Okay, the title is a slight overreaction, but the first week of the regular season has not been kind to James Karinchak.
The right-handed pitcher appeared for the Cleveland Guardians in their season opener and came in relief for Shane Bieber following his spectacular performance. Cleveland and Seattle were tied at 0-0 and the game seemed destined for extra innings.
However, the 0.1 innings that Karinchak pitched changed everything.
He we charged with a pitch clock violation which immediately brought the crowd into the game as he got the Giannis Antetokumpo countdown treatment from the fans.
Whether Karinchak admits it or not, this clearly had an effect on his control and his curveball just wasn't there. Out of the 24 pitchers that he threw, only 13 of those were strikes.
He's found success in the past with his two-pitch mix of a fastball and a curveball. Karinchak had to resort to throwing nothing but straight heat which isn't a good game plan against any Big League lineup.
According to FanGraphs, 73.1 percent of his pitches this season have been fastballs and 26.9 percent have been curveballs. This means that opposing hitters can sit and wait for the heater they like and drive it.
Karinchak found this out the hard way when Ty France blasted a three-run opposite-field home run that essentially won the Mariners the game to start the season.
Then came game two of Cleveland's series with the Oakland Athletics where he came in during the top of the 10th. Karinchak had one strikeout and one walk, but the dagger that the base hit which he gave up turned out to be a walk-off allowing the A's to win.
The walk-off also came on a fastball that Tony Kemp sat on and put a nice swing on.
Karinchak needs to do something to find his command of both of his pitches or Terry Francona will stop putting him in high-leverage situations. We know the effective pitcher he can be when he has everything working well for him, but this just hasn't been the case to the start of the season.
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