Low-Slot Southpaw JP Sears Is Oakland’s Top Starter

When I first wrote about him in 2017, JP Sears was a recently drafted prospect in the Seattle Mariners system who was racking up prodigious strikeout totals in the low minors. When I wrote about him for a second time four years later, he was pitching for the New York Yankees Double-A affiliate and again punching out more than his fair share of batters. Fast forward to this season, and Sears is firmly established as a member of the Oakland A’s starting rotation. The 28-year-old southpaw came to the A’s in 2022 as part of the six-player trade deadline deal that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Bronx, a swap that worked out better for the woebegone West Coast club than many were expecting at the time.

Sears no longer puts up sexy numbers in the K category — his strikeout rate this season is a humble 18.1% — but the overall output has been solid. His 119 1/3 innings pitched this season are the most on the team — ditto his eight wins — and his 6.5% walk rate is indicative of a strike-thrower. The 4.53 ERA and 4.60 FIP aren’t anything to write home about, but Sears is nonetheless the best starting pitcher on the A’s.

Sears, who threw seven shutout innings on Monday against the San Francisco Giants, sat down to talk about his evolution as a pitcher when the A’s visited Boston in mid-July.

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David Laurila: When we last talked, you were pitching in Double-A. Are you basically the same pitcher now, just three years later?

JP Sears: “Good question. I would say that I’m a lot different pitcher. I still use what kind of helped me get through the minor leagues, that being my fastball and the ability to locate it. But my arsenal has definitely gotten bigger. I’ve started throwing a sweeper a lot more — I really just learned that about two years ago — and I’ve also introduced the changeup as more of a pitch. In the minor leagues, I kind of just used it as a bait type of pitch, a show-me pitch, and now it’s more of an executed pitch that I can throw whenever. My average velo has increased a little bit, but the biggest thing would be adding to my arsenal.”

Laurila: The fastball has always a big pitch for you.

Sears: “Yes, and I have gotten a lot better at commanding it. When I first came up, I was mostly just able to throw it at the top of the zone and get swings and misses. Now I’m learning to throw it early in counts to get ahead of hitters.”

Laurila: What can tell me about your fastball?

Sears: “I learned my first few years in pro ball why it worked so well. Having a lower arm slot was the biggest part of it that I didn’t quite understand in college or even early on in pro ball. The analytics on my fastball have actually gone down a touch, from me refining my mechanics. I used to get so far under the ball that I would kind of push everything, which kind of helped my fastball, but also kind of hurt my offspeed. Making some adjustments definitely took a notch off my fastball, but it’s still kind of the same pitch.”

Laurila: By a notch off, I assume you’re referring to ride?

Sears: “Yes, there is slightly less ride, but I feel like I’m able to blend my pitches a lot better now. They look a lot more similar. I used to give away my changeup a lot more, as well as getting under everything a lot. That was what I tried to focus on during the COVID year, getting on top of the ball and moving on the mound better. That helped me with everything except for the analytics on my fastball, but again, it’s still a good pitch.”

Laurila: Your slot seems like it would be conducive to throwing a sweeper.

Sears: “Yeah. My slot is actually a little bit lower on my sweeper than it is on my other pitches, but I think part of the reason is that my hand drops. It’s not necessarily my arm that drops so much as how my hand getting on the side of the ball reads my release height as a little bit down. But it’s a pitch that has helped me a lot, because of the late movement and kind of how it’s a funkier pitch that most people throw.”

Laurila: You were already in the A’s organization when you started throwing it two years ago. The Yankees have obviously had a reputation for teaching the sweeper.

Sears: “They taught it to me. I learned the sweeper that year in [Double-A] Somerset, then tried to use it the following year in Triple-A with the Yankees, and in the big leagues for the Yankees in 2022. I just never got a good feel for it. I wasn’t able to throw it for a strike — I was always just kind of yanking it — but then in the offseason going into last year, I was able to kind of rein it in. So yeah, I learned it with the Yankees but didn’t really perfect it until I came to the A’s.”

Laurila: Jumping back to your arm slot, do you know what your release height is?

Sears: “The release high on my fastball is usually around 4’9” to 4’10”. On my sweeper, it varies between 4’5” and 4’8” It’s definitely pretty low. Average release height is somewhere between five-and-a-half and six feet, so being below five feet definitely puts me in the lower category.”

Laurila: I recall you sounding knowledgeable about analytics when we first talked. Has that increased in recent years?

Sears: “I think that when you get exposed to it so well, and you see the results getting better because of that, it becomes a little addicting to want to learn more. I’m not quite as crazy about it as some people are, but I pay attention to it daily. It plays a big role for me in facing hitters, as well as for making sure that everything is intact and ready to go. It also helps me be consistent throughout a long season, that I’m not getting out of whack.”

Laurila: Are there specific things you pay close attention to?

Sears: “Mainly my release height and the vertical and horizontal break, primarily the vertical break on my sweeper and my fastball. I’m trying to keep the vertical break as high as I can on both of those — the fastball and sweeper — which are working off each other. In between innings, I’m also looking at the horizontal, just kind of knowing how much the pitches are moving so I know if I need to throw a little bit more up that day, or a little bit more away. Whatever it might be.”

Laurila: Where are your breaking balls in terms of their metrics?

Sears: “The sweeper is usually right around three or four positive vert, and usually around 12 horizontal. The slider is a little bit more of a gyro. It’s got like zero to three or so negative vert, and like three to five horizontal. It’s kind of a little swing-and-miss pitch to righties, more of a downer, whereas the sweeper stays up more.”

Laurila: What do you see as your next step to get better?

Sears: “Increasing the floor on my four-seam. Being able to consistently throw a little bit harder will help a little bit with swing-and-miss. That goes for my sweeper as well. Throwing both of those a little bit harder will only help me.”

Laurila: Any final thoughts?

Sears: “I think that for most pitchers there is one thing that kind of makes them a little bit unique to where a team likes them, or there is a reason that they’re able to hang around for so long. Maybe there are two things. But it’s what you are really good at. With me, I’ve always had pretty good command. I’m able to command my fastball.”