Ben Duronio posted a story on Fangraphs.com today with an explanation of Mat Latos’ positive turn starting with his back-to-back complete games in late June.
The article describes how Mat has largely quit throwing his changeup and two-seam fastball and now throws mostly four-seam fastballs and curveballs. The full article is certainly worth a read.
Essentially, Latos and his coaches simplified his repertoire. And now, both he and the Reds have reaped the benefits of Latos essentially becoming a three-pitch pitcher. For his career, he’s been a fastball-slider pitcher, with his two-seamer, changeup and curveball all thrown at about 10% frequency. Now that he’s altered his repertoire and sequencing in Cincinnati, the Reds have one of the more formidable one-two punches in baseball with Latos and Johnny Cueto.
Kudos to Mat and the Reds coaching staff for picking up on this issue and developing a successful strategy.
UPDATE, via Twitter: The @Reds’ Mat Latos will be a guest on @IntentionalTalk today at 5pm ET with @ChrisRose & @KMillar15. That show is on the MLB Network.