This hurler's sweeper made him serious sleeper

DENVER -- Rockies righty reliever Justin Lawrence is happy to be part of a trend that is leaving so many opposition at-bats in the old dustpan.

After two seasons working his way into the Majors -- with high moments interspersed with struggles finding the strike zone -- Lawrence has 14 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched. He tallied four in 2 1/3 innings Thursday night as the Rockies ended their losing streak at eight games by beating the Phillies, 5-0, at Citizens Bank Park.

On Lawrence’s final three strikeouts, the put-away pitch fell into the new, and hot, pitching classification -- the sweeper.

One always hesitates to say anything is a new pitch. Hard-breaking balls from sidearm-ish deliveries have always been around. But with Statcast tools showing more nuance, and with pitchers seeking different pitch actions, the nomenclature of pitchers is evolving. And Lawrence asked Rockies manager of research and development Brittany Haby to see if the pitch formerly known as his slider can take the new name.

Done. Haby requested MLBPitchClass, MLB's official account for updates on pitch types and pitch classifications on Baseball Savant, to switch his slider to a sweeper.

It wasn’t so much Lawrence was feeling left out.

“I just thought it would look cool on the board,” Lawrence said.

Before we go any further, a sweeper is defined as a slider, the pitch that generally breaks down to the pitcher’s glove side, with extreme side-to-side movement. But, somehow, Lawrence’s tweeted explanation seems cooler.

Quite a bit to unpack there. But Lawrence has worked his way into key innings – which were, let’s say, well-spaced during the team’s drought – because it plays off the pitch that paved his way to the Majors in the first place, a sinking fastball.

Lawrence debuted in 2021 with the ability to exceed 100 mph with his fastball. But as last year progressed, he learned that a little less velocity and a little more downward movement made it easier to keep it in the strike zone.

Playing for Panama in the World Baseball Classic, Lawrence showed late-game maturity, and he has kept it going with the Rockies. Six of his eight regular-season outings have been scoreless. Half of his outings have been more than one inning. Lawrence’s length has been valuable because closer Daniel Bard began the year on the injured list, Jake Bird missed much of Spring Training with an oblique injury and Brad Hand signed late in camp and needed time to build his stamina.

Also, the sinker breaks down and to the arm side. When Lawrence is on, a batter has to contend with that pitch to one side and the sweeper, which he can put in the strike zone or have dart so far out of the zone the catcher has to reach for it and the batter can’t reach it.

Name and measure his pitches however you like, as long as they’re strikes.

“We talked about the process from a young pitcher becoming established to becoming consistent to becoming a real performer,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We've seen that with Justin, the natural maturity, confidence, self-belief. All within that is pitching mechanics being consistent -- feeling your body, comfort, heartbeat. All that collectively enables you to become consistent with your repertoire.”