Posted by bad_luck on 8/21/2016 12:35:00 AM (view original):
Not at all. I just don't know if inducing weak contact at that rate is a skill that Britton developed this year or if it's just a fluke.
As I suspect you know, or at least presume, this is a skill that Britton has always had at a fairly high level. In 2014 he led the league in soft contact and was 10th in hard contact. In 2015 he was 4th in hard contact and got the most soft contact again. And this year he's 4th in soft contact and up to first in hard contact. The overall numbers have been getting a little bit better year over year, but his pitching style has been changing too, so it's possible those are real gains.
The simplest change has been that he's throwing harder every year as he gets more accustomed to 1-inning appearances. The other thing is that he's recognized that he can throw more pitches below the strike zone with his amount of sink. He's throwing fewer strikes every season, and this year has gotten to the point that he's one of only 2 pitchers in baseball who throws fewer than 40% of his pitches for strikes. So I would imagine both of those things contribute to drawing weaker contact.