How the Phillies Can Maximize Zack Wheeler's Potential

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

When the Astros acquired Gerrit Cole, they took away his two-seamer and turned him into a four-seam monster. Their metrics showed the two-seamer just wasn’t a good enough pitch for Cole and that he had the velocity and spin to live off his four-seamer.

Cole listened and he watched. The Astros sat him down in front of video that backed up the data. He stopped throwing the two-seam fastball, and all he did was become one of the best pitchers in baseball. He soon will be the highest paid pitcher in baseball because of the change. (PitchCast does mistakenly register two-seamers from Cole sometimes, confusing his four-seamer for a two-seamer when it runs and is low.)

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