Last night Daniel Corcino stepped in to make a spot start for Mat Latos (bone bruise) on short notice. The 23-year-old right hande needed just 79 pitches to get through 6.0 innings before exiting the game. He allowed two runs on two hits, a walk and he struck out four Brewers.
The start came a full week after his last appearance on September 5th, so he had plenty of rest to work with. For the past few years Corcino has been inconsistent with the strikezone, but last night, for the most part at least, he was able to find the strikezone often as he threw 52 strikes in his 79 pitches.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the Pitch F/X data from the start.
| Pitch | avg Velo | Top Velo | Usage | Whiffs |
| 4-Seamer | 90.6 | 92.9 | 34% | 0 |
| 2-Seamer | 89.0 | 90.8 | 14% | 1 |
| Change Up | 84.1 | 86.4 | 10% | 0 |
| Slider | 81.5 | 86.1 | 42% | 7 |
Corcino mixed in his two and four-seam fastballs 48% of the time during the start. The four-seamer has some cutting action to it, but it has some rising action to it as well which is what gets it classified more as a four-seamer than as a cutter. He relied heavily on his slider in the game, going to it more than any one pitch, though he found success on it as he got seven swings-and-misses on the pitch in the game. The change up was the least used pitch, though it was more than a “show-me” pitch.
The key for Corcino is to be able to find the strikezone. When he can do that he has the stuff to succeed. On Friday night he found the strikezone often and showed plenty of success. If Mat Latos misses any more starts we could see Corcino get another shot at things and see if he can carry the success from last night forward.