Detroit — Beau Brieske knew big-league hitters would be smarter and more talented than the hitters he’d been facing in Triple-A. Still, something didn’t feel right.
“I’m pretty sure in my last two outings they had the pitches I was throwing,” Brieske said before the game on Saturday. “I mean, spitting on (taking) the breaking ball just below the zone? Even with two strikes you’re spitting on a pitch that close to the bottom of the zone?”
Sure enough, Brieske has been tipping his pitches. Teams picked up on how he moves his hand in his glove when he goes to grip the baseball. He’s been doing something different when he grips a breaking ball than when he grips a fastball.
With all the technology available these days, teams don’t miss things like that.
“That’s been my biggest issue,” he said. “I have subconsciously been tipping pitches. I wasn’t aware of it in the minor leagues. I guess they don’t have as much access to video or advance guys whose actual job is to find little differences like that.
“There were signs they knew what was coming and I think that’s led to the high pitch counts early in games. I was throwing good pitches and they were either spitting on them or they were able to foul them off.”
In his last start, the Twins fouled off 23 pitches and Brieske ended up needing 90 pitches to get through four innings. In his start prior to that in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Rays were all over Brieske’s breaking ball early.
Kevin Kiermaier led off the second inning with a long home run. Brieske threw him three straight fastballs that were fouled off. Then he threw a breaking ball and Kiermaier was all over it.
“They knew it was coming,” Brieske said. “I didn’t know for sure what it was but it had to be something I was doing prior to getting the grip on the ball. The adjustment is that I have to make sure that every time I go to get a grip on the ball, my glove is doing the exact same thing.”
Michael Fulmer went through a similar thing earlier in his career. He was tipping pitches by the way he wiggled his glove in his delivery. Fulmer started wiggling his glove on every pitch.
Andrew Chafin went the other way. He moves and sets his hands differently on just about every pitch, careful not to repeat any patterns.
“That’s what they tell me, that everybody does it,” Brieske said. “But you’ve got to fix it.”
It’s not that easy. Not when it’s something that you’ve done your entire career, something that’s built into the muscle memory of your set-up and delivery.
“It’s something you don’t even want to think about because you want your focus to be on executing the pitch,” Brieske said. “That’s been one of my problems. I get caught in between to where when I’m trying to think about not tipping and then I’m not focusing on executing the pitch.
“Then, when I focus on executing the pitch, I subconsciously go back to wiggling to get my grip.”
Brieske has had some extra days between his last two starts to work through this issue. His next start will be against the Twins again on Monday.
“I’m definitely not using it as an excuse because that’s part of the game,” he said. “It’s part of the growth. It’s just another level of, yeah, they are more talented up here, but also their baseball IQ and everything that comes with it is so advanced.”
Not missing bats
Tigers closer Gregory Soto, before Saturday, hadn’t given up a run in his last six outings, covering 5⅔ innings, earning three saves and a hold in that stretch. He’s blown one save in eight chances this season. By and large, he’s got the job done.
But there are some worrisome metrics behind his performance. Hitters are hitting him harder than ever, for one. The average exit velocity on balls put in play against him is 93 mph — bottom 2 percentile in baseball.
His hard-hit rate is 46.2% and his strikeout rate is down to 19%. Hitters aren’t chasing his pitches as frequently (24%) or swinging and missing as much (28.5%).
“He hasn’t quite been the same,” manager AJ Hinch said. “But relievers are going to ebb and flow a little bit that way. Concern-wise, I just want our guys to be at their best. We’re going to go with guys who are best suited to handle the situation. Gregory at the back end will be just fine.”
Soto, as he has in the past, dealt with some sporadic command issues and his fastball velocity ticked down a bit earlier in the season. Recently, it appears he’s lost feel for his slider. He’s using it less than 19% of the time and opponents are hitting .444 off it.
Last season, Soto used the slider 37.6% of the time and limited hitters to a .138 average with a 43% swing-and-miss rate.
“Anytime a guy gets hit you can point to what’s getting hit,” Hinch said. “It hasn’t been quite the same but the good news is his velocity is creeping back up to where it’s been and usually the slider comes with it. He’s not been at his best for a couple of weeks but that doesn’t mean he won’t be at his best today.”
Around the horn
Not every pitcher is on board with using PitchCom technology to call pitches. Chafin isn’t going to use it.
“If you know they’re stealing your signs, change your signs,” he said. “Anytime I feel like there’s somebody on second who’s been there for too many pitches, I’m switching stuff up. It doesn’t have to be complicated.”
… Hinch said lefty starter Tyler Alexander is scheduled to make a rehab start with Toledo on Monday. Alexander has been out since April 30 with a left elbow sprain.
… Reliever Will Vest, who came out of COVID protocol earlier in the week, threw a bullpen on Saturday. He is expected to make a rehab outing Monday with Toledo, as well.
cmccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
Guardians at Tigers
First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Sunday, Comerica Park, Detroit
TV/Radio: BSD/97.1
SCOUTING REPORT
RHP Triston McKenzie (3-3, 2.70), Guardians: The Tigers missed him in Cleveland last weekend and they weren’t mad about it. He’s had their number. In four starts against Detroit, including his MLB debut, he’s allowed just two runs in 23 innings, holding hitters to a .132 average and .197 slugging (just three extra-base hits). When he’s right, he’s spotting a 92-mph four-seam up and beating hitters with either a slider (37% whiff rate) or curve (32%).
RHP Elvin Rodriguez (0-0, 9.39), Tigers: Once he shook off the four-run first inning against the Twins Monday, you saw what he was capable of with his high-spin fastball (2,400 rpm) and assortment of secondary pitches. He got through the fifth allowing just one hit after the first.