Cubs Quick Hits: Dillon Maples’ Hilarious, Video-Game Cutter Movement

Photo of Brendan Miller Brendan MillerSeptember 5, 2017

You saw it, didn’t you? Longtime Cubs prospect Dillon Maples debuted and immediately announced his presence by spinning 88 mph cutters that resembled those of Jake Arrieta or Corey Kluber.

These cutters are no joke. While he has only thrown a handful of pitches, Maples’ cutter movement rankings are ridiculous.

Compared to Jake Arrieta, who more or less made his career by chucking cutters/sliders/slutters, Maples throws the pitch with nearly 144 percent more slicing action. Which means that he has more average horizontal movement than every cutter thrown since 2007. Every. Single. One.

Hold on, we’re not done yet. The sinking action Maples generates with his cutter is also top-tier. Only 0.02 percent of cutters have sunk more than that thrown by the new Cubs reliever.

If these facts about Maples’ cutter haven’t made you giddy, well, I question your baseball fandom. The stuff he has displayed so far is literally some of the best we’ve seen since the advent of such tracking data.

Photo of Brendan Miller Brendan MillerSeptember 5, 2017
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