There has been a long-standing stereotype in baseball that a starting pitcher should throw a variety of pitches. However, in the recent MLB, there are players who earn huge salaries even after throwing just two pitches.

Yahoo Sports in the US argued on the 16th (Korean time) that “the contracts of two-pitch starting pitchers can change the frame for starting pitches.”

On this day, the New York Yankees agreed to a six-year, $162 million (approximately 212.3 billion won) contract with left-hander Carlos Rodon (30). It is a condition that the former club has the right to refuse to trade.

Rodon, who made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2015, recorded a 56-46 ERA with a 3.60 ERA over eight seasons. In particular, he has been very active in the last two seasons, and this year, he threw 178 innings, the most since his debut, and recorded 14 wins and 8 losses with an earned run average of 2.88.

Rodon is a left-handed pitcher and cooks a hitter based on his slider and fast ball averaging 95.5 mph this year. His combined fastball (61.2%) and slider (31.1%) ratio is 92.3%, so it can be seen as a two-pitch pitcher.

Rodon hadn’t thrown like this from the start. Even at the beginning of his career, he threw two-seam and four-seam fastballs, and his changeup was more than 10% every year. However, after he stopped throwing two-seams in 2019, he began favoring the four-seam-slider combination.

Rodon’s strategy of focusing on two powerful pitches was successful. This year, he struck out 237 batters in 178 innings. Compared to his debut season (139 strikeouts in 139⅓ innings), his strikeout ability has increased noticeably.

Rodon isn’t the only two-pitch starter among the free agent hit this winter. It is Jacob deGrom (34), the protagonist of the Cy Young Award for the second year in a row (2018-2019). He signed a 5-year, 180 million dollar (approximately 236 billion won) contract with Texas in Stove League this year.

In addition to four-seam (44.8%) and slider (16.2%), his changeup (12.2%) and curveball (10.0%) were also significant in his debut season in the major leagues in 2014. Then, starting from the 2018 season, the ratio of the two pitches of the four-seam-slider was raised. Last year, he threw more than 90 percent of his pitches, four-seam and slider. DeGrom also showed great pitching, striking out 14.3 per nine innings over the past two seasons. 메이저놀이터

The media asked the question, “How much can aces like deGrom or Rodon bring pitching combinations like closers into the realm of starting pitchers?” threw

At the same time, the media said, “It is unknown how long deGrom and Rodon will maintain this strategy as they enter their 30s.” In fact, deGrom has pitched just 156⅓ innings over the past two seasons, and Rodon has also lost an average of 3 mph in velocity over the last month of last year.