Mychal Givens tweaked his approach this year. So far the results are good, but they could be much better.
Mychal Givens was promoted to the big leagues last year and impressed everyone. Throwing a 95 MPH fastball from the sidearm slot, he struck out 32.5% of the batters he faced while walking just 5.1%. Among relievers with a similar arm slot since 2008, his K-BB% ranked second only to Craig Kimbrel in 2013.
This year Givens is having similar success on the field. But his peripherals are worse. While his strikeout rate remains excellent, his walk rate has more than doubled from 5.