Shane Bieber’s year of change

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY SportsI am beginning to think 2020 will be Bieber’s Year of the Changeup.

The general magic of Bieber comes from the sum of his repertoire and its application rather than any one elite skill. His fastball is merely a solid low to mid-90’s, his slider has tight, clean movement without being sweeping, and his curve is pinpoint but not quite a hammer. We didn’t get to see much of that changeup in 2019, Bieber throwing it just 7.2% of the time. When he did throw it, it was more a contact pitch than a strikeout tool typically, getting a swinging strike just 21.9% of the time compared to 42.7% for the slider and 48.7% for the curve. Batters did log the lowest average exit…