SAN FRANCISCO — The fastball that Kyle Harrison threw to Randal Grichuk in the first inning was poorly located, but when the lefty is at his best, he can get away with pitching in the zone. The Giants saw that about exactly a year ago, when Harrison made his home debut and dazzled, striking out 11 Cincinnati Reds.
He threw 62 fastballs that night and topped out at 96 mph. He averaged 94.3 mph, but on Tuesday, he never saw a four at the end of the radar reading. While giving up a career high-tying six earned runs, Harrison averaged 91.2 mph and topped out at 93.2. Grichuk hit a two-run blast on a heater that came in at 91.8.
If this were just one game, the Giants and Harrison could chalk it up to fatigue or perhaps just an off night. But Harrison’s velocity is down about one mph overall despite an offseason of work in the weight room, and he has had several starts in the second half when it has been noticeably diminished. It’s an issue that the 23-year-old admitted is starting to wear on him.
“I’m not really used to that my whole career. I definitely don’t want to see it at this stage and at this point of my life, so I’m definitely pissed off about that, just because I know it’s not the work — I’ve been working my butt off,” Harrison said. “We’re just going to try to figure it out. I’ve got a couple of starts left so let’s do it, why not? I’ll keep a positive mentality.”
The six earned in Tuesday’s 8-7 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks put a dent in his overall statistics, but in his first full MLB season, Harrison has shown plenty of promise. Aside from a freak ankle injury he has been durable, and while his ERA is 4.56 and his FIP is 4.34, that’s just fine for a young pitcher making his first tour of the majors. Logan Webb had a 5.22 ERA as a rookie and a 5.47 the next year, when he was the same age Harrison is now. Robbie Ray had a strong rookie season in Arizona nearly a decade ago, but posted a 4.90 ERA as a sophomore.
The Giants aren’t going to sweat the results with Harrison, but they would like a clearer picture of why he isn’t quite able to dial it back as he did last year and in the minors, when he regularly hit 95-96 mph, especially because Harrison’s arm has been healthy.
“We look at it all the time as far as mechanics goes. Maybe it’s getting to where it’s fatigue right now, but it was down on the road trip [through Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.] and then once we got home it picked up again,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll continue to monitor it and see what we think going forward. It’s also good that he’s pitching at times without his best stuff and he’s trying to finish a full season. He has kind of gone back and forth with the velo.”
Harrison has at least a couple of starts left, and they’re important. The Giants would like to get his innings, already a career-high, up to the point where he can really push it next season. Harrison follows Webb closely, and you can bet he wants to soon graduate to the point where he’s also chasing 200-inning seasons.
It would be a lot easier with his old fastball, although even with this version, Harrison has at times been very effective. The pitch ranks in the 90th percentile in Baseball Savant’s run value, and opposing hitters are batting .244 off of it. Harrison’s extension and delivery still give him an edge, although he’d like more than that. When the fastball was in the mid-90s, it was downright overpowering.
Harrison said the downturn is not due to fatigue. One of the fixes is perhaps a simple one.
“I think the mental side is a big part of it, and it’s [about] really having that full conviction behind every pitch,” he said. “I’m just going to work my butt off to get to that point again.”
The Giants have no doubt of that. Harrison was in the gym as soon as his first taste of the big leagues was over, but last offseason his main focus was fine-tuning a five-day routine so that he could spend a whole season in a big league rotation. If he doesn’t quite get there, it won’t be because of the preparation, but rather because of understandable caution from a franchise that dropped to three games under .500 and 10 games out of third place in the NL West with Tuesday’s loss.
There won’t be October baseball at Oracle Park, but Harrison plans to be busy. The velocity is something he isn’t happy about, and he’s eager to dig a bit deeper this winter.
“It gives me a lot to look forward to,” Harrison said. “I know how good I can be. I just didn’t have my stuff tonight but you’ve got to have it, there’s no excuse for that. Going into this offseason we’re going to work on a lot. I definitely learned a lot this year. [Today] was just a crappy day.”
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