Chicago is currently recuperating from the electric atmosphere that was Game 3 in Chicago. The Indians are preparing for John Lackey the guile-rich right handed starter.
At 38, Lackey is in the twilight of a quietly outstanding big league career. He is yet another Cubs starter outperforming his FIP by a significant margin—it turns out great defense makes good pitching even better. For Lackey and his 3.35 ERA, there are some surfacing issues, his walk rate was the highest it has been in six years.
Lackey does a decent job with the running game but allowed 15 out of 20 attempted steals to be successful. Every Cubs starter can be run on with the key being the Indians need to get on base with greater frequency and then play up this strength.
WFNY’s projected Cleveland Indians Game 3 lineup with wRC+ against RHP:
- Santana 122 S
- Kipnis 123 L
- Lindor 119 S
- Napoli 115 R
- Ramirez 100 S
- Chisenhall 102 L
- Naquin 138 L
- Perez 84 R
- Kluber R
Lackey uses three pitches predominantly four-seam fastball, slider, and sinker.
Courtesy of Brooks Baseball
One of the impressive parts of Lackey’s career has been has ability to maintain velocity. Lackey sits between Hendricks and Arrieta in terms of velocity but without the top end that can give the Indians trouble.
Courtesy of Brooks Baseball
While Lackey’s four-seam fastball is important for setting up the rest of his arsenal it is not a particularly good offering, allowing a wRC+ against of 116, essentially making the offering average to below average.
Courtesy of Brooks Baseball
Lackey’s usage against left handed hitters makes it pretty easy to tell the issues with his fastball. Lackey throwing a lot of belt high fastballs is a pretty significant command issue for Lackey.
Because of where it Lackey misses, I am not going to overlap an Indians hitter who can beat Lackey’s fastball because most of them can handle mistakes. Lackey is going to miss over the middle a couple of times with a 92-93 MPH fastball, the question is, will that Indians hitter punish the mistake? The answer: It’s baseball we have no idea.
The next pitch is Lackey’s slider, his best offering.
Courtesy of Brooks Baseball
Everything is down when it comes to Lackey’s slider. Lackey consistently induces chase below the strike zone.
Jason Kipnis is one guy who could punish a Lackey slider if he misses on the plate. But below the plate this pitch is tough to hit, Kipnis has to be disciplined enough to pick a spot on the plate to look slider.
Courtesy of Brooks Baseball
Another sinker playoff pitcher with high sinker usage, how exciting!
Courtesy of Brooks Baseball
Santana, Kipnis, Lindor, Chisenhall can all handle this offering especially with how frequently he throws it belt high on the plate.
Lackey is not a daunting matchup for the Indians offense but they have to execute plate appearances which has been a struggle at times this postseason. Lackey is going to leave enough pitches over the plate for the Indians to score, for the Indians to win this series they are going to have to take advantage.
