Paul Articulates – A closer look at Tyler Stuart

Tyler Stuart was on a roll coming into 2024.  He was an extraordinary pitching prospect who led the minors in ERA (2.20) among qualified pitchers last year.  He had a solid spring, and pitched a perfect inning in this year’s Spring Breakout game against the best of the Nationals’ prospects.

First, let me give you a few words about why Tyler Stuart was such a bright prospect.  He is an imposing 6’9” 250 lb right hander with a mid-90’s fastball and an arsenal of five different pitches he can throw for strikes.  He came into this season filled with confidence and excited about throwing his new fifth pitch, a cutter.  He is not a demonstrative guy, but you can tell from his presence that he knows what he wants to do and that is to impose his will upon opposing batters.

Unfortunately, the season has not gone as planned.  Stuart brought a 1-4 record with a 4.32 ERA into last night’s game.  In ten starts he had five no decisions and the 1-4 record and had given up 53 hits in 50 innings.  Something was not working.  I had to see for myself, so I attended his latest start for the AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies against last year’s EL champion Somerset Patriots (Yankees AA club).  It did not go well.

Stuart threw only two innings, giving up six hits, five earned runs, a walk, and two stolen bases.  What struck me was that those six hits were all very well hit, and almost all against his hard stuff.  His velocity was fine – his fastball was being clocked between 94-96 mph, and his curve ball was in the 81-82 mph range so he clearly had enough speed differential to keep batters off balance.  

The problem was that they did not seem to be off balance at all.  Credit the Yanks – they also hit Jordan Geber and Junior Santos pretty well after Stuart left the mound.  But this was more about Stuart’s struggles than the Yankees AA team batting approach.

Stuart dominated in the A and AA levels last year because he could throw all of his pitches for strikes.  He pitched ahead in the count and then used his mix to force little or no contact.  This year he has not been out in front.  Coming into last night’s action, he had thrown only 528 of 821 pitches for strikes (64%).  That is an acceptable ratio if you are throwing 100mph, but since everyone throws in the 90’s now, you have to command the strike zone to force light contact with a mix of pitches.

Setbacks such as this are very common in the minor leagues.  Pitchers reach a level where their stuff is no longer overwhelming to the opposing batters because the competition gets better at every level.  You learn from it, improve, and move on – or you fail to advance.  I still have a great deal of confidence in Tyler Stuart and I expect that last year’s pitching coach of the year AJ Sager is working with him every day to adjust the approach.  

Flash back to Stuart’s pre-season interviewinterview in April.  He was working to get more consistency in his pitches and learning to throw the cutter and pitch up in the zone.  The minor leagues are an experiment that either builds a successful repertoire or teaches you what you can’t do.  

I think Mike Vasil has been going through the same thing in Syracuse – a good pitcher finding out where the limits are.  Let’s hope that both are able to make the appropriate adjustments soon and continue their path towards the big leagues.