BUFFALO, N.Y. — José Urquidy has long been known as a pitcher who throws strikes.
After Urquidy surrendered all six runs in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the Blue Jays, however, Astros manager Dusty Baker posited that it could be a weakness.
“He was finding too much of the plate,” Baker said. “If he has a problem sometimes it’s throwing too many strikes.”
Urquidy (4-3) boasts a 69 percent strike rate on the season, above average for an MLB pitcher. He doesn’t dazzle with high velocity, and he doesn’t ordinarily induce many strikeouts (part of why his season-high nine strikeouts in his return from injury May 31 was so impressive). He is in the 85th percentile for hard-hit balls, and 75th percentile for expected ERA and maximum exit velocity.
His style necessitates exacting control over pitch location, and that is where he failed Saturday. Urquidy threw 67 percent of his pitches (50 of 74) for strikes but was heavily concentrated over the heart of the plate. Seven of the 16 balls Toronto put in play against him were hard-hit, including home runs by Joe Panik and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The home runs both came on meatballs served up down the middle. Panik launched a three-run blast in the fourth inning off a 2-0 fastball, while Guerrero belted a slider to left field to drive in two runs in the fifth.
“The slider was very in the middle, that was supposed to be thrown outside,” Urquidy said. “I was trying to throw my best, but I left a lot of pitches right in the middle — offspeed and fastballs, too. The other thing is this park is pretty good for hitters.”
Baker said there were some pitches that looked like strikes from the dugout, but that catcher Martín Maldonado said were balls. Urquidy’s outing underscored the importance of striking a balance between pitching for outs and getting taken advantage of.
“The whole thing about pitching is location, location, location,” Baker said. “He just has to stay out of the heart of the plate, because you hitting the heart of the plate usually something bad's going to happen because you don't have to change your bat angle to get to the ball. So it’s just a matter of him throwing strikes on both corners.”
Before Saturday, the Astros had won each of Urquidy’s last five starts. The righthander was 4-0 with a 1.52 ERA during that span. The Blue Jays start was just Urquidy’s second since coming off the injured list with right shoulder soreness, and Baker suggested he may need more time to get back in a groove.
Urquidy did not appear worried.
“It was a bad game for me,” he said. “I’ll be better next time.”
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June 06, 2021 at 07:27AM
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Astros insider: How many strikes are too many for José Urquidy? - Houston Chronicle
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