Kevin Gausman returned to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday after spending the beginning portion of the season on the DL. Gausman hurled a 5.0 IP start, but most impressive with his velocity of his fastball in the upper 90’s and high strikeout rate of seven batters over the short start.
While the velocity was impressive, it mirrored what had been accomplished during 2015 (Figure 1). This isn’t to say that it’s not impressive. However, it only yielded 8.07 K/9 during the season. This is league standard for this velocity, but in order to develop into a dominant pitcher he would need to develop his secondary and tertiary pitches.