It can feel a bit overwhelming keeping up with all of the changes in pitching data, metrics, and terminology over the past five years. Seam-shifted wake and spin mirroring are now well on their way to being regularly used terms, like spin rate or tunneling. Get used to hearing about wobbly splitters, one-seam sinkers and gyroballs in the years to come. Also prepare for a lot of these concepts and terms to be misapplied for a while until broadcasters and others better understand what’s going on.
If you missed our recent seam-shifted wake primer, we’ll try and give a quick rundown before we take a look at Spencer Turnbull and then the Tigers newest major league addition to their pitching staff, right-hander Jose Ureña.