Starting Pitcher Notes (May 2): Emerson Hancock's career game, Max Meyer, Spencer Arrighetti, and Reid Detmers
Corbin Young examines several starting pitchers from May 2nd.
Emerson Hancock, SP, Mariners
Seattle Mariners’ starting pitcher Emerson Hancock set a career-high in whiffs (21), with a previous high of 15 in May 2025. Hancock had a 20.4% swinging-strike rate and 28% ball rate on Saturday against the Royals.
The Royals stacked left-handed hitters (71%) against Hancock. He was locating the four-seamer across the upper part of the zone, generating whiffs (22% SwK), first-pitch strikes, and weak contact against both sides of the plate.
That aligns with Hancock’s four-seam stuff (101 Stuff+) and command (125 Location+), improving significantly from a career Stuff+ (90) and Location+ (108) before Saturday.
The sweeper was a weapon against right-handed hitters, eliciting a 33.3% swinging-strike rate. Most of his sweepers were low and away from right-handed hitters to generate whiffs and weak contact, with 2 additional inches of drop on Saturday.
Monitor the cutter, being thrown more often to left-handed hitters. Hancock threw cutters 17% of the time to lefties on Saturday and 12.1% in 2026. The cutter looks like a gyro-like slider that Hancock was locating low in the zone.
Max Meyer, SP, Marlins
Miami Marlins’ starting pitcher Max Meyer threw 7 scoreless innings for the first time in his career (7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) across an efficient 83 pitches against the Phillies. Meyer boasted an 18.1% swinging-strike rate and 34% ball rate on Saturday.
🧹Meyer threw mostly sweepers against left-handed hitters on Saturday (32%), compared to 21.5% (2026). His sweeper was generating whiffs low and below the zone, especially toward Kyle Schwarber. That’s evident in Meyer’s sweeper swinging-strike rate (22.7%), zone rate (23%), and chase rate (41%). That’s a lower zone rate (32.8%) and chase rate (35.9%) via the sweeper against lefties in 2026.
🪙Meyer’s changeup lost downward movement (~29 inches) in 2026 compared to 2025 (32.5 inches). However, it’s worth noting that 2025 is the outlier in terms of downward movement via the changeup. Small sample of pitches on Saturday, but Meyer located the changeup for whiffs against lefties.
As a former top prospect, we might not realize that Meyer relies on strong command, evidenced by a 109 Location+ in 2026 and 106 Location+ in 2025. Continue relying upon Meyer in most formats.
Spencer Arrighetti, SP, Astros
Houston Astros’ starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti struggled with control against the Red Sox on Saturday, given his 43% ball rate. He likely was fortunate on Saturday because of the hard contact via the curveball (94.1 mph EV), four-seam (100.5 mph EV), and 9.2% swinging-strike rate overall.
👈Arrighetti continued to throw plenty of curveballs against lefties (52% on Saturday) and 35% in 2026. His curveball elicited a 13.8% swinging-strike rate on Saturday compared to 20.7% in 2026.
🪝He was throwing his curveballs in the zone 21% of the time with a 26% chase rate on Saturday. That might lead opposing lefties to lay off the curveball if they anticipate it being outside the zone. Arrighetti’s curveball has a 38.7% zone rate and 41.3% chase rate in 2026.
Be patient with Arrighetti, since the results have been a mixed bag, and we haven’t seen his above-average Stuff+ in 2026 yet.
Reid Detmers, SP, Angels
Los Angeles Angels’ starting pitcher Reid Detmers has been a favorite of mine throughout the off-season, fitting the Kris Bubic mold. Detmers threw a quality start but was hit around on Saturday against the Mets (6.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO) across 95 pitches.
Detmers boasted a 16.8% swinging-strike rate and 28% ball rate on Saturday against the Mets. For context, Detmers had a 33% ball rate and 13.2% swinging-strike rate in 2026.
The Mets stacked right-handed hitters (85%) against Detmers, who relied upon over 90% of his pitches across four pitches (slider, changeup, four-seam, and curveball). Most of Detmers’ slider whiffs were low and inside toward right-handed hitters.
Furthermore, Detmers’ slider elicited whiffs, called strikes (41%), and first-pitch strikes (100%) on Saturday. His stuff and command have improved over the past two seasons, leading to more optimism for 2026.