Checking in on Luke Weaver

His Luke Weaver’s seven-start sample to kickoff 2018 was perplexing. Initially, a trio of outings (April 1 - April 13) confirmed the high hopes many had for the righty’s sophomore season. Weaver shot down those hopes in the four starts to follow (April 19 - May 5) with a changeup that didn’t feel like the same effective offering from 2017. This prompted my initial thoughts on Weaver back in May.

He reverted back to standard right-lefty splits, which is weird for a right-handed, changeup-dominant pitcher. On top of that, Weaver wasn’t tunneling his fastball and changeup in the same window of effectiveness from the year prior (see my column). Small samples be dammed, I planted my flag on his…