CLEARWATER, Fla. — Last Monday, switch-hitting Pittsburgh slugger Carlos Santana stepped up to the plate against left-hander José Alvarado in the fourth inning of the Pirates-Phillies Grapefruit League game in Bradenton. The first six pitches of the at-bat went about how you’d expect. Alvarado threw Santana a 98 mph sinker, a 93 mph cutter, two 94 mph cutters, and two more 99 mph sinkers. But then, on the seventh pitch, Alvarado delivered something entirely unexpected: an 88 mph curveball.
Santana took a loopy, lopsided swing at it, missed, and stumbled back to the dugout. As he was walking, he looked back to Alvarado with an air of incredulity. The reliever had thrown 11 curveballs in 2022. He threw 35 in 2021. He threw 23 in 2020. And now, all of a sudden, he was mixing them into spring training games?
The short answer is yes — and hitters are about to see more of it. Alvarado used to throw the curveball with more regularity earlier in his career, and it was an effective pitch. But pitching coach Caleb Cotham quickly realized that when Alvarado did throw it, he would use a different delivery, arching his arm up to try to get on top.
