If I can keep it up all month, 31 days of positive posts! There's going to be enough negativity going around with the Cardinals not in the post-season.
Day 28
Luke Weaver definitely did not have the year he wanted to have, nor the one the Cardinals wanted him to have. He walked too many and struck out too few, enabling a higher number of base runners to score off of him and tire him out more quickly. That said, there were some big positives. Let's dig deep:
1) Weaver will enter next season at age 25 and will now be much closer to knowing what a full season's worth of starts feels like.
2) Weaver threw about 0.9% less 4-seam fastballs this season but threw them 0.5 miles per hour faster this season. He dropped the exit velocity batter's hit the ball at off of his fastball by over 1 mph, possibly aided by upping his spin rate by nearly 100 revolutions per minute.
3) Weaver also raised his speed on his change up by 1 mph despite throwing it 0.2% less often. His spin rate on his change up also jumped by 140+ rpms. His Whiff rate on his change up jumped 2.2%.
4) Weaver threw 42.2% of his pitches on the "edge" of his zone. League average is just 39%. According to the image on Statcast, it seems most of those ended up in the zone rather than out - whether they were called strikes or not.
Tomorrow will be the last individual player covered. Stay tuned for what will be covered on Tuesday and Wednesday!