Troy Melton has excelled since returning to the mound in late May. Over nine starts comprising 55 innings, the 25-year-old Detroit Tigers right-hander has won five of six decisions while logging a 1.80 ERA and a 3.86 FIP. Sidelined for the initial two months of the season due to elbow inflammation, he is back to being one of baseball’s most-promising young pitchers.
What most stands out about Melton’s campaign to date? From an arsenal perspective, the answer has to be his cutter. Last season, he threw the pitch at a 10.8% clip to the tune of a .368 BAA and a 12.8% whiff rate. This year, the offering has elicited a .083 BAA and a 26.0% whiff rate while being thrown at a nearly-double 20.5% clip.
Why the increased reliance on his cutter, and why has it been so effective?
“I didn’t really change anything, which is the weirdest part,” Melton told me in the days leading up to the All-Star break. “I’ve just been throwing it way, way harder and getting a lot of swing-and-miss. I’ve been throwing my slider harder, too. I got one up to 91 [mph] in my last start, which is well above what I’d been doing previously.
“It’s definitely interesting,” the second-year big-leaguer continued. “It’s not even something I consciously changed, it’s just that I’ve had a little bit more intent. I realized that my intent wasn’t high enough, so I literally started trying to throw harder, and that didn’t sacrifice any execution. I’ve been executing just as good, if not better. My cutter has been kind of been the leading beneficiary of that.”
In terms of velocity, Melton’s cutter is averaging 92.2 mph, up from 90.9 mph in his rookie campaign. Locating the pitch better has likewise been a factor in its success, as has its role in his attack plan.
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“We’ve been using the cutter a lot more early in counts, especially to righties, explained Melton, who has thrown 74 cutters to same-sided hitters and 88 cutters to opposite-sided hitters. “We didn’t really use the cutter to righties at all last year, and now I’m using it as a weapon against them. I’ve also been getting good results against lefties, so it’s just been performing well for me. Last year, it honestly wasn’t very good. This year it has transformed into a much better pitch.”
Previously featured here at FanGraphs in August, 2023, and again in September of last year, Melton is 8-3 with a 2.24 ERA over 100-and-two-thirds regular-season MLB frames. His ledger also includes an eight-inning outing in which he surrendered just one run against the Seattle Mariners in last October’s ALDS.
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Dan Pasqua went 6 for 11 against Les Straker.
Vinnie Pasquantino is 10 for 17 against Tanner Bibee.
Dusty Baker went 13 for 29 against Pascual Perez.
Bobby Knoop went 17 for 41 against Camilo Pascual.
Ripper Collins went 21 for 48 against Claude Passeau.
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Kevin McGonigle is on track to capture AL Rookie of the Year honors, while Tarik Skubal is arguably the junior circuit’s best pitcher. How do the Motown stalwarts compare in terms of mentality? I asked that question to one of their All-Star teammates.
“I feel like they’re similar in that they’re both fiery,” Riley Greene told me. “That is the best way I can explain it. It’s like there is fire coming off of them when Kevin is hitting and when Skubal is pitching. They’re always confident. It’s like, ‘Hey, it’s you versus me and I’m going to win.’
“They hold themselves to high standards,” the outfielder went on to say. “They care more than anyone else and want to win more than anyone else.”
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A quiz:
Four pitchers have tossed 20 or more shutouts while playing for the New York Mets. Who are they? (A hint: two are righties, two are lefties.)
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Drew VerHagen signed with the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks earlier this week. The 35-year-old former MLB right-hander had been playing for the KBO’s NC Dinos.
Joey Lucchesi has signed with NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines (per Yakyu Cosmopolitan). A veteran of eight MLB seasons, the 33-year-old left-hander was released by the Los Angeles Angels earlier this month.
Hector Valle, a native of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico who played in nine games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1962, died last weekend at age 85. Valle came to the plate 15 times and logged four hits, as well as a pair of walks. He was a catcher by trade.
