In Focus - Griffin Canning

 

Pitch Profiler                      @pitchprofiler

Griffin Canning put an exclamation point on an excellent spring today, locking up his rotation spot with six strikeouts over 4.1 innings against the Marlins!

Pitching backward with his two best pitches—the slider and changeup—has done wonders for him!

MACK - 

Another starter many had doubt about before this spring training started. 

Like many other starters, Canning used to chase velo because that's what everyone around him said that a pitcher had to do in order to be successful at the major league level. 

Instead, this year, either he, his coaches, or a combination of both decided for a back assward approach. Take his secondaries and make them his primary pitches. Then mix in the velo from there.

The result this spring:

4 STARTS

2-1

1.88 ERA

1.12 WHIP

14.1 IP

22 K

Sure Gus, spring stats mean little, but if the dude put up a 10.00 ERA instead, would we be writing that off as a springtime aberration?

Doesn't matter.

The Mets went to spring training with eight rotation candidates. Two hit the IL leaving six to pick five. Frankly, Phil Blackburn made the decisions easy here.