PHOENIX — On his bullpen day Friday in Chicago, Joe Musgrove was picking Chad Kuhl’s brain. Kuhl has one of the best sliders on the Pirates’ pitching staff, and Musgrove wanted to play catch with Kuhl to see how he threw it.
Musgrove quickly folded the grip into his own arsenal — so quickly, in fact, that he deployed it three days later, in his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kuhl’s grip, which has more depth, is better against lefties, Musgrove said, and his own grip, which has more sweep, is preferable against right-handers.
While the slider used to be a wipeout pitch for Musgrove, he has thrown his slider about 15 percent of the time this year, nearly half as often as he did last year, according to Statcast.