SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Texas Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford says he realized early on that he probably wouldn't ever possess the type of fastball that causes scouts to take a second look at their radar guns.
It hasn't stopped him from finding a home in the majors even as his peers push their velocities higher and higher.
"God didn't gift me with the ability to throw 100 miles an hour," Bradford said. "But he's given me a lot of other weapons."
Bradford's part of a small fraternity of pitchers who have bucked recent trends by maintaining successful careers without throwing particularly hard. He went 6-3 with a 3.54 ERA last season with a fastball averaging 89.8 mph, putting him in the fourth percentile among MLB pitchers, according to Statcast.
"From a pretty early age, my pitching coach was like, 'Cody, you're not going to be a 98 mile an hour guy. You're going to be that upper-80s, low-90s guy, so command's really important for you,'" said Bradford, who will open this season on the injured list due to soreness in his throwing elbow. "Honestly, in high school my focus was just trying to hit my spots. And then in college, kind of buying into that mentality that I really, really needed to spot up if I want to play the game for a long time."
While Bradford was primarily a starter last year, some relievers fit this profile as well. Cincinnati Reds left-hander Brent Suter posted a 3.15 ERA in 47 appearances last year with a fastball velocity of 86.4 that ranked in the first percentile, according to Statcast.
"When I'm out on the mound, I feel like I'm throwing my heart out," Suter said. "The gun's not reading it how I feel when it's coming out."
Managers and execs still see benefits in guile
Reds manager Terry Francona noted that so much focus has been placed on strikeouts that "it's like if you didn't miss bats, you weren't pitching well." Francona says he doesn't agree with that philosophy and wonders why more pitchers don’t try emulating Hall of Famer Greg Maddux by getting outs early in counts and inducing weak contact.
"Those are the guys that are going to pitch into the seventh and eighth inning," Francona said. "The guy that's throwing as hard as he can every pitch, gripping and ripping it, that's why guys aren't going deep into games. Now they might pitch five and they might be really good innings, and we'll take it, but it's hard to go deeper than that when you're just 3-2 on everybody and every pitch is the seventh game of the World Series."
Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young has a particular understanding of the topic because his fastball generally didn't reach 90 mph when he was pitching in the majors from 2004-17.
"There are a lot of guys who are very successful major leaguers who aren't throwing the hardest in the league, so to speak," Young said. "There's a balance. Pitching has always been a balance. That said, there's no doubt about it, that velocity is a competitive advantage, and the harder you throw, it's less reaction time for a hitter. But it's not everything."
Bradford still stands out as an exception at a time when guys are throwing harder than ever.
According to Statcast, the number of major leaguers who threw at least 250 pitches last season and had a four-seam fastball averaging at least 98 mph was 22, up from seven in 2018. There were 125 pitchers — nearly double the 2018 total of 64 — with a four-seam fastball averaging at least 96 mph.
"I do think if you don't throw as hard, it takes you longer to get to the big leagues," said San Francisco Giants submarine reliever Tyler Rogers, who didn't make his MLB debut until the age of 28.
It can be harder to stay in the big leagues, as well. For instance, Dane Dunning was named the Rangers' pitcher of the year by Texas' chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America after their World Series-winning season of 2023. Dunning ranked in the 11th percentile in fastball velocity that year but went 12-7 with a 3.70 ERA while handling both starting and relief assignments.
But after a disappointing 2024 season and a poor spring, Dunning is opening the year in the minor leagues. Texas' rotation will include rookies Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, who both have thrown over 100 mph.
Even so, some pitchers manage to thrive without much velocity.
Rogers, who relies mainly on sinkers and sliders, had an average four-seam fastball velocity of 82.3 that ranked last in the majors among anyone who threw at least 250 pitches last year. Yet he's entering his seventh MLB season and has even spent time as a closer, a role typically given to guys who approach 100 mph.
The key to survival, as Bradford noted, is relying on other strengths to withstand a relative lack of velocity.
"I just keep doing my own thing and keep attacking guys the way I know how to attack guys," said Cleveland's Ben Lively, who went 13-10 with a 3.81 ERA last season while his fastball averaged 89.9 mph to rank in the sixth percentile. "I don't really care how hard I throw, but other people do."
Suter always has ranked near the bottom of the league in velocity, yet he's entering his 10th MLB season and has posted an ERA below 3.50 five of the last six years.
"It's been difficult, but I think the key is conviction behind the baseball always plays, and then late movement," Suter said. "I've really concentrated on late movement rather than velo. I just know I'm never going to throw high enough to be above average in the big leagues for sure, so velo hasn't really been a focus of mine. It's been late movement, execution and just knowing how to pitch, how to sequence guys, how to move the ball around the strike zone, get better command."
Bradford has succeeded by realizing the best way to utilize the weapons he does have.
"I've had to learn how to throw three or four pitches for strikes at just about any count, and I've got to command the fastball really well," Bradford said. "I think if you can still mix locations pretty well, hit your spots, work both sides of the plate, top and bottom of the zone and learn how to mix in enough offspeed pitches, it's a chess match at that point versus the hitters and it kind of becomes a strategy game."
Reaching for a secret weapon
Many pitchers without overwhelming velocity rely on outstanding extension, which measures how close a pitcher’s release point is to home plate. A pitcher with a longer extension can make his pitches seem faster to a batter than they actually are.
Bradford had an extension ranking in the 94th percentile last season. Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Bailey Falter was only in the 18th percentile in fastball velocity, but he and Suter both had extensions that put them in the 98th percentile.
"So if I throw the ball at 90, it sort of looks like 93 to the hitter," Falter said.
They also benefit from offering a change of pace to hitters.
Suter noted the matchup problems that arise when he comes out of the bullpen after hitters have faced flamethrowing Reds ace Hunter Greene. Falter said he capitalized in a similar way when he followed NL rookie of the year Paul Skenes in the Pirates' rotation.
"I'd always mess with these guys like 'Yeah, Paul, go out there and speed them up, so I can go out there the next day and slow them down,'" Falter quipped.
That shows there's more than one way to attack an opposing lineup.
"Velocity matters," Young said. "But it's not the only thing that matters."
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AP Sports Writer Will Graves contributed to this report.
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