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Cleveland.
Cutters.
Phil Maton.
A thread.
Cutters.
Phil Maton.
A thread.
Phil Maton got, on avg, 10.3" of horizontal movement on his cutter. Only pitcher with an xMov > 8"
That's 218% more than league average.
Even more impressive than it sounds because league average - by Baseball Savant standards - is based off similar pitchers, not all pitchers.
That's 218% more than league average.
Even more impressive than it sounds because league average - by Baseball Savant standards - is based off similar pitchers, not all pitchers.
Is this really a cutter though?
Yes! According to Savant, FG, Brooks it is. Looks like a cutter grip, so I can say with like 99% certainty it's a cutter and not a slider.
Was it this good in '19?
Sure was! 210% more break than average.
Yes! According to Savant, FG, Brooks it is. Looks like a cutter grip, so I can say with like 99% certainty it's a cutter and not a slider.
Was it this good in '19?
Sure was! 210% more break than average.
This plot shows horizontal and vertical movement vs league avg for every qualified pitcher that throws a cutter. That little dot in the bottom right? That's Phil Maton.
But he isn't the only member of CLE with a great cutter...
But he isn't the only member of CLE with a great cutter...
There's also Bieber, Civale and Leone. As you can see below, Civale gets 73% more xMov than average, while Leone gets 34% more. While Bieber's fantastic cutter gets less horizontal movement, it gets 6% more vertical movement (not shown).
It's fully conjecture for me to say that the CLE bullpen helps one another when it comes to cutters so I'll end by dealing in fact: Phil Maton's cutter has an unprecedented amount of horizontal movement and man is it fun to watch.
