Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff is a 30-year-old veteran, a two-time All-Star and has a fifth-place Cy Young Award showing to his name. His bulldog mentality on the mound, coupled with a power fastball, can send hitters bailing out of the box.
Despite these accolades and career achievements, Woodruff is not settling as he enters his graybeard years. This offseason, he made a change to his two-seam fastball grip. Not by working with his pitching coaches or consulting other pro hurlers, but rather by watching New York Yankees reliever Clay Holmes on YouTube and trying to emulate his spin.
Last season, Woodruff ranked in the 72nd percentile of MLB pitchers when it came to fastball spin rate. His heater came out of his hand to make about 2,350 revolutions-per-minute, on par with his 2021 spin rate.
There's always room for improvement, but Woodruff owned a stellar fastball even before his YouTube video sessions. Of his 190 total strikeouts this past season, 98 of them came courtesy of the fastball. Opposing batters hit just .184 against the pitch and they whiffed on it 28.5 percent of the time.
Having already refined his off-speed pitches over the past few offseasons, an improved fastball could mean big trouble for the rest of the National League.
More must-reads: