TEMPE, Ariz. — When Ryan Tepera described the new, slower slider he incorporated in September, he was actually ahead of the game.
These days, it seems just about everyone is adding the pitch they are now calling a “sweeper.” It’s like a hybrid between a curve and slider but with more horizontal movement than what used to be called a slurve.
Tepera started throwing it in September and he’s been refining it all winter.
“I’m excited to be able to use it, to add it to the repertoire,” Tepera said. “I think it’s going to be a huge weapon.”
The Angels signed Tepera to a two-year, $14-million deal just after the lockout ended last spring. He finished the season with a 3.61 ERA in 59 games. Most fans probably figured his numbers were worse because of an impression cemented when he had a 7.24 ERA from May 9 to June 16, right when the Angels’ season turned sour.
“I had a bad stretch the second month of the season when I was inconsistent mechanically and kind of searching for especially with the harder slider,” Tepera said. “I kind of lost feel for that.”
Tepera had made his career on a fastball and a slider, but the difference in velocity from his 92 mph fastball to his 85 mph slider was not enough to really throw hitters off balance.
So in September, Tepera tweaked the grip on his slider to throw an 80-81 mph version of the pitch, one that moved more.
He threw the sweeper 45 times over the last month, getting whiffs on 42.3% of swings at the pitch. Prior to that, hitters whiffed at 40.8% of their swings at his normal slider. Opponents hit .235 when they put the sweeper in play.
Tepera said he plans to throw the slider and the sweeper this season. If he can avoid the bad month he had last year, he would give the Angels a reliable back-end reliever.
Tepera, 35, said his goal is to be the Angels’ closer, even though at this point it looks like newcomer Carlos Estevez is getting the first crack at that job.
“I don’t know of anybody in…
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