PEORIA, Ariz. – When the Braves chosen Adam Maier within the seventh spherical of the 2022 Draft out of the College of Oregon, they handed a hurler with simply 34 2/3 collegiate innings underneath his belt an enormous overslot quantity of $1.2 million to forego his remaining eligibility and start his professional profession.
Nineteen of these frames could have come for the College of British Columbia within the Cascade Collegiate Convention, however Maier had “really feel for spin” — a comparatively latest buzz phrase indicative of his capacity to snap off a hammer of a breaking ball.
A former two-way participant who had an inner brace put into his proper elbow throughout his stint with the Geese, Maier spent all of his first season within the Atlanta group on the rehab observe. Understandably, he was champing on the bit to debut on the mound in 2024, even when he was one thing of a clean slate as a professional pitcher.
The Braves determined that after Maier labored 83 1/3 frames between Single-A Augusta and Excessive-A Rome, he can be effectively served to conclude his yr with a stint within the Arizona Fall League. Past numbers and the way he fared, he received the prospect to face elevated competitors, even when it meant prolonging his return to his native Canada by one other six weeks.
Of all pitches thrown within the Fall League by which Statcast knowledge is offered (4 of the six parks), Maier sports activities six of the highest 20 and eight of the 25 when it comes to spin fee, with seven of these pitches coming in his last begin for Peoria on Monday night time. The Braves’ No. 17 prospect has ripped off 30 pitches with a spin fee of at the least 3000 rpm – in simply three begins.
“To be sincere, that is the identical breaking ball I have been throwing all my life. The identical curveball that my dad taught me after I was 10 years outdated or no matter,” Maier stated. “I just about have the very same grip and I believe my arm slot has form of dropped somewhat bit over time. So it is changed into extra of that sweeper as a substitute of your form of conventional curveball, however I imply, it is all the time been a superb pitch for me. I did not actually know that I had that a lot spin on it I suppose till I received into school and noticed a TrackMan report.”
The typical spin fee on a Main League curveball this previous season was 2545 rpm. It was simply 9 years in the past that the very best recorded spin on a breaker within the huge leagues was 3086 rpm (Garrett Richards), a mark Maier has exceeded seven occasions within the Fall League alone.
One yr after Richards, Seth Lugo set the file for the very best rpm on a curveball (3458, a mark he has damaged a number of occasions over) and has continued to spin his approach right into a high three AL Cy Younger Award end in 2024, a season by which he was one in every of 10 pitchers to common north of 3000 rpm on breaking balls.
However simply how important is spin to success? The beneath stats present as spin fee will increase so does swing-and-miss whereas the average-against and slugging share go down.
MLB common curveball: 2,545 rpm31.7% whiff fee / 30.7% strikeout fee.220 BA / .370 SLG
Curveballs with 2,750+ rpm spin fee (greater than 200 rpm above the common):34.0% whiff fee / 35.9% strikeout fee.205 BA / .336 SLG
Curveballs with 2,350 rpm or decrease spin fee (greater than 200 rpm beneath the common):29.3% whiff fee / 26.0% strikeout fee.228 BA / .391 SLG
Charlie Morton has served because the Braves’ spin physician for the previous 4 seasons. He threw every of the 69 pitches by Atlanta hurlers in 2024 that generated the very best rpm on breaking balls, with the membership rating fourth within the Majors in common rpm (2570). The 825 strikeouts the workers generated on all varieties of breaking balls have been far and away probably the most within the huge leagues (143 greater than the Cardinals, the following closest membership), and relationship again to the 2020 common season, the membership leads the Main Leagues in breaking-ball punchouts.
However for as thrilling as it may be to craft a pitch in a lab like a chemistry pupil discovering a potion that fizzes, there’s much more to pitching than simply having a sky-high spin fee.
It’s a little bit of a chicken-or-the-egg conundrum: Are groups instructing spin higher or do sure golf equipment goal pitchers who’re extra vulnerable to have success with their breaking stuff?
“You may see the information and say, ‘Oh, that is in all probability gonna be a profitable pitch,’” Maier stated. “However then once more, you’ve received to discover ways to use it. You gotta be taught when to make use of it and the place to throw it and learn how to mix it with different pitches and be taught what pitches form of tunnel with others in sure counts and what particular hitters are searching for. There’s loads that goes into it, to be sincere.”
Which is the place Maier’s downtime has are available in. As his elbow healed, his thoughts was engaged on the membership’s advanced in North Port, Fla. An unintended profit of huge league hurlers lacking time throughout the common season — Max Fried in 2023, amongst others — is that younger pitchers can take up information from them in particular person, versus watching from afar.
“There’s all the time huge league guys form of circulating by the rehab group, which I spent a variety of time in,” Maier stated, “so it is cool to have the ability to choose up issues from them and simply form of be taught what it means to be a professional.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly given his lack of innings on the mound at any degree, Maier fluctuated dramatically between success and being hit onerous throughout his first professional yr. The 22-year-old did not permit multiple earned run in 9 of his 19 begins, ending with a 4.10 ERA largely because of the three outings by which he gave up 5 or extra runs.
His run within the Fall League yielded forgettable numbers (11.20 ERA, 2.42 WHIP) however Maier took it as a studying expertise that can assist him in 2025 and past.
“I believe it is good to form of design pitches — extra so the early levels — and see what sort of areas and what sort of shapes offers you the very best success,” Maier stated. “However I imply, on the finish of the day, you’ve received to execute pitches, and I can see when my ball is shifting and I do not really want the information to inform me. However then once more, it does assist to know that sure shapes are extra favorable than others. I assume it’s a ‘better of each worlds’ form of factor – I like to make use of each.”
