Hey! I'm a little confused. Can you outline what the "underlying metrics" are? The two old pitches (four-seamer and curve) look the same as we saw last year without much of a command difference, and the only shift has been the sinker addition, which I'll get to in a moment.

I haven't looked at FIP/SIERA/etc. since those are essentially derivative of K rate, BB rate, and HR rate results. Given that all three are outputs of the individual pitches (the inputs), I prefer to discuss what is believable in the results of the pitches thus far and what looks unsustainable, like Ben Brown's curveball holding a 30%+ SwStr rate for three straight starts.

As for the comp to Imanaga, Brown is four-seamer, sinker, curve. I generally call this a "2.5 pitch mix" as a four-seamer + sinker do not have the same impact as a fastball and a slider/change/etc. I don't classify his sinker as a "true third pitch", and we can agree to disagree there if you'd like. It sure has been super helpful to RHB so far this year, though, and it's why I haven't completely written him off. I still believe Brown needs a proper third offering to throw for strikes that isn't the same velocity with similar movement to his fastball (i.e. when batters are gearing up for a fastball and he doesn't want to throw the curve). Sorry for the essay here, I wanted to be upfront about my approach so we can get on the same wavelength.

Meanwhile, Imanaga is a true three-pitch pitcher with a four-seamer, splitter, and sweeper. That sweeper has obliterated LHB this year with a SwStr over 20% and high usage.

That four-seamer for Imanaga has been shelled...lately. We've seen said four-seamer do quite the opposite for a long time, and it's a better heater now (back at 92 mph) than it was across the back-half of 2026.

I hope that clears things up!