Ron Hunt, a second baseman who played for five teams from 1963-1974, died earlier this week at age 85. The hard-nosed infielder is best known for getting hit by pitches, a category in which he led the senior circuit seven times. In 1971, Hunt was plunked 50 times while with the Montreal Expos.
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The answer to the quiz is Tom Seaver (44 shutouts), Jerry Koosman (26), Jon Matlack (26), and Dwight Gooden (23).
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Jake Striker struck out six batters in a big-league career that saw him make one appearance for the Cleveland Indians in 1959, and two for the Chicago White Sox in 1960. A native of New Washington, Ohio who holds the distinction of being the only product of Heidelberg University (Tiffin, Ohio) to play in the majors, Striker was on the winning end of his lone decision and logged a 3.48 ERA over 10-and-a-third frames. His Cleveland-to-Chicago move is noteworthy. The right-hander was part of a seven-player swap that included Norm Cash, Minnie Minoso, and Bubba Phillips. Striker’s strikeout victims included Rocky Colavito.
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Australia advanced to the knockout stage of this year’s World Cup, only to lose to Egypt in a penalty shootout. Among those following the match was Detroit Tigers prospect Clayton Campbell, who was born in Auckland, New Zealand but mostly grew up in Sydney, Australia. As you’d expect, he was disappointed with the result.
“I’m not a big soccer guy, but I’m always rooting for the country, whether it’s New Zealand or Australia,” said Campbell, a 22-year-old catcher/corner infielder. “In the big sporting events, I always support them. I was watching here at the stadium while I was hitting in the cages. Everybody was egging me on about it. Unfortunately, they lost on penalty goal kicks. It is what it is.”
Signed as an international free agent in 2021, Campbell is slashing .260/.338/.400 with six home runs and a 95 wRC+ in 269 plate appearances with the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Do Yeong Kim has 27 home runs to go with a .293/.389/.601 slash line and a 154 wRC+ over 386 plate appearances for the KBO’s Kia Tigers. Limited to just 30 games last season due to injury, the 22-year-old third baseman captured MVP honors in 2024 after crushing 38 homers and logging a 168 wRC+.
Bobby Dalbec has 15 home runs to go with a .256/.327/.461 slash line and a 138 wRC+ over 332 plate appearances for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. The 31-year-old corner infielder is in his first NPB season after playing for the Boston Red Sox and (briefly) the Chicago White Sox.
Trey Wingenter has allowed six hits over 11-and-a-third scoreless innings across 12 relief appearances for NPB’s Seibu Lions. The 32-year-old right-hander played for four MLB teams from 2018-2024, logging a 5.66 ERA over 97 outs comprising 95-and-a-third frames.
Daniel Mengden is 7-1 with a 2.20 ERA over 86 innings between the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos and Sultanes de Monterrey. The 33-year-old right-hander toed the rubber for the Oakland Athletics from 2016-2020, and for the Kansas City Royals in 2022.
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Left on the cutting-room floor from my recent interview with Gage Jump, which ran here at FanGraphs on Wednesday, was his response when I asked about his June 18 outing against the Los Angeles Angels in which he allowed just one hit over seven shutout innings. More specifically, I wanted to know — results aside — what differentiated the best game of his young big-league career from the smattering of others.
“Some days you don’t feel great, some days your stuff isn’t as good,” replied the 23-year-old Athletics southpaw, who has made 10 big-league starts to date. “That’s how pitching is. It’s actually one reason I love pitching. You have to be able to dig deep, especially when you’re feeling your best. But that outing was solid. Baseball is baseball. Overall, it’s about being in advantageous counts and being really aggressive. That’s the biggest thing. Once I’m stepping away from that, problems arise.”
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Christian Franklin isn’t a high-profile prospect, although he projects to play a role on a big-league roster, possibly in the not-too-distant future. Currently ranked 20th in the Washington Nationals system with a 40 FV+, the 26-year-old outfielder is currently slashing .252/.375/.371 with a 103 wRC+ in 363 plate appearances — he has also pilfered 16 bases — for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. A 2021 fourth-round pick out of the University of Arkansas, he was acquired by the Nats from the Chicago Cubs as part of the Michael Soroka deal at last summer’s trade deadline.
