Touki used his SI about 2x as often as his FA last night. That was wise given the fact the SI is a much better pitch than the FA, but the FA should probably be scrapped altogether since it has such poor rise it is effectively a SI. Problem is, he was down to an average velocity of 92.5 mph, which is below MLB average these days. Why the Braves allow pitchers to continue using fastball variants with poor shapes is beyond me...they certainly have access to this data, and someone in the organization certainly knows these things.
The excellent downer CU is still there, and is still his best pitch. It has lost some movement, so isn't the cartoon pitch it used to be, but it's still plus-plus.
As has been the case since his debut, the Splitter acting as a CH is the key to him turning the lineup over multiple times. Well, that and his control/execution, obviously.
Like all pitchers, Touki is in a race between "learning how to pitch" and his stuff deteriorating. His velocity/movement numbers show the stuff is losing its edge as he ages, so hopefully the learning is taking place to counteract that.
