San Diego Padres: Eric Lauer Is Finding His Groove

San Diego Padres LHP Eric Lauer is making great strides in month two of his MLB journey.

After Sunday’s strong outing against the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley commented on the growth of LHP Eric Lauer.

“He’s getting more familiar with major league hitters and scouting reports instead of just changing speeds and hoping he’s getting outs. He’s actually starting to pitch now and know if he hits a certain location, he’s going to get an out.”

Since the calendar flipped from May to June, Eric Lauer has pitched like the type of major leaguer most evaluators believed he would develop in to. It’s safe to say, you will never find Lauer at the top of a major league rotation, however, he is showing a superb ability to hold down the back end of a rotation.

Over this last five starts, Lauer has just seven runs charged against him. A significant improvement over his 16 earned runs over his five starts in May. More importantly, he showed progress against a divisional rival, in the Giants.

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Sunday’s outing was a rematch against the Giants at AT&T Park. Lauer made his second career start at AT&T Park, giving up seven hits and three earned runs across five innings. On Sunday, Lauer gave up just one earned run on five hits across six innings. He struck out four hitters while walking only one.

Lauer has improved across the board through the month of June. Take a look at his growth from May to June.

In his five May starts, Lauer’s average fastball velocity peaked at 90.3 mph, typically sitting around 89 mph. He’s added a few ticks on his fastball, averaging between 91-92 mph in his five June starts. While Lauer relies on a bit of deception in his delivery and pitch placement over velocity, he doesn’t have the stuff to be successful with an 88 mph fastball. The bump in velocity and spin rate have critical to his increased success.

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Here’s to continued growth and success for Eric Lauer as the Padres enter the dog-days of summer and face a schedule full of National League West opponents. If June is any indication, San Diego has itself a solid back-end of the rotation. Now, we wait for those young studs.