Mets left-hander Sean Manaea stepped up in a giant method final season, changing into the dependable rotation stalwart the workforce wanted in the course of a decent battle for the postseason, and changing into a breakout star in October. The choice to decrease his arm slot on his fastball has been well-documented, however there was one other pitch that proved impactful through the second half of the 2024 season, and particularly within the postseason: the changeup.
Manaea has all the time thrown a changeup, however after he added a sweeper in the course of 2023 whereas with the San Francisco Giants, he started to depend on the pitch extra closely at the beginning of 2024. The changeup took a again seat. That pattern continued all through the season and he didn’t have as a lot of a necessity for the changeup, particularly in opposition to left-handed hitters. He threw it solely about 12% of the time final 12 months, down from 17% in 2023 and almost 25% in 2022 and within the earlier years of his profession.
However Manaea began growing the changeup utilization in August. It was key in two massive wins over the Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks late within the month, the latter of which helped the Mets clinch the tiebreaker over Arizona, which finally secured the workforce a Wild Card berth.
Manaea is continuous his work at Driveline and Diesel Optimization in Tampa this winter with the hopes of bettering the changeup.
“It can be great at times, and then at times it’s kind of like good,” Manaea stated earlier this week on a Zoom. “The more I could have it be great, the better off I’ll be.”
A changeup needs to be nice. If it’s not, it’s a batting observe ball. It needs to be thrown from the identical angle as a fastball in an effort to idiot the hitter into getting him to swing by the zone earlier than the ball enters it. Some pitchers have motion on it, like new Yankees reliever Devin Williams, however precision is essential.
Supervisor Carlos Mendoza frequently lauded the effectiveness of the pitch. It was efficient due to how and when he used it. In earlier years, he relied on his changeup as a putaway pitch. Final 12 months, he used it earlier in at-bats in opposition to right-handed hitters. Manaea used the pitch to arrange a strikeout of Bryce Harper within the NLDS, a big gamble in opposition to a left-handed hitter that paid off.
As Manaea prepares for spring coaching, he’s engaged on refining the pitch, citing a want for consistency.
“Experimenting is cool and it’s kind of like what the offseason is for, just to try new things,” Manaea stated. “At the end of the day, I like, once the season starts and spring training starts, then I guess you can really test those kinds of things. And then you kind of get a feel for it, if it’s like, really working and if it feels good.”
Manaea, who will likely be 33 on Feb. 1, likes to experiment with pitches, grips and supply through the season and has discovered a keen coach to assist him in Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. The “constant tinkering” doesn’t all the time result in a pitch he’ll find yourself throwing in a recreation, nevertheless it serves a function in that he’s frequently trying to find methods to enhance. It’s a motive why the Mets felt snug giving him a three-year contract price $75 million.
Manaea rebuilt his confidence in San Francisco in 2023. In 2024, he remade his arsenal. Now that he is aware of he’ll be in the identical place with the identical coaches and organizational tradition for the subsequent three years, he can maintain constructing off of these two seasons.
“I was happy where I was, as far as allowing myself the confidence to go out there and just throw the ball well, but I knew the feeling was that I could improve,” he stated. “And, you know, after I found that feeling, it was just like, ‘Oh, like, this is it. This is something I know that feels good. So let’s just lean into that.’ And then from there, then it just kind of took off.”
