Ort, 32, had a 6.19 ERA in parts of the last three seasons with Boston, then found himself a frequent flyer – at least on paper. Last winter, he was passed around the waiver circuit by Seattle, Miami, Philadelphia and Baltimore before the season began. He’d ultimately find himself posting a 12.08 ERA (really) in a dozen games for the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate before the organization put him on waivers yet again in late May.
Claimed by the Astros, Ort then only allowed two runs in 16 Triple-A games, joined the big club, and has allowed just four runs in 18 games for Houston. What that means is that since leaving that 12.08 ERA in Norfolk, Ort has a 1.41 ERA in 38 1/3 combined innings in the Astros organization. He looks like a different pitcher, and that’s because he is a different pitcher. But what’s changed?
It’s easy — so easy — to simply look at this fastball velocity chart, note that he’s added 2 MPH since last year (he now touches 100) and move on. It’s helped to be sure, but Ort was also averaging nearly 97 mph in Triple-A this year, too, and obviously that didn’t work out that well — so it’s not just that.
Instead, the real difference is in a new pitch, namely his cutter, which he introduced briefly last year and now represents 21% of his pitches.
Ort told the Houston Chronicle last month that he’d always planned for the cutter to be a large part of his offerings this year, but a spring knee injury limited him, and he never threw it more than six times in a game for Norfolk. In his very first game for Houston affiliate Sugar Land, he threw it nine times. Two games later, it was 10 cutters. So far, he’s allowed just two hits off it in the bigs, and though it’s not a strikeout pitch — his cutter has yielded just one K — it helps keep pressure off his high-velo four-seamer.
Full article can be found at: https://www.mlb.com/news/unheralded-relievers-who-could-dominate-2024-postseason