When the Astros acquired Ryan Pressly during the 2018 season, I immediately fell in love with his slider. It was a pitch that the organization had him embrace upon his arrival, with usage rates consistently ranging from 30% to 40% during his tenure. The results warranted such a usage jump. For context, he threw it about 18% of the time in his last full season with the Twins in 2017. How couldn’t you fall in love with a pitch that does this?
Pressly throws primarily three pitches: A four-seam fastball and a curveball in addition to his slider.