On a pitching staff that includes more than its share of soft-tossers, Drew Hutchison stands out. Whether he’s delivering his fastball, his slider or his change-up, everything the 23-year-old throws comes in hard.
Hutchison averages 92.2 mph with his fastball, a pitch he throws 65 percent of the time, ninth most frequently among qualified American League starters. Don’t expect catcher Dioner Navarro to stop calling for the hard stuff, though.
“That’s his No. 1 pitch, and I’m a firm believer of pitching off of the guys’ strengths,” Navarro says. “We play in a really offensive division, but I’m just going to go with what I think gives us the best shot.”
Hutchison’s slider and changeup are also in the 85-mph range, which means they have more zip than the fastballs of fellow Toronto Blue Jays starters R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle. Hutchison could throw his changeup more slowly to give hitters a different look, but doing so would cost him movement. It’s not a trade-off he’s willing to make.
“I have to make sure I’m not over-throwing it and make sure I’m taking enough off of it, or else it’s just a slow sinker, which isn’t ideal,” he says. “But at the end of the day if it has the action, you don’t want to take the speed off there and have it be flat.”
Hutchison’s pitches have been anything but through his first 10 starts of the season. He has a 3.45 ERA with 59 strikeouts and just 18 walks in 60 innings. It’s more than the Blue Jays could possibly have expected from a pitcher who missed the end of the 2012 season and much of the 2013 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Hutchison has the makings of a dependable big-league starter thanks in large part to his No. 1 pitch.
“He’s got a really good slider and he’s got a really good changeup,” Navarro says. “Sometimes it seems like he hardly uses them because he’s got such good command of the fastball.”
Command matters to Hutchison, who starts against the Tampa Bay Rays Monday as the Blue Jays look to extend their winning streak to seven consecutive games. The 2009 15th round draft pick works on commanding his two-seam and four-seam fastballs in bullpens and long-toss sessions between starts.
“I don’t like walking guys –it frustrates me,” Hutchison says. “For me it’s attack the zone, fill the zone, throw strikes, get ahead, work quick. My command I take a lot of pride in and I try to pound the zone.”
So far, so good. Hutchison’s walk rate of 2.7 batters per nine innings and strikeout rate of 8.9 batters per nine are both better than league average, and better than the numbers Hutchison posted as a rookie in 2012 (3.1 BB/9, 7.5 K/9).
Those numbers stem from Hutchison’s velocity, but in the bullpen before each start, he focuses on preparation rather than power thanks to a tip from Blue Jays special assistant Pat Hentgen.
“You’re not pitching in the bullpen to get ready for the game,” Hutchison says. “You’re warming up to pitch. Down there it’s all about getting that feel, getting loose, feeling good.”
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons explained Saturday that Buehrle and Dickey succeed because they know how to locate, change speeds and mix up their offerings from batter to batter. Hutchison’s reliance on the hard stuff makes him a completely different type of pitcher, but he has been just as important to the success of the 29-22 Blue Jays.
“If you don’t trust your fastball, you’re going to be in trouble,” Navarro says.
