Under the Radar Impactful Starter for the Rays Through the First Half

Corey Kluber has been a very solid starting pitcher for the Rays this season.

Corey Kluber, Nasty 83mph Breaking Ball. 😨

6th K pic.twitter.com/WW1pt7FG2N
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 13, 2022

Signed to a one-year deal worth $8 million, this past offseason, Kluber has been the Rays' most reliable starting pitcher through the first half, behind Shane McClanahan.

The thirty-six year old veteran has pitched 94 innings this season, the most on the Rays pitching staff, behind McClanahan's 110. He's also started 18 games for the team this season, tied for the most on the Rays' pitching staff.

In those 18 games started, Kluber holds a solid 3.73 ERA, with a 1.12 WHIP and 82 strikeouts. He's in the top 3% of the league in BB% with just a 3.9% walk rate.

The veteran is also in the league's 91st percentile in chase rate, with his best pitch being his changeup which Kluber has managed a 38% whiff rate on this season, with hitters batting just .172 on the offspeed pitch.

Kluber has four pitches he utilizes throughout his game. His favorite pitch is his cutter (34.5% usage), followed by his sinker (28% usage), his curveball (27.3) usage, and his changeup (9.5% usage). All these pitches have induced relatively weak average exit velocities, putting Kluber in the 78th percentile league-wide in this range.

In 2022 #Rays starter Corey Kluber has relied on 5 pitches: • Cutter, thrown 34.9% of the time, with an average velocity of 86.2 MPH • Curveball: 27.7%, 80.7 MPH • Sinker: 27.3%, 88.8 MPH • Changeup: 9.4%, 83.1 MPH • 4-Seamer: 0.6%, 89.1 MPH
— Red Sox Nation Stats (@RSNStats) July 12, 2022