CHICAGO — Detroit Tigers right-hander Chris Paddack is obsessed with throwing strikes — specifically, first-pitch strikes.
The 29-year-old has achieved first-pitch strikes at an 83.1% rate in three starts since the Tigers acquired him from the Minnesota Twins on July 28, three days before the MLB trade deadline.
Paddack delivered first-pitch strikes to 18 of 20 batters against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, Aug. 11, at Rate Field. His 76-pitch performance helped the Tigers to a 2-1 win, as he allowed just one run on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts across 5⅔ innings.
“Overall, I felt great,” Paddack said. “I felt like we did a really good job of executing with two strikes. That was my biggest plan today — executing with two strikes. I thought we did a really good job of getting out of the zone when we needed to.”
Paddack has allowed one run in three of his last four starts, with success against the Los Angeles Dodgers (July 23) before the trade and the Arizona Diamondbacks (July 30) and White Sox (Aug. 11) after the trade.
Facing the White Sox, Paddack issued a rare walk on six pitches with one out in the sixth inning — his first free pass since July 18, when he walked two batters.
“He’s going to pound the zone,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. “That’s the kind of pitcher he is, and he does really well with it. He can throw strikes with any pitch in his arsenal. A big focus today was getting out of the zone with two strikes. He did a great job of it.”
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In 2025, Paddack owns a 4.76 ERA with 28 walks and 92 strikeouts across 126⅔ innings in 24 starts for the Twins (21 starts) and Tigers (three starts). He often gets hit hard for damage, but in his eight starts with zero walks, he has a 3.74 ERA.
He has a 5.29 ERA in his 16 starts with at least one walk.
“As pitchers, I feel like there are very few things that we can control,” Paddack said. “For me, one of those is attacking the zone. We can control that. I love throwing strikes. Teams know that. I take pride in no free passes and first-pitch strikes.”
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Paddack has thrown first-pitch strikes 67.4% of the time this season.
His first-pitch strike rate ranks 14th among 105 pitchers with at least 250 batters faced in 2025, trailing only left-hander Tarik Skubal (69.7%) and right-hander Casey Mize (67.9%) in the Tigers’ rotation. The MLB first-pitch strike average is 61.1%.
Paddack is among the elite in July and August.
Since July 1, Paddack has a 73.3% first-pitch strike rate that trails only St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas (75.2%) and Colorado Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland (73.7%). Their season-long results: Paddack has a 4.76 ERA; Mikolas has a 4.97 ERA; Freeland has a 5.53 ERA.
“It puts you in the driver’s seat,” Paddack said, “and then you can expand once you get to that two-strike count when you have a team or a batter that might be in swing mode after you get them to 0-2 really quickly. Get them in swing mode, and now you can leave the zone on purpose.”
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch explained the value of Paddack throwing first-pitch strikes, even though he relies on inducing contact due to below-average whiff rates.
It’s always best to be ahead 0-1 in the count.
That is Paddack’s speciality.
“The reason he’s so efficient is people try to ambush him because he is so effective in the strike zone,” Hinch said. “It keeps his pitch count down because if they ambush him and get out, which the majority of guys get out, that’s a good thing. If he gets ahead, then it opens up so many different strategies for him to get to the end of the at-bat.”
Paddack learned to throw first-pitch strikes from Connie Cochran, his coach at Cedar Park High School — located 20 miles north of Austin, Texas — before the Miami Marlins selected him in the eighth round of the 2015 draft.
First-pitch strikes have been his primary focus throughout his professional career.
“Sometimes, we make the game harder than it should be,” Paddack said. “Whenever I’m going good, most of the time, those first-pitch strike numbers are going to be north of 75%. You’re not giving away free passes, you’re getting your defense involved, and then the swing-and-miss and strikeouts will come.”
The biggest concern about Paddack is the amount of hard contact he allows. He has been hit hard in all three starts since joining the Tigers, allowing a 96.4 mph average exit velocity on 18 balls in play against the Diamondbacks, 94 mph on 18 balls in play against the Twins and 95.5 mph on 15 balls in play against the White Sox. For reference, the MLB average is 89.4 mph.
Paddack is obsessed with attacking the strike zone.
But that aggressiveness makes him vulnerable.
The formula is dangerous, but he found success against the Diamondbacks and White Sox.
“We definitely preach first-pitch strikes,” Hinch said. “He fits that. He challenges the competition over the plate. The game won and lost over the plate. It’s not won by being afraid of the strike zone.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers’ Chris Paddack explains obsession with throwing first-pitch strikes
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
