San Diego Padres: Clayton Richard’s Adjustments Are Paying Off

San Diego Padres LHP Clayton Richard has been fantastic in his last two outings. He’s made a few changes that have had a positive effect on his performance.

Clayton Richard’s May 2nd start against the San Francisco Giants was his worst of the season. He lasted a season-low four innings and gave up a season-high seven runs, eight hits (tied), and four walks. Richard needed 101 pitches to make it through the outing. Things have since turned around for the San Diego Padres lefty.

In his last two starts, Richard has looked like a true ace. Now, this isn’t saying that Richard has magically turned a corner and is going to take the league over by storm. However, he’s pitched extremely well in his last two outings and the de-facto ace of the staff deserves some credit.

May 8th vs. Washington: 8 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 8 K

May 12th vs St. Louis: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 HR, 1 BB, 10 K (tied career-high)

Richard has made a few adjustments that have led to his recent success. First, he hasn’t been throwing his four-seam fastball as much. According to Baseball Savant, he was using it anywhere between 11%-36% of the time. Over his last two starts, Richard has used his four-seamer just 7% and 8%, respectively.

Instead, he’s been using his sinker/slider combo more (higher than 80%) and hitting his marks.

Take a look at the pitch maps from his last three starts (tap each of the links below)

@ San Francisco

vs Washington

vs St. Louis

Richard was all over the place against San Francisco but cleaned up significantly against the

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Nationals. Check out the pitch map from his St. Louis outing, though. Almost no pitches in the top half of the zone, 13 strikes on balls low and out of the zone, and the vast majority of his pitches located in the lower glove side part of the plate.

When hitters make contact on Richard’s slider in the lower third of the strike zone or below the strike zone, they are hitting just .176, the 25th lowest average in the major leagues (Tyson Ross is producing a .088 average with the same pitch and location).

He’s also been mixing in a few more changeups to keep hitters honest. The changeup has been pretty effective at generating a high whiff rate. It doesn’t hurt that as far as location is considered, Richard places his changeup very well, down and in to lefties and low and away to righties.

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The last two starts are proof that as long as Richard can hit his marks, he’s an effective pitcher for the San Diego Padres. Keep slinging, Richard.