So here's the most misleading tweet I've seen today:
What's made all the difference for Nate Eovaldi in 2015? Adding a splitter. http://t.co/vbHNw07XCA pic.twitter.com/PyEfjylWeP
— #Statcast (@statcast) June 5, 2015
What's misleading about it? If you click through, you get a video of MLB.com's Mike Petriello looking at the Statcast data for Eovaldi's splitter, which is interesting enough (although I don't know what we're supposed to make of spin rates and the like, without any real benchmarks handy).
What you don't get is anything about the splitter making a difference for Eovaldi, this season.
For one thing, he's thrown just four or five splitters per game this season. And for another, he's been exactly as good with the Yankees this season as he was last season with the Marlins. His ERA's the same, his xFIP's the same. He has been unlucky this season, both with BABiP allowed and home runs per fly ball. So we should expect his ERA to drop some, and the fact that he's lost just once in 10 starts should endear him to Yankee fans.
But he's not better, qualitatively, or different, quantitatively.
Now, the splitter has been a good pitch when he's used it. And Petriello suggests he should throw more of them. Which might well be true.
