Checking in on pitchers of interest: Parker Messick, Emmet Sheehan, José Soriano

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Frank Jansky (Icon Sportswire) / Getty Images Share articleEarly this season, three pitchers have had unexpected results that really stand out. Parker Messick is performing at an ace level, using deception as his primary weapon; Emmet Sheehan is struggling to miss bats; and José Soriano is switching up his sequencing and plan of attack to better utilize his mix. In this column, I’m digging deeper to see what is leading to these pitchers’ results so far. Messick lacks as plus pitch and doesn’t feature overpowering stuff. Yet, he has a 1.76 ERA with 29 strikeouts and eight walks through five games (30.2 IP) against mostly strong lineups (Dodgers, Cubs, Braves, Orioles, Astros). While his most recent start Tuesday night wasn’t his best of the season, how he’s achieving mostly good early results is interesting. Messick works extremely fast on the mound. There is very little time between each pitch. As a result, he can disrupt a hitter’s routine, limit their mid-at-bat adjustments, and force them to make quick decisions. From a hitter’s perspective, it feels like you have two strikes before you’ve even settled in. Messick is a deceptive lefty who shows his back to the hitter, hides the ball well and has slight crossfire action. He has unique pitch movement with large gaps between his spin-based movement (at pitch release) and his observed movement (when the pitch crosses the plate). The numbers in the table above are times, using the clock to account for orientation, as in the example below: Messick’s deviation leads to varying movement by the time the ball crosses the plate. Hitters may think they know how a certain pitch will move, but then it moves differently, making it much harder for them to make quality contact. Messick throws six pitches: four-seamer (93.5 mph), sinker (92.5 mph), cutter (90.8 mph), changeup (85.2 mph), slider (86.9 mph) and curveball (79 mph). Overall, he throws in all quadrants of the zone and throws out of zone frequently to generate chase. He is not afraid to attack hitters inside. Against righties, he uses his four-seamer up in the zone and above the zone as his primary fastball (35.1% of the time). He tunnels it with his changeup (28.9%) away. He mixes his curveball (12.5%) down and in. The cutter (14.4%) is a new pitch for him in 2026, and he’s been using it up and in. Against lefties, he leans on the sinker as his primary fastball (26.6% of the time) and throws it in. He throws his slider (28%) away and his four-seamer (24.5%) in the upper half. He also occasionally throws his curveball (9.8%) and changeup (10.5%) low. Even when Messick’s command is not pinpoint, he generally doesn’t get hurt due to all of the other deceptive factors described above. Messick does a good job of getting ahead in the count, while also generating chase at an above-average rate. When he throws in-zone, he gives up contact more than average, but is doing a great job of limiting quality contact. Messick is not overpowering hitters, but he is successful because the deception in his delivery and pitch movement is allowing his stuff to play up. Because of Messick’s deception, tempo, and approach, he has been successful facing teams with quality lineups. However, there is some risk to his profile. Generally, pitchers who don’t overpower hitters struggle over time with contact quality and missing mats. Coming off a strong 2025 performance, Sheehan is off to a shaky start this season with a 5.85 ERA, 18 Ks and eight BBs through four games (20 IP). Here are three things I’ve noticed so far: Against righties, his plan of attack remains strong. On his first pitch, he goes heavily to his four-seam before leaning more on the slider. He uses it when he’s ahead in the count, but he’s also not afraid to throw it when he’s behind in the count. In two-strike counts, he mixes the slider (46%), four-seam (32%) and changeup (23%) to keep hitters guessing. He works up with the four-seam, away with the slider and in with the changeup. Sheehan’s stat line is inflated this season because he’s struggled against lefties. He’s historically had issues against lefties, but he’s been more exposed this season with lefty-heavy matchups and a small overall sample size. Looking at his plan of attack against lefties, Sheehan leans primarily on his four-seam and changeup in all counts: An issue with this plan of attack is that the four-seam is not performing well. Against lefties, the four-seam has a 1.114 xSLG and only a 6% put-away rate. While the results speak for themselves, the major issue is that Sheehan doesn’t have consistent control of the pitch. It is often running up arm-side well out of the zone. As a result, his changeup cannot play as well, and there is more pressure on the slider to mitigate hitters. Ideally, if he can improve the control of his four-seam, his changeup will be more effective. From there, he has the slider (which has been an effective pitch versus lefties), and he can mix in the occasional curveball. Soriano looks like a different pitcher in 2026 with a 0.28 ERA, 39 Ks and 13 BBs through five starts (32.2 IP). While his results over the past few seasons looked more like those of a mid- or back-of-the-rotation starter, Soriano is now performing like an ace because of changes he made to his pitch mix and plan of attack. Soriano already had the tools for success. He throws five pitches: a 97 mph sinker, 86 mph curveball, 98 mph four-seam, 93 mph splitter and 91 mph slider. All of those offerings have above-average velocity. The sinker and the splitter feature plus depth, while the curveball features plus sweep. The inconsistency in his results stemmed from how he was attacking hitters. Versus both hands in 2025, Soriano attacked almost exclusively low in-zone. In 2026, his mix looks very different versus both hands. He uses the sinker as his primary fastball, but significantly reduced the usage in favor of throwing the four-seam: This has allowed Soriano to more consistently utilize the upper half of the zone. This is important because it prevents hitters from hunting down in the zone. By changing eye level more frequently, he’s been getting more whiff and more chase. With a sinker- and curveball-heavy approach in 2025, Soriano had a high ground-ball rate. Now that he is reducing the usage of these pitches, he’s getting more strikeouts. Even with the pitch mix adjustments, Soriano still has below-average control. However, an increased chase rate is a positive sign that he is still throwing to competitive locations even when throwing out of zone. This new approach and plan of attack for Soriano suits him well and allows his stuff to play better. He is transitioning from a ground-ball pitcher to someone who can consistently miss bats. Caleb Durbin is off to a rough start with the Red Sox with a .475 OPS in 80 PA. There are issues with his mechanics and his approach that are limiting his offensive production. TJ Rumfield is a player worth monitoring because of his contact skills, approach and ability to translate power into games despite having below-average raw power. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms