At the beginning of the season, after one good and one not-so-good start from Jose Ureña, I suggested—and perhaps hastily so—that his success this season would be predicated on his slider usage.
From 2015-2017, José Ureña’s best pitch was his slider. According to Fangraphs’ weighted runs from 2015-2016, while Ureña’s fastball checked in well in the red, his slider was worth 2.0 runs and .8 runs, respectively. Ureña’s fastball improved to a modest three runs above average in 2017, but his slider more than doubled that at 7.4.
On Opening Day this year, Ureña came out and got shellacked by the Chicago Cubs, quite literally from the first pitch.