CLEVELAND– In the middle of the 2017 season, Trevor Bauer started to rely on a new pitch after ditching his splitter. He developed a modified slider that became sort of a go-to pitch down the stretch in August for the 27-year-old right-hander.
Most pitchers wouldn’t even think of adding a new pitch that late into the season, (let alone a pitcher on a team that was well on its way to winning the division) but for Bauer, he was looking for a breaking ball with “a little more depth” in the lower part of the strike zone.