The Washington Nationals top rookie pitcher, Erick Fedde, has been thrust into the rotation. What does he need to do to succeed at this level?
Erick Fedde will take the mound for the Washington Nationals this weekend as they face the Philadelphia Phillies in a critical four-game series. The youngster will make his fifth start of the season on Friday night.
His performance in the big leagues thus far has been a mixed bag. In four games, Fedde is 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA in 2018. But he’s been better than his numbers suggest, especially when considering two of his starts were against the New York Yankees.
This campaign has been a massive improvement on his 2017 stint with the Nationals when he went 0-1 with a 9.39 ERA.
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When the Nevada native debuted last year, he struggled massively and never looked like the top pitching prospect that he was supposed to be. So what is Fedde doing differently now? And what does he still need to improve on going forward?
Fedde’s pitching arsenal includes five different pitches, but Nationals fans will see him throw his sinking fastball more than any other pitch. In those three 2017 starts, he threw 298 total pitches. Fedde was highly dependent on his sinker. You can see his pitch selection percentages below.
- Sinker (61.1%)
- Changeup (14.1%)
- Curveball (13.4%)
- Cutter (9.1%)
- Slider (2.3%)
This year, Fedde has thrown home 376 times. While he is still relying on that same pitch, it’s thrown slightly less. He’s also doing a better job mixing it with his other pitches.
- Sinker (53.4%)
- Changeup (11.7%)
- Curveball (7.2%)
- Cutter (24.4%)
- Slider (3.4%)
Sinker-ball pitchers need to locate their pitches at the knees, something Fedde struggled with a season ago.
Of 182 total sinkers, 70 of them were located in the top half of the strike zone. The young righty gave up 25 hits over 15.1 innings. 16 of those hits came off his fastball, with 10 of them being hit off pitches located in the upper half of the zone.
The Nationals have seen improvement, however, as only 35 of Fedde’s 201 fastballs have been located high. Opposing batters are still finding some success with 12 hits against that pitch. But only 3 of those hits have come on balls high in the zone.
Another improvement that the Nationals have witnessed comes with Fedde’s velocity.
When he made his debut, his fastball velocity was down at 92.9 MPH. Now his pitch speed is back up where it should be, at an average of 94.7 MPH. His cutter and changeup have seen noticeable increases in speed as well.
Moving forward, Erick Fedde is still a huge prospect for the Nationals. He will continue to develop and improve as he learns how to pitch in the Major Leagues. To take that next step, the rookie will want to continue to use other pitchers in his repertoire. He’s been burned by the over-reliance on his sinker-ball.
More importantly, Fedde will need to throw more first-pitch strikes. He’s getting behind hitters too often. Right now he’s only getting that first strike 58.7% of the time. That’s going to have to increase drastically if he hopes to make a living with the Nationals.
With Stephen Strasburg on the disabled list, Erick Fedde will have a chance to impress at the big league level. He’s already shown good improvement so far, but he’ll need to keep his fastball down in the zone and get that first pitch strike if he wants to reach his potential.
Hopefully, Erick Fedde can get his first MLB win for the Washington Nationals against the Phillies this weekend. Then we’ll see if he can push on further and fulfill his potential.