Ahhh.
Let's hope that it's not an issue. Supposedly he was throwing in the mid 80s because he hadnt "dialed it up."
But like I said, I'm just glad Wood has his velocity back so that the velocity struggles only lie with ONE pitcher (because Kazmir's velo has been dipping down slightly year after year)...and I saw it with my own eyes...but here...
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/welcome-back-alex-wood/Even better, fangraphs profiles his problems as coming from his dip in velo the last year.
Profile: Wood fell several levels from his lofty 2014 perch, as his 25% strikeout rate cratered (17%) and his 80% strand rate normalized (73%). The losses all came from the fastball. The velocity on the fastball dropped another tick it could ill-afford to lose, falling to 89-90 mph on average. Batters went from not really chasing it at all in 2014 (20%, good for 59th out 62 SPs w/1500 fastballs thrown) to eww-get-it-away-from-me-now (16%, 60th of 61) in 2015. The result was almost a 100-point jump in OPS off of the pitch. The changeup wasn't great in '14, but contributed a bit to that big strikeout rate. It was worthless as a strikeout offering in '15, though, with the 5% whiff rate ranking dead-last among the 45 pitchers who threw at least 400 of them. The curveball was still good, but not elite, and the troubles with the other pitches limited the impact of the hammer. Ground balls might end up being his key to success because it's hard to envision the fastball reaching those 2014 heights again, which brings the ceiling down substantially. If he can churn out a 55%+ kind of groundball rate, it takes the pressure off of him in terms of regaining the lost strikeouts. Maybe he can pattern himself after teammate Brett Anderson -- fewer groundballs, but more strikeouts. (Paul Sporer)
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