Starting Pitcher Notes (April 8): Joey Cantillo's harder changeup, Grant Holmes's slider, Ryne Nelson's four-seam heavy profile, and more.
Corbin Young examines Joey Cantillo, Grant Holmes, Ryne Nelson, Luis Severino, and MacKenzie Gore in the starting pitcher notes from April 8th.
MacKenzie Gore, SP, Rangers
The Mariners have been struggling to hit. MacKenzie Gore took advantage of it. The Mariners’ hitters have the fourth-highest swinging-strike rate and the lowest contact rate. Gore had a 12.2% swinging-strike rate and 40% ball rate on Wednesday against the M’s, compared to a 14.6% swinging-strike rate and 37% ball rate in 2026.
Gore threw his four-seamers in the zone 70% of the time, with many in the heart of the plate, leading to foul balls.
His curveballs were thrown low, high, and toward the outside corner to right-handed hitters on Wednesday.
Joey Cantillo, SP, Guardians
Joey Cantillo had the changeup working against the Royals, leading to a 38.9% swinging-strike rate. He continues to throw a harder changeup (+1.6 mph), leading to a 3-inch loss of downward movement. That’s similar to Cantillo’s changeup velocity and movement profile in 2026.
It coincides with Cantillo’s changeup being thrown more in the zone (56%) on April 8th, up from 50% in 2026 and 46.6% in 2025. He was locating some changeups in the heart of the zone for called and swinging strikes on Wednesday, so that approach might not be sustainable against other teams.
Cantillo’s curveball was a called-strike machine on Wednesday, with a 67% called strike rate. The heatmaps show Cantillo going for backdoor curveballs to right-handed hitters, attempting to catch them sleeping on the breaking pitch.
He has been throwing curveballs 2-3 mph harder in 2026, leading to fewer inches (3-5) of downward movement. It’s still an above-average pitch from a vertical movement standpoint, though there have been more curveballs higher in the zone than in previous seasons. Monitor Cantillo’s curveball locations.
Grant Holmes, SP, Braves
Atlanta Braves’ starting pitcher Grant Holmes consolidated his arsenal between the four-seam (51%) and slider (34%) against both sides of the plate. The changeup (11%) was the only pitch that was thrown at a double-digit rate, all to left-handed hitters.
✂️In 2025, Holmes mixed in a cutter (12.6%) to right-handed hitters as the 3rd offering. Meanwhile, he threw curveballs (23.5%) and cutters (17.6%) against lefties in 2025 besides the four-seamers and sliders.
😬He was filling the heart of the zone with four-seamers, potentially being fortunate from a results standpoint against the Angels. Lefties continue doing damage against the four-seam.
🛝Holmes was burying the slider low and below the zone to generate several whiffs against RHH (Jo Adell and Logan O’Hoppe). There’s no denying the slider being nasty (career 22.6% SwK).
Worried Holmes might be a one-pitch pitcher if he can’t find a consistent second option, since we don’t love the four-seam locations.
Ryne Nelson, SP, Diamondbacks
We’re in an era where starting pitchers back off their fastballs, but Arizona Diamondbacks’ starting pitcher Ryne Nelson says let’s throw it more (76%) against RHH (67%) and LHH (83%). He tossed in more sliders and curveballs in 2026 before Wednesday’s outing against the Mets.
⏩Nelson’s four-seam elicited a 12.3% swinging-strike rate while adding 2 inches of induced vertical break. He already had a four-seam boasting elite IVB coming from this high arm angle with plenty of extension (72nd percentile).
👀The four-seam (-1.7 mph) and slider (-2 mph) velocities were down over 1.5 mph on Wednesday, with the weather in the mid-40s in New York. Nelson was throwing the four-seam and slider in the zone 57-58% of the time on Wednesday, significantly higher than the four-seam zone rate (51.7%) and slider zone rate (44.4%) early in 2026.
Would love to see the cutter or curveball evolve into a consistent option.
Luis Severino, SP, Athletics
Athletics’ starting pitcher Luis Severino struggled with control (46% ball rate) while he generated an 11% swinging-strike rate on Wednesday against the Yankees.
🧹Severino’s sweeper was slower (-1.6 mph), leading to three additional inches of downward movement. The sweeping slider led his arsenal on Wednesday, with an 18.2% swinging-strike rate. That’s significantly higher than Severino’s career swinging-strike rate at 14.1% via the sweeper.
✂️Severino has been throwing the cutter more often against left-handed hitters on Wednesday (35%) and in 2026 (31%). That’s significantly higher than the cutter usage against lefties in 2025 (21.6%) and 2024 (8.3%). After throwing the cutter in the zone 48.8% of the time in 2025, he continued to drop the cutter zone rate (42%) on Wednesday compared to 27.6% early in 2026.
Severino remains a risky streaming pitcher, with mediocre to poor control without the above-average whiffs.