Drew Pomeranz finds success with Padres

After being drafted number 5 overall in 2010, Drew Pomeranz entered the 2011 season as the Indians #4 prospect. In an Indians organization that was rated as the 10^th best farm system in the big leagues by Bleacher Report, he had a bright future on his radar. Then he was traded to the Rockies in a mega deal for Ubaldo Jimenez, who at the time was a top of the rotation star for Colorado. Pomeranz started his career in Colorado on an auspicious note as a couple of weeks after he got there his appendix decided it didn’t like Colorado and he underwent an emergency appendectomy.

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After being rated the best curveball in the Indians 2011 farm system by Baseball America, Pomeranz debuted in Colorado and threw his best pitch only 15% of the time in 2011 and 14.4% in 2012, while sending his 91 MPH fastball out 75% of the time. Apparently the Colorado pitching coaches didn’t do their homework on Pomeranz, leading to a bloated 5.20 ERA in his three seasons in Colorado. He then went to Oakland and was used quite effectively as a reliever for two seasons before being shipped to San Diego this past offseason in the Yonder Alonso deal. The Padres coaches apparently were more studious in their approach to Pomeranz as he has thrown what was his signature pitch in the minors – his curveball – 41.5% of his pitches this season. It has yielded much better results as he has a 2.48 ERA as of this writing and put down 36 strikouts in only 29 IP.

Indeed, he has gone from a thrower to a pitcher. His reliance less on the fastball, which he has thrown on 47.6% of his pitches for an average velocity of 90.6 MPH this year, throws him in line with the fastball percentages of Tim Lincecum and Pedro Martinez in some of their banner years. Indeed, in 2002-03 Pedro, who went 34-8 those years with an ERA of 2.24, threw his fastball 58.1% of the time with an average velocity of 90.5 MPH. In 2010-11 Lincecum threw his FB 53.7% and with an average velocity of 91.8 MPH. Not to compare Pomeranz to Lincecum and Pedro after a month, but someone has suggested that he take his best weapon and use it smartly, which has yielded much better results.

The result of this better usage of his top weapon is that he is currently 8^th in the majors in K/9 at 11.17, a number that would have put him 3^rd in the big leagues at the end of last year. In his start against the Dodgers, a start in which he gave up 3 hits and was stuck with the loss, he struck out Kershaw and Howie Kendrick in the 5^th using his knuckle curve on strike 3 to both of them. Who throws a knuckle curve to the opposing pitcher? Well, when the opposing pitcher is the one who knocked in the only run of the game so far, Drew Pomeranz throws the knuckle curve to the opposing pitcher, that’s who. Pomeranz got Trayce Thompson to strike out twice Sunday as well, once in the seventh on, you guessed it, his knuckle curve, and in the third he threw him three knuckle curves at 81 MPH before blowing a 92 MPH fastball past him. Again, his best weapon used effectively.

Even Adrian Gonzalez got to sample the curveball Sunday. Pomeranz showed his maturation as a pitcher when he threw him 8 straight fastball in their first two meetings, striking out Adrian in the first and a deep fly out in the 4^th. Then in the 6^th he repeated the same sequence he used with Trayce Thompson in the third, using three 81 MPH knuckle curves and then finishing it with a 94 MPH fastball. Brilliant.

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It’s easy to scoff at his success, especially given how bad his first three years in Colorado were. However, this is a different pitcher. He is using a completely different approach to the game and taking what was once recognized by Baseball America as his best weapon, his curveball, and putting it to use. The results speak for themselves and his curve is pretty deadly. AJ Preller may have struck gold in this trade, and Drew Pomeranz is enjoying the success!