Just before Felix Hernandez’s first relief appearance ever, Fish Stripes wrote an article suggesting the simplification of his pitch mix could be a stepping stone toward better command. While the specific conclusions may vary in agreeability, Felix had already begun to adopt this “less is more” approach and come up with some desirable results.
Since returning from the DL at the end of July, Felix has rarely thrown his slider and has eased off his 4-seam fastball considerably.
If you pull up Felix’s July 21st start on Brooks Baseball, you’ll find that he didn’t throw a single curveball that game.