The last time that Cincinnati Reds prospect Seth Varner took the mound out in Arizona was on October 26th and things couldn’t have gone much worse for the left hander. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in 2.0 innings and he allowed a home run with just one strikeout (he also walked a batter).
Six days later he got a chance for redemption and he took full advantage of it. Seth Varner carved up the Salt River Rafters for 4.0 innings where he allowed just one hit, no runs, no walks and he struck out six batters before turning the game over to the bullpen. He pounded the strikezone, needing just 42 pitches to complete his outing (31 strikes thrown).
Despite it being a shorter outing he managed a very impressive nine swing-and-miss strikes to go along with eight more called strikes. Of his nine swing-and-miss strikes, six of them came on his change up. The other three came on two fastballs and one slider.
The game was pitched in Salt River where they have the the pitch tracking abilities. The change up was working well on the afternoon, but what was so impressive about it is just how much difference in movement there is. Coming out of the hand it looks like the fastball, but the pitch averaged nearly six inches of extra “sink” compared to the fastball. That’s a big difference, more than most pitchers tend to get. The Rafters hitters had a real problem trying to hit the pitch today. They swung at all 11 of the ones that Seth Varner threw. Three were foul balls, six were the swing-and-miss strikes, one was a ground ball single and the other went for a lazy fly out to left field. Not a bad day for the change up from the left handed starter.