no matter what happens.
He's getting into the sixth
inning, um, and the cutter that
he was working on, you know, in
spring training and in the early
parts of the season, these last
four or five starts has, you
know, finally clicked for him
and fallen into place and it's
been an absolute weapon and his
last four or five starts, he's
pitching, he's pitching really,
really well.
Again, the strikeout numbers are
back, the swing and Miss is back
, um, having that cutter, uh, to
go to, uh, to set up the slider
and pair off the, the sinker, uh
, has been, has been huge for
him.
And, um, it's been really
awesome to watch him, you know,
grow over the course of the
season.
Um And, um, you know, return to
form here these last four or
five times out.
You already praised Mackenzie
Gore.
Let's go a little deeper on him.
Arguably the highest profile
pitcher on your staff coming off
a great start against the
Marlins Wednesday going six
innings just one run allowed.
Nine.
K's something interesting with
him is it looks like he's
striking out slightly fewer
hitters this season, but
managing contact quality, much
better statcast powered by
Google Cloud, take a look,
strikeout rate down about a
percentage point, but the exit
velocity is down two miles an
hour and the barrel rate has
been cut nearly in half.
Was that an intentional change?
Are those two things linked up?
Um No, I don't think those two
things are, are we were like a
goal that we had for him.
Um, you know, I think even the,
the numbers last year Mackenzie
had, um, you know, really good
exit velocity numbers, really
good barrel percentage numbers.
He's got electric stuff, so he's
, he's gonna miss barrels, um,
if he's executing his stuff.
Um I think this, the strikeouts
being down, you know, we
mentioned he went through a bit
of AAA rough patch here in the
middle of the season.
Um, and his last few times out,
the strikeouts are back.
Um, you know, one thing that we
have worked with Mackenzie on is
, is the the usage, the pitch
usage, um, how he's mixing his
pitches.
Um, and Then ultimately, like,
uh, maybe a bit of a, an old
school thought, but it still
holds true is his ability to
control counts.
Um, you know, getting ahead and
counts, uh, early winning the
race to two strikes and being
able to get there by, you know,
mixing his pitches, not being
predictable with his mix.
Um, you know, his last few times
out, the mix has been a lot
better.
He's attacking hitters and, you
know, when he gets to two
strikes, the strikeouts are
going to be there for him, uh
because this stuff is so good.
So, um, um, you know, that
wasn't AAA conscious thing.
I think that's a, um, you know,
a byproduct of Mackenzie's, you
know, willingness and, and
mindset there on attacking
hitters and trying to get guys
out early in less than three
pitches.
And Then if you end up in a two
strike count, that's when you go
for the strikeout, let's go
broader picture.
Do, uh, as a staff, you guys
have the second largest decrease
in walk rate from last year to
this year.
That's a huge accomplishment.
Is it as simple as, and we saw
it the signs in, in spring
training, you know, I don't care
how fast you throw ball four,
right?
Is it as simple as that sign?
And that mentality, um I mean,
it can be for some guys,
everybody's every pitcher is
different.
But, um, you know, that was a
big theme for us in spring
training.
It's a big theme for us, you
know, throughout the season
where we're tracking, um, we're
not necessarily tracking our
walks, right.
But we have process goals set up
where, you know, we're trying to
go 01, we're trying to win 11
count.
Um We're keeping track of the
amount of times that, you know,
we, we get wins in two strike
counts.
Um We're, we're trying to Hammer
those things home.
Um So guys understand the value
of controlling counts and um you
know, being able to put yourself
in a position to succeed where
you're not letting the hitter um
you know, have a leg up on you
or, or get too comfortable in
the box.
Um And Then, you know, ok, so
it's like, ok, yeah, we wanna go
, oh we wanna go 01 and we want
to win the 11 count and Then for
each guy, we're trying to bring
them things.
Um You know, maybe it's some
analytical stuff where we're
showing them where their stuff
plays best in the zone.
Um You know what they expected.
Well, our expected slug is on
certain pitches in certain
spots.
Um Maybe we're using the, the
high speed gig aitch cameras
that we have at Nats Park to
create some overlays and show
them how their pitches interact