When I asked him about his game earlier this season, Franklin largely echoed Eric Longenhagen’s writeup from back in April. He cited his ability to get on base —“That’s where I’m going to make my money” — as well as his bat-to-ball skills and defensive chops. His OBP as a professional is a table-setting .390.
His telling me that he fanned more in college (27.1%) than he has in the minors (22.7%) struck me as interesting. I asked him why that is.
“I think it was my approach, honestly,” Franklin replied. “As time went on, I learned my swing better. I know that I don’t hit the ball at the top of the zone well, and in college I would look low. That kind of makes sense, but it’s more about knowing where the top of my zone is, which allows me to look up. If you’re looking down for a fastball, you’re going to swing at a lot of breaking balls as well. Once I got to pro ball, I figured that out.”
Where is the contact-conscious youngster now focusing his eyes?
“I’m looking up-and-in against pretty much everybody,” explained Franklin, who admitted to having a steeper-than-ideal swing. “It’s the toughest pitch to hit. That’s what my [offseason] hitting coach, Craig Wallenbrock, says. It’s the one that you have to be the quickest on. From that point, you can adjust to every other pitch.”
As for when he does hit the ball, Longenhagen has opined that Franklin’s right-handed stroke won’t produce much game power. The numbers back up that assessment. On the season, Franklin has gone deep six times while registering a hefty 55.4% ground-ball rate.
“Everybody wants to hit the ball in the air,” he told me. “But what are you going to sacrifice to do that? You want to improve in certain areas, but you also need to know your strengths, and capitalize on them. You have to be true to yourself.”
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FARM NOTES
Eli Willits is slashing .280/.418/.493 with a dozen home runs and a 142 wRC+ over 352 plate appearances between Low-A Fredericksburg and High-A Wilmington. The 18-year-old infielder was drafted first overall last year by the Washington Nationals out of a Fort Cobb, Oklahoma high school.
Tyler Bremner is 0-3 with a 4.24 ERA, a 3.43 FIP, and a 33.1% strikeout rate over 34 innings with High-A Tri-City. The 22-year-old right-hander was drafted second overall last year by the Los Angeles Angels out of the University of California Santa Barbara.
Kade Anderson is 8-1 with a 1.36 ERA, a 1.84 FIP, and a 41.4% strikeout rate over 72-and-two-thirds innings with Double-A Arkansas. The 22-year-old left-hander was drafted third overall last year by the Seattle Mariners out of Louisiana State University.
Ethan Holliday slashed .262/.395/.557 with nine home runs and a 135 wRC+ over 152 plate appearances with Low-A Fresno before undergoing season-ending foot surgery at the end of May. The 19-year-old infielder was drafted fourth overall last year by the Colorado Rockies out of a Stillwater, Oklahoma high school.
Liam Doyle is 1-5 with a 5.46 ERA, a 4.88 FIP, and a 29.6% strikeout rate over 56 innings with Double-A Springfield. The 22-year-old left-hander was drafted fifth overall last year by the St. Louis Cardinals out of the University of Tennessee.
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René Rivera caught for a long time before moving into the coaching and managerial ranks. Currently at the helm of the Detroit Tigers’ High-A affiliate, the West Michigan Whitecaps, Rivera wore the tools of ignorance for numerous teams across parts of 13 big-league seasons. The Seattle Mariners were among them. In 2005 and 2006, the Bayamon, Puerto Rico native was behind the dish when a young right-hander named Félix Hernández was bursting onto the scene.
“He was amazing,” Rivera said of King Felix, who was just 19 years old when he debuted in August 2005. “I caught him very early in his career — in High-A, Double-A, and the big leagues — and he was impressive. He didn’t have the curveball yet. He was fastball [and] changeup, but the fastball was 98 [mph] and the changeup was filthy at 89-90. Then, when he got to the big leagues he developed that curveball. We knew we had something special out there. That’s why he is hopefully a future Hall of Famer.”
