Sam Howard
P | Bats/Throws: R/L | 6' 4" 195LBS | Age: 30
Draft: 2014 | Rd: 3, #82, Colorado Rockies | Georgia Southern
W L ERA G GS SV IP SO WHIP
2020 2 3 3.86 22 0 0 21 27 1.24
2021 3 4 5.60 54 1 0 45 60 1.47
2022 0 0 9.00 3 0 0 2 1 3.00
5 Seasons 7 7 5.34 103 1 0 91 112 1.51
G W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
2020 22 2-3 3.86 21 27 1.24
2021 54 3-4 5.60 45 60 1.47
2022 3 0-0 9.00 2 1 3.00
5 Seasons 103 7-7 5.34 91 112 1.51
MLB Percentile Rankings
Pitch Distribution

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Statcast Statistics

Season Age Pitches Batted
Balls		 Barrels Barrel % Barrel/PA Exit
Velocity		 Max EV Launch
Angle		 Sweet
Spot %		 XBA XSLG WOBA XWOBA XWOBACON HardHit% K% BB% ERA xERA
2018 25 86 15 0 0.0 0.0 89.8 113.6 14.6 13.3 .225 .288 .396 .316 .235 40.0 5.0 15.0 2.25 4.24
2019 26 383 55 3 5.5 3.3 87.9 111.9 16.2 32.7 .243 .392 .379 .331 .385 32.7 25.3 11.0 6.63 4.89
2020 27 361 51 2 3.9 2.2 87.7 111.5 24.4 35.3 .211 .360 .329 .301 .364 35.3 30.0 10.0 3.86 3.82
2021 28 846 104 9 8.7 4.5 87.3 109.8 13.4 29.8 .195 .336 .325 .314 .368 30.8 30.0 16.5 5.60 4.18
2022 29 58 6 1 16.7 8.3 84.9 102.4 12.5 50.0 .257 .498 .536 .479 .380 16.7 8.3 33.3 9.00 11.70
Player 1734 231 15 6.5 3.6 87.6 113.6 16.5 31.2 .212 .355 .347 .320 .363 32.5 27.1 14.3
MLB 6.9 4.7 88.4 122.4 12.2 33.1 .245 .406 .316 .315 .369 36.3 22.1 8.4
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Statcast Pitch Arsenal

Howard relies on 2 pitches.
4-Seam Fastball
(53.4%) ,
Slider
(46.6%) ,


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Pitch Tracking



Batted Ball Profile

Season GB % FB % LD % PU % Pull % Straight % Oppo % Weak % Topped % Under % Flare/Burner % Solid % Barrel % Barrel/PA
2018 53.3 26.7 13.3 6.7 20.0 66.7 13.3 0.0 33.3 40.0 13.3 13.3 0.0 0.0
2019 41.8 27.3 23.6 7.3 38.2 29.1 32.7 3.6 29.1 25.5 21.8 10.9 5.5 3.3
2020 31.4 29.4 25.5 13.7 43.1 25.5 31.4 5.9 21.6 35.3 19.6 13.7 3.9 2.2
2021 44.2 28.8 16.3 10.6 40.4 35.6 24.0 4.8 27.9 28.8 25.0 4.8 8.7 4.5
2022 33.3 50.0 0.0 16.7 0.0 66.7 33.3 0.0 33.3 33.3 16.7 0.0 16.7 8.3
Player 41.1 29.0 19.5 10.4 38.1 34.6 27.3 4.3 27.3 30.3 22.1 8.7 6.5 3.6
MLB 44.6 23.5 24.9 7.0 37.0 37.6 25.3 3.9 32.8 24.7 24.4 5.8 6.9 4.7
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Pitch Movement

