Here we are. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. The mighty 2022 Chicago Cubs vs. the unstoppable 2022 Baltimore Orioles! Never has there been a better Tuesday night matchup. Get your popcorn ready … and so on.
All jokes aside, I actually am quite excited to see Keegan Thompson back in action after his first true start as a member of the Cubs rotation. And I’m curious to see if takes a similar approach as his last start, when he stopped using his curveball and threw a ton more sinkers.
As a newly minted member of the Cubs starting rotation, Keegan Thompson wanted to last deep into the game last night. So he decided to pitch to contact early using fewer of his out-pitches. However, unlike last season, when he struggled as a starter, Thompson came into this outing with one additional plan: Just empty the tank. Go at the Cardinals right away. Keep his four-seam velocity high, deploy more sinkers, and let them put the cutter in play.
In the future, Thompson may need to strike a better balance between getting whiffs when he needs them and pitching to contact, but if he’s actually able to maintain these elevated velocities through 5-6 innings and 90+ pitches, he may have found the answer to the issues that stumped as a starter in his debut last season.
If he is going to take that approach again, your hope is to see the velocity stay elevated for as long as possible.
Chicago Cubs (23-32) at Baltimore Orioles (23-33) – Tuesday, June 7 at 6:05 CT on MARQ, 670 The Score
1. Christopher Morel, CF 2. Willson Contreras, C 3. Ian Happ, LF 4. Frank Schwindel, 1B 5. Patrick Wisdom, 3B 6. Rafael Ortega, DH 7. Nico Hoerner, SS 8. Jason Heyward, RF 9. Nick Madrigal, 2B
1. Cedric Mullins, CF 2. Trey Mancini, DH 3. Anthony Santander, RF 4. Austin Hays, LF 5. Ryan Mountcastle, 1B 6. Adley Rutschman, C 7. Rougned Odor, 2B 8. Ramón Urías, 3B 9. Jorge Mateo, SS
Michael Cerami covers the Chicago Cubs, Bears, and Bulls at Bleacher Nation. You can find him on Twitter @Michael_Cerami
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