Cardinals closer adding new weapon to repertoire

Pitchers have been in Spring Training for a little more than a week but got their first taste of live matchups against their teammates. St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, fresh off of a franchise-record season, opened some eyes during his first session.

While Helsley has been no stranger to touching triple digits with his electric fastball, pitchers do not typically display their midseason velocity during the early days of camp. This was not the case for the righty, as he approached 100mph while facing his Cardinals teammates. Matthew Liberatore, one of the many candidates for the team's fifth rotation spot but better suited for the bullpen, watched Helsley's performance from behind the pitcher's mound. Lineup mainstays Lars Nootbaar and Alec Burleson were around as Libby announced his velocities, noting that the closer did not just touch the upper-90s, but rather sat 98mph during his workout.

Even after being named the National League's Reliever of the Year after compiling 49 saves, Helsley was not done trying to make himself an even more dominant closer. During his offseason training at home in Oklahoma, the 30-year-old dug back into his old bag of tricks and attempted to bring out the cutter that he has mostly abandoned since his time in the minors. Helsley has mostly been a two-pitch pitcher, using his blazing fastball 45% of the time to build off of his electric slider which he used 48% of the time. The plan for the righty is to unleash his new weapon against Cardinals hitters during his live matchups and fine-tune the best time to use it in his big spots.

Last season, Helsley featured a curveball that had different break and trajectory than his power slider. If he can add an effective cutter, that gives opposing hitters an additional pitch to have to worry about while they already have to deal with the potential of a triple-digit fastball heading their way. A cutter for Helsley would most likely sit in the mid-90s, a few ticks up from his 90mph slider. Even with the high-octane fastball, hitters tallied a .276 batting average on the pitch and Helsley only received whiffs 18% of the time, compared to 51% with his slider. Working with another high-velocity pitch could bring his fastball back to his 2023 numbers when hitters only hit .224 with a 24% whiff rate against the four-seamer.

Helsley had potential as a starter in the minors, so it made more sense for him to have a four-pitch mix, as he would have to face hitters multiple times throughout a game. As a closer, however, if all went well in his outings, he would rarely have to dive further past his two pitches to nail down a win. While hitters seeing 100mph fastballs is becoming more common, the flamethrower decided that it may be worth losing a couple miles per hour on another pitch as a middle ground between his fastball and slider.

Yankees legend and unanimous Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera was known for his almost-exclusive use of his cutter that sat around 92mph. If Helsley can successfully re-establish his old weapon, it is very possible that he could see an uptick in his already dominant numbers.