Tommy Kahnle threw something high, looping and weird to strike out Kevin Pillar in the eighth inning on Saturday, an 86 mph slider that dropped in just enough to nick the very top of the zone. Given Pillar’s perplexed and enraged reaction, it seemed to be a pitch that would have been easy to hammer if he had any idea it was coming.
Kahnle’s 46.6 percent strikeout rate is third-highest of anyone in baseball with over 20 innings pitched this season, so freezing hitters is no fluke. But he throws his slider a little over 6 percent of the time according to Brooks Baseball, and who knows how many are intentional?