Pitching exclusively for Seattle, Hernández made six All-Star teams, won a Cy Young Award, and accumulated 54.0 WAR. He has garnered 20.6% and 46.1% of support in his two years on the ballot, with yours truly voting for him each time.
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Per their press notes, the Boston Red Sox went into Friday night having allowed just 14 runs over their last 10 games, all of which were wins. That is the fewest runs the Red Sox have allowed over a 10-game span in the live-ball era (since 1920).
The winning streak itself, which was subsequently been extended to 12 games, also bears noting. Since 1920, the Red Sox have had 23 single-season winning streaks of 10 or more games, plus two more that spanned multiple seasons. Per Baseball-Reference’s researcher extraordinaire Katie Sharp, the Yankees (29) and Dodgers (26) are the only franchises with more single-season winning streaks of 10-plus games.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
Mark Simon wrote about the popularity of Lance Brozdowski’s Pitcher Notes.
Pitcher List’s Anthony Licciardi looked at how seam-shifted wake saved DL Hall.
Fish on First’s Sean McCormack gave us three possible comps for Jacob Lombard, whom the Miami Marlins took 14th overall in last weekend’s MLB draft.
Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan made solid impressions in the Futures Game. Kate Preusser wrote about it at Lookout Landing.
Red Reporter’s Wick Terrell feels the time might be right for the Cincinnati Reds to trade Spencer Steer.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Boston Red Sox are currently 49-48 with a plus-40 run differential. The Texas Rangers are currently 50-48 with a minus-28 run differential. Each team has scored 407 runs.
The Cincinnati Reds went into the All-Star break 43-52 with a minus-60 run differential. The Detroit Tigers went into the All-Star break 44-52 with a plus-24 run differential.
The Colorado Rockies went into the All-Star break 39-59 with a minus-89 run differential. The Kansas City Royals went into the All-Star break 38-59 with a minus-88 run differential.
Pittsburgh Pirates batters have a .322 BABIP, the highest of any team.
San Diego Padres batters have a .269 BABIP, the lowest of any team.
Dalton Rushing has five plate appearances and two home runs at Rogers Centre this season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 198 plate appearances and no home runs at Rogers Centre this season.
John Olerud had 9,063 plate appearances,768 extra-base hits, and a 130 wRC+.
Jose Altuve has 9,022 plate appearances,767 extra-base hits, and a 127 wRC+.
Justin Verlander is 269-159 with a 128 ERA+.
Mike Mussina went 270-153 with a 123 ERA+.
Jim Palmer went 268-152 with a 125 ERA+.
Steve Stone went 31-7 for the Baltimore Orioles from July 22, 1979 through April 10, 1981. From that point forward, the right-hander — now a TV analyst for the Chicago White Sox — had just three wins and seven losses.
On today’s date in 1999, Scott Rolen went 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of round-trippers to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 16-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Rolen had 23 two-homer games over the course of his Hall of Fame career.
Juan Marichal made his MLB debut on today’s date in 1960. Pitching at Candlestick Park, the Hall of Fame right-hander threw a one-hitter with a dozen strikeouts as the San Francisco Giants beat the Phillies 2-0.
Players born on today’s date include Marius Russo — his middle name was Ugo — a Brooklyn-born southpaw who pitched for the New York Yankees from 1939-1946, with two of those campaigns missed due to military service. Russo’s best season was 1941, when he went 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA and tossed a one-hitter against the St. Louis Browns.
Also born on today’s date was Gene Locklear, a left-fielder from Lumberton, North Carolina who logged 163 hits and a .274 batting average while playing for three teams, primarily the San Diego Padres, from 1973-1977. Per his SABR BioProject profile, Locklear is both a “member of the Lumbee people of Robeson County, North Carolina,” and an accomplished artist. One of his paintings hung in the White House during Gerald Ford’s administration.