' closer. We're then going to view 2013 (prior to the demotion). The final category will include his return last August and his performance so far this season.
Period | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 |
2010-2012 | 2.96 | 1.10 | 8.38 | 2.80 | 0.61 |
2013 (PD) | 5.95 | 1.50 | 9.08 | 2.75 | 1.48 |
Since | 1.28 | 1.00 | 8.32 | 2.18 |
0.26 |
What changed?
Four basic things changed for Storen upon his return to the Nats last August.
- His mechanics
- Strike One!
- He started throwing his changeup more often
- His luck evened out
Mechanical Adjustment
If you want something more in-depth about his mechanics, there are smarter people who have covered the subject. I'm neither a pitching coach nor a scout, so let's stick to the basics.
- Storen's old mechanics featured his front leg remaining stiff, but pushing outward. He switched to a more traditional leg kick.
- While the first thing you think of when you hear that a pitcher isn't using a traditional leg kick is that he's working with a slide step, that wasn't the case with Storen. With the change to the traditional leg kick, he's actually faster to the plate.
- This change also helped him establish more consistency with his arm slot and release point. This has been a tremendous boost to his command and control.
Strike One!
Season | O-Swing% | Z-Swing% | Swing% | O-Contact% | Z-Contact% | Contact% | Zone% | F-Strike% | SwStr% |
2010 | 34.0% | 64.0% | 47.9% | 63.9% | 88.8% | 79.3% | 46.4% | 57.3% | 9.4% |
2011 | 31.0% | 58.5% | 44.4% | 63.1% | 88.5% | 79.5% | 49.0% | 66.0% | 8.9% |
2012 | 32.7% | 62.5% | 47.3% | 49.2% | 81.7% | 70.3% | 49.1% | 59.5% | 13.4% |
2013 | 30.3% | 67.6% | 48.4% | 64.1% | 87.9% | 80.3% | 48.6% | 59.6% | 9.4% |
2014 | 35.5% | 69.3% | 50.9% | 70.2% | 83.7% | 78.6% | 45.8% | 63.6% | 10.5% |
More Changeups
Season | FA% | SI% | SL% | CH% |
2010 | 31.8% | 28.7% | 38.4% | |
2011 | 29.8% | 34.9% | 33.1% | 0.9% |
2012 | 20.3% | 51.3% | 24.6% | 3.8% |
2013 | 23.3% | 35.0% | 31.5% | 9.4% |
2014 | 17.6% | 34.7% | 28.6% | 17.8% |
- It should give him another weapon against left-handed hitters. Storen hadn't shown dramatic platoon splits in any season outside of his (shortened) 2012 campaign. However, an effective changeup tends to be a good out pitch against opposite-handed hitters because the horizontal movement tails away from them.
- It adds another pitch to the arsenal that opposing hitters have to keep in mind. Even if the changeup is just an average offering, combining it with his terrific slider, his above average four-seam fastball, and his plus sinker makes it a lot more difficult for hitters to sit on the fastball.
Season | wFA | wSI | wSL | wCH |
2010 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 5.8 | |
2011 | -0.5 | 4.2 | 7.8 | 0.5 |
2012 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 0.1 |
2013 | 0.8 | -1.8 | -1.1 | 1.9 |
2014 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 1.9 |
-0.3 |
He's had some good fortune
Season | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | BABIP | LOB% | GB% | HR/FB | ERA | FIP | xFIP |
2010 | 55.1 | 8.46 | 3.58 | 0.49 | .296 | 71.2% | 39.6% | 5.0% | 3.58 | 3.26 | 3.88 |
2011 | 75.1 | 8.84 | 2.39 | 0.96 | .246 | 81.1% | 47.3% | 11.1% | 2.75 | 3.32 | 3.14 |
2012 | 30.1 | 7.12 | 2.37 | 0.00 | .265 | 74.2% | 53.7% | 0.0% | 2.37 | 2.4 | 3.52 |
2013 | 61.2 | 8.46 | 2.77 | 1.02 | .319 | 67.8% | 40.9% | 9.9% | 4.52 | 3.62 | 3.71 |
2014 | 51.1 | 7.36 | 1.93 | 0.35 | .255 | 91.6% | 49.6% | 4.0% | 1.23 | 2.81 | 3.52 |
BABIP
Season | GB/FB | LD% | GB% | FB% | IFFB% | HR/FB | IFH% | BUH% |
2010 | 0.98 | 20.1% | 39.6% | 40.3% | 8.3% | 5.0% | 3.4% | 0.00% |
2011 | 1.33 | 17.2% | 47.3% | 35.5% | 9.7% | 11.1% | 3.1% | 25.00% |
2012 | 1.91 | 18.3% | 53.7% | 28.0% | 17.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.00% |
2013 | 1.04 | 19.9% | 40.9% | 39.2% | 5.6% | 9.9% | 8.1% | 12.50% |
2014 | 1.40 | 14.9% | 49.6% | 35.5% | 10.0% | 4.0% | 7.1% | 0.00% |