Nick Pivetta Is A Four-Seam Fanatic

The San Diego Padres have a new gem in their starting rotation, and his name is Nick Pivetta.

Pivetta signed a four-year, $55 million contract with the Padres this past offseason, and the Padres have not looked back. He is currently San Diego’s best pitcher according to fWAR, and has an impressive ERA of 3.16 (3.05 FIP). Off to the best start of his career, Pivetta continues to experiment with the way he pitches, and it's working for him. After recently introducing a sinker in 2024, he is incorporating it, along with his curveball, into his pitch mix.

Pivetta has continued to throw his four-seam fastball at a 0-0 count as the first pitch about half of the time, and batters have definitely caught up to this, as he has given up 12 hits so far this season at a 0-0 count. For reference, the four-seamer is the most commonly thrown pitch in the league due to its velocity and historical effectiveness in missing bats.

Although the four-seamer is the most common pitch, few pitchers throw it more often than Pivetta, with Justin Steele and Spencer Strider each using the four-seamer around 58% of the time. It should be noted that Pivetta's four-seamer is ranked ninth in run value, and as such, he continues to make it his signature pitch, often throwing it consecutively. We may see a decrease in Pivetta’s four-seamer in the future, as he is starting to incorporate his cutter more. So far, Pivetta's cutter has consistently found the strike zone like a magnet. This early success is promising, as Pivetta allowed five home runs, 13 hits, and a .394 batting average off 141 cutters thrown in the 2024 season.

In this heat map graph from Baseball Savant, Nick Pivetta’s four-seamer usage is shown this year. As visible in the graph, a majority of these pitches are in the top of the strike zone, which is likely one reason Pivetta frequently returns to this pitch. The four-seamer gives batters a very different look than the curveball and sweeper, which both live near the bottom of the zone.

Recently, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 30th of this year, a specific four-seamer he threw to Ke’Bryan Hayes that struck him out stood out to me.

Pivetta’s four-seamer fools Ke’Bryan Hayes in this plate appearance. Even though this pitch was not in the strike zone, and was well out of it, Hayes didn't stand a chance. As shown in this video, Pivetta continues to throw his four-seamer at will and  catches players off guard, while somehow keeping it on top of and out of the strike zone. He is not unfamiliar with striking out batters, though, as he already has 76 strikeouts this season and had an impressive 10-strikeout game against the Rockies earlier this season. 

Pivetta’s heightened success could also be associated with the change of scenery. Being stuck in the same place for too long can often affect one's actions, and in this case, their pitching. Pivetta spent three seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and five seasons with the Boston Red Sox before this season. Petco Park is one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks, which may explain part of the large difference between his performance at home games versus on the road.

As of now, Pivetta has a 4.32 ERA (4.36 FIP) on the road. However, his home ERA at Petco Park is 1.70, showing a vast difference that has some Padres fans wondering why. This is common among many of the pitchers on the Padres' roster, though, even with someone as acclimated to San Diego as Yu Darvish. However, it is still something worth noting. With Pivetta calling San Diego home for potentially the next four years, with opt-outs after the 2026 and 2027 seasons, we will be able to see if he will continue to excel at Petco Park. With the combination of his ERA already on a downward trend year by year, as well as Petco being one of the most pitcher-friendly parks, I believe he will continue to improve as a Padre and look forward to the rest of the season with him on the mound.