Washington Nationals: Examining Tanner Roark’s recent struggles
By Drew Douglas
Since debuting in 2013, Washington Nationals starting pitcher Tanner Roark has been one of the most consistent pitchers in the league. He seems to have hit a wall recently and has not been the same. What could possibly be causing these struggles?
After having the sixth lowest ERA in the MLB in 2016 and finishing tenth in NL Cy Young voting, Washington Nationals starting pitcher Tanner Roark hasn’t been the same in 2017. He got off to a decent start, but has recently struggled mightily.
At the beginning of this season, Roark struggled and worked with pitching coach Mike Maddux to fix any issues. The two determined that he was gripping the ball too hard and Roark began to resemble the 2016 version of himself. However, his struggles have returned and he is currently enduring one of the worst months of his career.
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In four starts in June, he has pitched to a dreadful 8.02 ERA. He has also allowed 22 runs on 31 hits in just 21.1 innings. To make matters worse, no team that Roark has started against this month has had a winning record. The best winning percentage of any team at the time he faced them is Texas’ .467. Roark has had the opportunity to pitch against relatively weak competition and he has not taken advantage of it.
Roark does not feature outstanding velocity, so he heavily relies on movement and control. The good news is, his pitches still move at least as much as they did last year. Below is a graph of his horizontal and vertical movement from Monday night’s game in Miami.
As you can see, his horizontal movement ranged from about -11 inches to about eight inches. His vertical movement ranged from about -11 inches to about 13 inches. According to Brooks Baseball, in 2016, his horizontal movement ranged from about -9 inches to about seven inches. His vertical movement ranged from about -7 inches to about 11 inches. By looking at this data, it is clear that Roark is still able to get movement on his pitches.
His control, on the other hand, is another story. Known for pinpoint control, Roark has been unable to locate effectively in 2017. Below is a graph showing the location and result of every pitch he threw on Monday night.
When at his best, Roark paints the black and fills up the corners of the strike zone. However, this graph shows many balls far out of the zone and mistakes left over the heart of the plate. The light blue squares are pitches that resulted in run(s) scored and you may notice a trend; they are almost all located near the middle of the zone. If Roark is going to find success, he must locate his pitches. Big league hitters will crush a pitch left over the heart of the plate nine times out of ten and walks usually come back to bite you.
Another possible cause of Roark’s struggles is his participation in the World Baseball Classic. He had an abbreviated Spring Training and was pitching in high-leverage situations while most of his teammates were playing in exhibition games.
While the WBC is a phenomenal event, some of its participants endure some unwanted consequences of playing for their country. A few players who have struggled or gotten injured after playing in the WBC are Edwin Diaz, Jose Reyes, Sam Dyson, Mark Melancon, and Drew Smyly. It’s not guaranteed that the WBC caused 2017 to be a rough season for these players, but it’s a definite possibility and it’s possible that it has contributed to Roark’s struggles as well.
This has been a season to forget for Roark. He has options remaining so the Nats could send him to the minors for a while if they wanted, but they are more likely to let him figure things out at the big league level. It’s unlikely that they remove him from the rotation due to his track record, but he is in danger of not being included in the postseason rotation if he doesn’t improve.
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Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Gio Gonzalez have all pitched tremendously well this season. If Roark is able to return to form and Joe Ross begins to pitch like he’s capable, the Nats could easily boast one of the best rotations in the league. The Nats have always been able to count on Roark, and he must figure things out if the Nats are going to go on a deep postseason run.