I think it’s 100% as simple as Meche is trying harder. He’s studying batter tendancies more. He’s thinking a little bit harder about what pitches he wants. He’s focused more on the mound.

I mean, let’s face it – Meche was professionally stagnating on the mound. He’d settled into a rut that wasn’t particularly good, but would keep him in a job.

There is also the Seattle Curse: Free Agents that arrive in Seattle invariably drop off the table (See Mitchell, Kevin) and those that leave see their careers take off.

I’d love to post a clip to make it visible, but capturing mlb’s MMS stream and posting it on youtube is probably highly illegal. I’ll see what I can do.

Moreover, though, if that’s the case, that’s a fairly dramatic change to his approach, and I don’t understand why it hasn’t received any press. I’ve been reading up trying to find information on this, and all I’ve found is the mechanical tinkering.

Throwing a slider would certainly be consistent with inducing more groundballs.

To anyone with knowledge of such things: is KC somewhat of a hitter’s park?

Quick example: look through his K’s on opening day, 4/2/07. Some of those are definitely new.

My guess is he brought back the slider that he used to throw much earlier in his career, and with his newfound mechanical consistency, is really making it work for him.

If you look at Meche’s FIP, you find he’s at 3.63, nowhere near his 1.92 ERA. The reason for the difference is Meche’s LOB%, which is a flukey-high 82.3% right now. In past years he was typically around 70%, which is roughly league average.

BTW, that FIP of 3.63 (if it holds up) is a run better than any he posted in the last 3 years. The reason for that is the reduced walk rate, which according to THT’s stat page, amounts to 1.5 fewer walks per game.