Noah Schultz’s second big league start is highly anticipated. The 22-year-old Chicagoland native’s appearance makes for one of the more highly anticipated April contests in recent memory.
Analysing Schultz’s Pitching Arsenal
Schultz flashed his entire six-pitch arsenal in his debut. He largely relied on four offerings, using his sinker and four-seam fastball in roughly equal proportion to both right- and left-handed hitters. Both clocked in around 97 mph, which would be the fourth-fastest average among all big league lefties this year.
Against left-handed hitters, Schultz turned to the sweeper as his out pitch. Hitters went 0-for-3 against it with two strikes. Against righties, Schultz put together an even mix of four-seamers, sinkers and cutters. Now and then, he’ll also try to get a hitter with a back-foot sweeper.
The Importance of the Changeup
The thing to watch out for is Schultz’s changeup. He threw it 14% of the time in Triple-A against righties, but only utilized it twice in his debut. With Jeff McNeil and Carlos Cortes getting a day off, the A’s are running out a heavily right-handed lineup. Schultz will need that changeup to keep developing, because his command of his sweeper and slider to righties was spotty and he needs a secondary out pitch to keep hitters on their toes.
If Schultz can command those pitches better or find a way to effectively utilize his changeup, we could be looking at a quite fun start.
Athletics’ Lineup and Strategy
Sacramento manager Mark Kotsay has posted the lineup for his surprisingly competitive squad, who are sitting in a tie for first place in the AL West at this early junction.
White Sox Lineup Adjustments
This is the 18th different lineup in 18 games. The main alteration for the day is Miguel Vargas’s ascension to the 2-spot, his first start there of the year. It’s quite a relief that the Andrew Benintendi Leadoff Experiment may already have run its course.
The one-two punch of Chase Meidroth and Vargas is an arrangement that I actually like a lot. Both of them are quite difficult to strike out and adept at making contact with most of what they swing at. With the whiff-prone ways of Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Everson Pereira, it makes sense to precede them with hitters who can get on base the old-fashioned way. Sometimes give upcoming hitters an extended look at the pitcher’s arsenal if their ability to make contact results in long at-bats.
Pereira has been rewarded for his early slugging by batting.