On Thursday, the Cleveland Indians fortified their bullpen by acquiring relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Francisco Mejia.
The trade closes the book on Hand's time in San Diego, which resulted in a ridiculous return on investment for the Padres. Remember, A.J. Preller claimed Hand off waivers from the Miami Marlins in April 2016 to no fanfare. At the time, he was a 26-year-old with a career 4.71 ERA in nearly 300 big-league innings. Hand would go on to strike out nearly 12 batters per nine during his time with the Padres, but with he finished with Miami sporting a strikeout rate below six.
With Hand headed to Cleveland, this is a good and proper time to revisit how he developed from an afterthought of a waiver claim into one of the top lefty relievers in the game.
During Charlie Morton's All-Star Game media availability session, he talked about how he used to consider his best pitch his sinker located in spots where it enabled him to get early outs. Once Morton signed with the Houston Astros, they urged him to prioritize pitches that generated the most whiffs-per-swing. Morton has since embraced the strategy to great success, noting that he sometimes feels disappointed when his sinker results in a groundout instead of a whiff.
Hand's ascension seems due in part to a similar tale.
For as hard as it is to believe now, Hand didn't always have his trademark slider. He developed it with the help of pitching coach Chuck Hernandez in 2015. Hand didn't throw the pitch much that season overall (less than 10 percent of his pitches were sliders), but he showed more confidence with it as the year progressed. Even in a small sample, the results were encouraging, with batters hitting .233 against it and whiffing on 41 percent of their swings, per Brooks Baseball.
Hand joined the Padres the following April and, wouldn't you know it, he took to embracing his slider. His usage rate increased throughout his time in San Diego, moving from 31 percent in 2016 to 44 percent in 2017 to 55 percent in 2018. Batters saw more sliders, but they didn't get any more comfortable against the pitch, missing on at least 40 percent of swings in each year.
Obviously other aspects played into Hand's turnaround, too -- he'd probably credit feeling more at ease with his mechanics and getting a consistent opportunity in the majors. But, as he makes his way to Cleveland, it just goes to show that sometimes that new pitch can be the difference between washing out of the majors and serving as a key addition during a pennant race.
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