Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi throws to the New York Yankees in the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez/AP
Ever since arriving, Nathan Eovaldi has been the Rangers’ pitching magician, pulling one excellent performance after another out of his hat and producing new pitches out of nowhere.
And now for his latest trick: He’s made the fastball disappear.
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At least those of the traditional variety.
Through his first six starts of the year, Eovaldi has thrown the four-seam and two-seam (sinker) fastballs only 19.7% of the time. It’s the lowest usage for those two pitches combined among the 93 pitchers with at last 500 pitches thrown this season. Most guys are fastball-curve-changeup guys; Eovaldi has evolved into a splitter-cutter-curveball guy.
That was plainly evident again in his seven shutout innings against the New York Yankees on Wednesday, in which he threw the two pitches a total of just 15 times, 10 four-seamers and five sinkers. He has thrown 10 or fewer four-seamers four times in a start of at least 75 pitches in his career; all of them have occurred in 2026.
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“I feel like when I do throw my fastball, I give up hits with it,” he said Wednesday. “I feel like I located it well to [Cody] Bellinger and he drove it to left field [for a single]. But at the same time, I feel like I’ve got other pitches. I just try to pick and choose the right opportunities to use it.”
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The four-seamer is the easiest pitch to command. Want to get ahead? Conventional wisdom is to turn to a first-pitch four-seamer. Need to get back in the count? Four-seamer. As recently as 2024, it was still Eovaldi’s predominant pitch.
But if there has been one issue that has stunted Eovaldi’s start this year, it’s the home run. He’s allowed nine of them in seven outings this year, four of them on early-count four-seamers. In his previous outing against Sacramento, Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom jumped on first-pitch fastballs for homers.
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, bottom, reacts after giving up a three run home run to Athletics’ Carlos Cortes (26) during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, April 24, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Julio Cortez/AP
Eovaldi’s got such a wide arrange of pitches it’s hard to key on anything. So, maybe hitters are expecting they’ll get one fastball an at-bat and locking in on it. Seems to make sense. Even last year, one of every five pitches was a four-seamer.
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So, after the homer barrage in his previous start, how did Eovaldi respond? He threw two first-pitch four-seamers, both out of the zone. It was also the fewest times he’s gone to the pitch with an 0-0 count in a start (minimum 75 pitches) in his career.
For Eovaldi, it was a relatively easy fix. Since coming to the Rangers in 2023, he’s made the splitter his predominant pitch, but he’s also increased cut fastball usage to over 20% of the time, too. On Wednesday, he used the splitter 41 times, fourth most number he’s ever thrown in a game, and the cutter 29 times, the most he’s used it in a single game in nearly six years.
It left the Yankees guessing, with no crutch to hone in on.
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“This is who he is,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “This is more of who he’s going to be the rest of the year. The cutter was super effective, and the split is where he wanted it. And I think that was the difference maker of the execution of the other pitches, which he’s been used to having the last few years. He just didn’t have it for a couple starts.”
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“I feel like the splitter was relatively easy to fix,” Eovaldi said of adjustments he made between the four-homer game against the A’s and the four singles allowed to the Yankees. “I just felt like I wasn’t really getting good extension on it, so they weren’t floating in there as well. I got my arm a little higher today and I was able to get down on the splitter and finish that pitch well. And again, like I said, when I have that pitch working, I feel like I’m going to be in a good position. I go out there and have success.”
For most pitchers, everything works off their fastball. Bad news for opposing teams who thought that was the one place they could attack Eovaldi. That chance may have come and gone.