Washington Nationals’ Shawn Kelley on solid first half, more sliders the better...

WASHINGTON, D.C.: “More sliders the better, right?” Washington Nationals’ reliever Shawn Kelley asked rhetorically when the fact that he had thrown the pitch more often during the first half of the 2018 campaign than he’d thrown it in either of his two previous seasons in Washington, D.C. was brought up recently.

“Last year I was a lot max-effort, kind of all arm, and I think when I started to lose a lot of my extension I lost that deception on my fastball...” - Shawn Kelley on 2017 strugglesAgainst his slider, which he’s thrown 47.9% of the time in his 31 appearances and 28 1⁄3 innings over the first-half of the 2018 campaign, (up from 43.7% in 2016, and 40.9% last season), opposing hitters…