Detroit Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd likes to throw the slider. He has five pitches, but throws a four-seam fastball 48% of the time and slider 32% of the time.
Then there’s the changeup at 9% of the time. But it’s an important pitch to him because it’s what he grew up relying on, because his dad wouldn’t let him throw a breaking ball until he got to high school.
In his start in Cleveland on Saturday night, Boyd resisted the temptation to feast on his slider and instead used the changeup effectively in 5u2153 innings of strong work in a 6-1 loss.