Kevin Gausman’s best weapon is indisputably his splitter, but his four-seam fastball is critical to his success.
The right-hander throws it approximately half the time (between 48.8 and 52.9 percent of the past five seasons), and he needs it to get ahead in counts and establish a legitimate threat his splitter can play off of.
When Gausman had a down year in 2024, one of the most common explanations offered was a dip in his velocity as his average four-seam fell to 94.0 m.p.h., a noticeable decrease from 2023 (94.7 m.p.h.) and 2022 (95.0 m.p.h.).
It wasn’t a shocking decrease for a pitcher in his age-33 season, but it was notable, particularly early in the season when Gausman sat below 93.5 m.p.h. in four of his first…