The Swiss Army Knife
Does the state of New Mexico play baseball? I didn’t think so, but the Angels, Chase Silseth, has something different to say. The New Mexico born rising star has been very impressive this season. Silseth has already pitched 41.1 innings and dished out 46 strikeouts since being promoted from Triple-A earlier this year. More to his credit, he is posting a 3.27 ERA and owns a 4-1 record from games he has started. The WHIP (walk & hits per innings pitched) statistic stands at a 1.1210, which could use some work, but I expect that to come down with development and maturity. Heck, this kid is only 23 years old!
Silseth attacks opposing lineups with a 6-pitch mix. In his arsenal, he commands a 4-Seam Fastball (33.8%), Slider (24.1%), Split Finger (15.6%), Sinker (13.4%), Cutter (11.1%), and of course, a Curveball (1.9%). Having this many weapons in the arsenal reminds me of another professional pitcher right now, Yu Darvish, who seems to develop a new pitch every offseason. I am not saying these two have similar throwing styles or will have similar careers, but being able to attack a hitter in so many different ways is definitely a good thing, and Darvish has proved that.
Right now, Silseth is seeing > 25% Whiff rates from 4 of his 6 pitches. This means that Silseth is seeing solid results from 66.6% of his pitches. He also sees his PutAway% at 20% or more on 5 of the 6 of these pitches (Curveball not included). The reason I am so amped about the ability to take down hitters in so many ways is simple: POTENTIAL. If you have the potential to come at a hitter in so many different ways, it will naturally make it harder for someone to get a hit.
Between Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning, and now Silseth, the Angels should have a decent enough rotation to compete on a day-to-day basis. Although the Angels playoff chances are starting to look slim for this year, they have something to be happy about for years to come and that is Chase Silseth.
Will the emergence of Silseth make Ohtani stay? Probably not, but it can’t hurt.
Photo Credit: Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports