MIAMI – Trevor Megill was no different than fans back home watching Coleman Crow make his big-league debut, learning in real time about the young right-hander’s pitch mix and witnessing how he turned the strike zone into a tic-tac-toe board.
“I was stretching out for most of it, but I got to watch for a couple full innings,” Megill said. “And when I finally started to watch what he was doing from the broadcast view, I was like holy [expletive], man, he’s got good stuff. He really does. That sinker and curveball mix is nasty.
“Just good talent. He’s an example of what the Brewers do.”
Crow’s MLB debut, which spanned 5 ⅔ innings and saw him surrender two runs with four strikeouts in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 7-4 win in extra innings over the Miami Marlins, was, as Megill put it, nasty.
The 5-foot-10 right-hander isn’t overpowering anyone. His fastball, even with the bonus of debut-game adrenaline that had him shaking in the dugout like an overcaffeinated toddler, averaged just 91.4 mph. He got just three total swings and misses all night.
BOX SCORE: Brewers 7, Marlins 5 (10 innings)
Yet this start was the perfect depiction of what Crow does well.
He’s an elite spinner of the baseball and is able to generate massive movement in all sorts of different directions. Crow’s cutter, a new pitch he added last year that helped take his game to another level, averaged 2,936 rpm, making it the highest-spinning cutter in all of Major League Baseball this year.
“It’s been really good,” Crow said of the cutter. “Having it to play off that two-seam, the shapes complement each other, one going east, one going west. It’s one of my best in-zone pitches. I command it really well. It’s not straight, obviously. It’s off the[four-seam] fastball and I throw it hard.
“I feel like it’s my bread and butter.”
Hearing Crow give that title to his cutter was fascinating, because for the longest time the curveball, another wicked spinner, had it.
The curveball – don’t get it twisted – is probably still Crow’s best pitch because its massive two-plane movement gets it more whiffs than any of his other offerings, but Crow’s ability to command his cutter to both righties and lefties makes it integral.
The first two outs of the game for Crow came on the cutter, and he didn’t stop chucking it. It was his most-utilized pitch at 30% usage.
“I want him to understand he can pitch in the big leagues,” manager Pat Murphy said.
Crow’s first “welcome to the big leagues” moment was an unusual one.
It wasn’t, like it is for most pitchers, a homer or seeing a star step into the box, but rather an awkward play at first on the first batter he faced that forced a trainer out of the dugout. Rest assured, though, Crow was fine; he just clipped the base in an uncomfortable way after having to stretch for the throw from first baseman Jake Bauers.
In an unexpected way, though, that helped Crow settle in. He got Xavier Edwards to pop up to third base for the second out, then a Sal Frelick diving catch in right sent Crow back to the dugout where he could finally take a breath.
“I was super nervous,” Crow said. “I was super jittery. After that first, I feel like I was on cruise control. Filling up the zone, making pitches.
“It was really fun tonight.”
The plan coming in for Crow was to fill the zone, both in part because that’s his strength and the Marlins as a unit don’t chase much.
“This Miami team is very – they’re ‘control the zone’ guys,” pitching coach Jim Henderson said before the game. “They don’t chase a lot. You throw a lot of strikes. You get after it. You don’t really need to get a lot of chase. He’s a strike thrower and he can manipulate the baseball – hopefully off the barrel.”
Crow had no problems executing the plan. He lived in the zone, finishing with a 71% strike rate and throwing 14 of 21 first pitches for strikes, and he stayed off the barrel with his heavy-moving pitches, allowing only four base hits and five hard-hit balls.
“I learned to just trust [catcher] William [Contreras] and my stuff plays in-zone,” Crow said. “I don’t have to necessarily throw strike-to-ball pitches. I can beat big leaguers in-zone and with quality pitches. That’s what I learned tonight.
“I’m not the hardest thrower but I have a bunch of different types of pitch shapes. It’s trusting that executing in a certain spot in-zone is going to play.”
Crow and Contreras did an excellent job of reading Miami’s swings all night. That’s a recipe for success when you have pitches that move as much as Crow’s do – between his two-seamer and sweeper, he generated four feet of horizontal movement difference.
“I love it,” Contreras said. “I love that kind of stuff, those pitchers that throw the four-seam, two-seam to both sides. I love calling pitches for those guys.”
More than anything, Murphy noted, what stood out was Crow’s poise on the mound and conviction in his pitches. It remains to be seen how long Crow remains with the Brewers, including if it’s even 24 hours.
“But there’s no question that the Brewers came away impressed, both with what he can do as a pitcher and who he is on the mound.
“This guy,” pitching coach Chris Hook said, “he’s got some chutzpah to him.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What did we learn about Coleman Crow in his debut? He’s got ‘chutzpah’ and nasty stuff
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
