Every year, the Dodgers and Rays turn underperforming or off-the-radar relievers into leverage pieces with results. It's often through usage or mix changes but other times because of the addition of a new pitch.
In this video, we'll explore three pitchers who have vaulted to relevance at the hands of these two organizations: Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda, and Edwin Uceta.
***A pair of mispronunciations in this video for me. It's Anthony "BAHN-da" not "BAN-da." And it's Edwin "oo-SAY-tah" not "oo-CED-uh." I'll check baseball reference for pronunciations next time.
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Huge Thanks to TruMedia for access to their software for the plots, data and images within this video: https://www.trumedianetworks.com/baseball
Video and images: MLB, USA Today, Associated Press, MLB.tv
0:00 Dodgers & Rays Are Cookin'
0:13 Michael Kopech's Resurgence
1:33 Kopech's Cutter Consistency
2:54 Plan of Attack Change?
4:17 Anthony Banda's New Sweeper
6:04 Dodgers Love Velocity & Angles
7:18 How the Rays Fixed Edwin Uceta
8:33 Why Uceta's Changeup is Nasty
9:21 How do the Dodgers & Rays Do It?!