Adversity Breeds Change, Bryce Elder Has Changed His Arsenal and His Method
Bryce Elder was thriving when he was featured here on FanGraphs in July 2023. Then in his first full season with the Atlanta Braves, the now 27-year-old right-hander was 8-2 with a 3.18 ERA, and had just been named an NL All-Star. Killing worms was his MO Relying heavily on the sinker, Elder boasted a 53.6% groundball rate, which ranked fifth best among professional hitters.
Slowly things started to go south. From August 2023 through last season, Elder was on the receiving end of 14 shutouts while posting a 5.53 ERA over 48 starts spanning 259 innings. The University of Texas product had gone from being a top starter on the rise to profiling as a back-and-forth arm.
Adversity has a way of breeding change, and for that reason, Madala is no longer the pitcher who struggled to record an outing. The transformation took a little time – Rome was not built in a day – but his results this season are truly impressive. Over 14 starts, Elder has a 5-3 record with a 2.66 ERA and 3.46 FIP over 84 2/3 innings. Notably, his ground ball rate of 45.0% is the lowest of his career.
The senior discussed his evolution — which has brought him full circle in terms of success — when the Braves visited Fenway Park late last month.
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David Laurila: It’s been three years since we started talking. What has changed?
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Bryce Elder: “A lot has changed. When we talked about 2023, I was in the lead; I had a good first half. But the second half was very difficult. It was not difficult at all, but the numbers were not so good. I said, ‘I’m tired of sucking, I’m tired of not being very good, so I’m not going to try to make too many changes, I’ve never worked too much, like, chasing things, but I got tired of dying on the hill of complete murder.
“I never thought I would say that, even last year. But what I thought was if I could improve my stuff, that would only help. And then, if I was walking better on the mound, my execution would be as good as it was, if not. So, I think I’ve had a little bit of a mark on my stuff, and my execution.”
Laurila: How did you do that?
Elder: “I learned not to chase what other people look like, but chase the principles of how you’re going to walk. I went out and did bio-mechanic stuff with a guy named Bob Keyes, in Utah. He helped me figure out how to walk better. In 2023, my average [sinker] it was something like 89-and-a-half [mph]and while I had never been to a guy throwing 98, I knew I could make my stuff a little crisper, a little sharper, a little tighter. I think I did that.”
Laurila: In what ways have you started walking better?
Elder: “People always talk about staying behind you, and one thing he taught me in Utah was to hold my line down the hill as long as possible. There’s a reason the hill slides. It’s free energy, so use that free energy. Don’t try to do too much on the hill, use gravity. Hold your line, hold your line as long as you can.”
Laurila: You don’t throw nearly as many sinks. When we spoke three years ago, that was your keynote.
Elder: “For good players, I think it still is. And I’ll throw it to lefties, but mostly to center. If you throw sinkers away from lefties, the margin for error is small – especially with ABS. If you’re over one quarter of the ball, they can challenge it, and if you miss the plate, it’s usually in the path of the lefty’s bat. So, when I left at the end of last year, I was gone. 6.30 ERA or something like that, and it was, ‘Okay, I’ll start throwing something different.’ I started throwing four more seams, and the results were great.”
Laurila: He also added a cutter.
Elder: “Yeah, Greg Maddux showed me the cutter a year and a half ago. I didn’t throw it at all last season, but [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] I saw you in spring training and he told me, ‘You should throw that.’ So, now I have a four-seam, a cutter, a slider, a changeup, and the occasional sinker.”
Laurila: He learned the cutter from Greg Maddux…
Elder: “I actually tried to throw a cutter in 2022. It was good, but then it turned into a bad seam/cutter thing. I could never ride the ball, and my cutter was just in the middle and not doing much. But the biggest problem is that it interfered with my best slider, which is usually my slider.
“What Maddux taught me was to throw it with my index finger, instead of my middle finger. That allows the vert to stay there, and cross the horizontal axis, but at the same time not mess with my slider. He showed me the grip and I eventually put it in my repertoire. So yeah, that’s one of the changes I made.”
