With Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija both missing substantial time early in the season, the San Francisco Giants’ rotation has rapidly become extremely thin. Johnny Cueto is the last man standing from the “big three” that was supposed to spearhead the top of the rotation, and the Giants need Cueto to be better than he was last season. That includes, first and foremost, his changeup.
For a long time, Cueto’s best offering was his changeup. It was one of the most devastating changeups in the game, allowing Cueto to almost always have at least one elite pitch working for him.