Tommy Hunter: Analyzing The Rangers’ World Series 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

7.1 innings, 6 runs, 0 walks, 12 strikeouts

Last Start Summary

Hunter started Game 4 of the ALCS against the Yankees, and he wasn’t able to make it through the fourth inning before giving way to Derek Holland. It wasn’t that he was getting consistently destroyed. Rather, the contact-first starter actually struck out five guys. But he gave up a home run and a long triple, and he was chased in the fourth by a hit batter and two groundball singles. Hunter didn’t have the pinpoint command that he needs, and in a small ballpark against a good lineup, he wasn’t able to do the job.

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.