Tommy Hunter will be taking the mound for the Rangers in Game 4 of their ALCS showdown against the Yankees. To help get you ready, we offer the following scouting report.
Tommy Hunter: Analyzing The Rangers’ ALCS Game 4 Starting Pitcher
Vitals
6’3, 255
Right-handed
128 innings
3.73 ERA
4.8 K/9
2.3 BB/9
2010 Playoffs
4 innings, 3 runs, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts
Repertoire
Though a big boy, Hunter is by no means overpowering. He succeeds more by leaning on a mix. His primary pitch is a fairly straight fastball he’ll offer up around 89-92mph. He only goes straight heat about half the time, though, and makes heavy use of a cut fastball and a curve. His cutter is only a touch slower than his regular fastball, but has more sink and breaks in a bit to lefties. His curve sits in the mid-70s and has a lot of lateral break, looking more like a slurve than a classic 12-6. Roughly 5% of the time, Hunter will throw a low-80s changeup that behaves similar to his fastball. He is a moderate flyball pitcher.
Facing Righties
Hunter doesn’t really change up his pitch mix very much, whether he’s facing a righty or a lefty. Truth be told, not much changes about his approach in general. Hunter will usually start a righty off with a fastball or a cutter somewhere over the outer half of the plate. Behind, he’ll gravitate towards the middle of the plate, and show a tendency to work up. Ahead, he’ll consider braving the inner half, but not to a strong degree. Hunter is a contact pitcher and doesn’t really have a strikeout weapon. He will throw his curve a lot in strikeout counts, but his start against Tampa Bay was more exception than rule in terms of swings and misses.
Facing Lefties
Hunter sees a lot of lefties, and they see a lot of early pitches all over the zone. He’ll scatter his pitches to start guys off and isn’t afraid to go with a first-pitch curveball. Hitters who get ahead can usually count on getting a hittable fastball somewhere in the zone, but hitters who fall behind don’t get it so easy, as Hunter throws a lot of 0-1 cutters inside, and a lot of 0-1 curves on the outer half. Once again, Hunter throws a lot of curves in strikeout counts, but it isn’t a power pitch. Hitters put a lot of balls in play.
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