Jose Quintana dominates in his Chicago Cubs debut, breaking down his impressive start
Jose Quintana was absolutely dominant on Sunday in his Chicago Cubs debut. Let’s take a deeper look into his successful start.
The Chicago Cubs had a great weekend. Coming off of a tough first half, the Cubs started the second half off right with a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. It was undoubtedly great to see the Cubs offense explode with 27 runs during the three-game set, but the performance of newly acquired pitcher Jose Quintana is the story of the weekend.
The Cubs traded for Quintana last Thursday, making a rare deal with their cross-town rivals, the Chicago White Sox. Quintana has been one of the most consistent pitchers in the American League in recent years and will undoubtedly be a major part of any Cubs run in 2017 and beyond.
The newest Cub made his team debut against the Orioles on Sunday and it went about as well as anybody could have possibly expected. Quintana picked up the win for the Cubs, as they cruised to an easy 8-0 victory. He pitched seven shutout innings, only allowing three hits on the day. He struck out 12 batters and did not walk a single one.
The newest North Sider had the Orioles completely fooled all afternoon, putting up a better performance than anyone could have expected. In this one start alone, Quintana’s ERA went from a 4.49 to a 4.20. Simply put, Quintana was brilliant on Sunday afternoon and it is a great sign for the Chicago Cubs going forward.
Quintana is not a pitcher who gets by on elite stuff. He is a control/command guy who pounds the strike zone and keeps hitters off balance. However, Quintana brought his “A” game on Sunday and the results were incredibly impressive.
Looking at the numbers
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According to Brooks Baseball, Quintana had an average four-seam fastball velocity of 93.6 MPH. He also threw his single fastest pitch of the season at 95.4 MPH. Quintana really had his high fastball working on Sunday, seemingly getting a swing and miss on the pitch at any time that he wanted.
Maybe Quintana was just excited for his first start with a new team? It makes sense and it would explain his increased velocity. However, why were the rest of his pitches on point more than the rest of the season too?
Secondary pitches
Quintana threw his changeup at a ridiculous 80% strike rate on Sunday and generated whiffs 20% of the time. Compare that to his season average of 19.87% strike rate and 8.61% whiffs and it is easy to see that Quintana really had his changeup working on Sunday.
The numbers behind his curveball tell a similar story. Quintana threw his curveball for a strike 50% of the time on Sunday. He also produced a ridiculous 34.6% whiff rate with the pitch. On the season, his curveball is a strike 31.54% of the time and the pitch is whiffed on at a 14.1% rate.
Basically, Quintana was throwing his fastball harder than he has all season and producing many more whiffs with his secondary offerings than he has all season. His stuff was top-notch on Sunday and to top it all off, he had incredible control and command of the strike zone.
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The Chicago Cubs saw Quintana at his best on Sunday. He worked both sides of the plate, had the high fastball working and used his secondary pitches to perfection. He is not going to be this great every time out. That being said, it is okay to be excited about this incredible start. Jose Quintana is undoubtedly going to be a major contributor for the Cubs down the stretch.