Only one major league starter throws harder than the Angels’ JC Ramirez: New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard. But it is not Ramirez’s powerful velocity that has fueled his rise into the Angels’ rotation. It is his development of a second breaking pitch, a curveball, to accompany his longstanding slider-and-fastball combination.
Manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday that Ramirez’s introduction of a curveball into his repertoire better delineated what he wanted out of his slider. It’s now sharper, with a defined break, though still less steep than the new curveball.