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How this works: Every pitch is affected by the forces of gravity, which means that every pitch drops on its way from the mound to the plate. These numbers are reported with gravity, which makes them larger and different than other pitch movement numbers you may have seen. Since gravity requires time, and slower pitches aren’t ‘better’ just because they have more time to move, the movement of a pitch is compared to ‘average’ movement by comparing it to other MLB pitch types within +/- 2 MPH and from within +/- 0.5 feet of extension and release.
Vertical Movement (inches) Horizontal Movement (inches)
Year Pitch Team Hand # MPH Inches of Drop vs Avg % vs Avg Inches of Break vs Avg % Break vs Avg
2022 4-Seamer PIT L 31 91.3 16.7 -0.4 -3 10.2 3.1 44
2022 Slider PIT L 27 83.0 35.7 -3.2 -8 2.2 -4.7 -69
2021 4-Seamer PIT L 366 93.4 13.5 1.7 11 9.8 2.7 38
2021 Slider PIT L 465 84.9 32.4 -3.8 -11 2.1 -2.9 -58
2021 Changeup PIT L 15 83.9 25.6 -5.0 -16 11.2 -2.6 -19
2020 Changeup PIT L 1 82.7 24.9 -5.9 -19 13.7 0.5 4
2020 4-Seamer PIT L 135 92.0 14.3 1.5 9 9.7 3.0 44
2020 Slider PIT L 225 84.6 32.5 -3.9 -11 2.0 -2.4 -54
2019 4-Seamer COL L 169 92.6 16.0 0.1 1 6.6 -0.8 -10
2019 Slider COL L 214 85.1 34.9 -2.5 -7 2.6 -1.9 -42
2018 Slider COL L 36 85.5 33.1 -4.2 -11 2.1 -2.3 -53
2018 4-Seamer COL L 42 91.4 17.6 -0.4 -2 9.1 1.7 22
2018 Changeup COL L 8 83.5 28.6 -3.1 -10 10.4 -3.2 -23
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
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Run Values by Pitch Type

Year Pitch Type Team RV/100 Run Value Pitches % PA BA SLG wOBA Whiff% K% PutAway % xBA xSLG xwOBA Hard Hit %
2022 4-Seamer 0.0 0 31 53.4 5 .000 .000 .280 15.4 0.0 0.0 .073 .163 .340 0.0
2022 Slider -10.4 -3 27 46.6 7 .500 1.250 .714 25.0 14.3 8.3 .395 .750 .583 33.3
2021 Slider 0.8 4 465 55.0 97 .190 .274 .256 41.0 25.8 18.5 .182 .258 .251 21.3
2021 4-Seamer -0.6 -2 366 43.3 97 .216 .486 .382 34.0 35.1 26.2 .193 .408 .362 46.3
2021 Changeup -4.6 -1 15 1.8 5 .667 .667 .640 37.5 20.0 20.0 .633 .732 .643 0.0
2020 Slider -1.2 -3 225 62.3 47 .200 .450 .334 39.4 34.0 24.6 .165 .281 .264 33.3
2020 4-Seamer 2.0 3 135 37.4 43 .243 .432 .329 26.7 25.6 30.6 .260 .445 .339 37.0
2020 Changeup -3.2 0 1 0.3 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2019 Slider 0.3 1 214 55.9 53 .255 .426 .355 39.8 26.4 17.3 .242 .335 .298 33.3
2019 4-Seamer -3.1 -5 169 44.1 38 .310 .655 .463 21.6 23.7 21.4 .244 .484 .380 31.8
2018 4-Seamer 0.7 0 42 48.8 6 .000 .000 .350 17.6 0.0 0.0 .024 .049 .365 0.0
2018 Slider 2.3 1 36 41.9 11 .400 .600 .455 16.7 9.1 5.3 .302 .390 .333 55.6
2018 Changeup -2.8 0 8 9.3 3 .333 .333 .300 16.7 0.0 0.0 .172 .189 .158 33.3
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
! Note: To better align with other values, positive numbers (red) are good, and negative numbers (blue) are poor.
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Spin Direction

Year Pitch Type Pitches MPH Active Spin % Total Movement (In.) Spin-Based Observed Deviation
2022 4-Seam Fastball 31 91.3 97 18.9 10:45 10:45 0
2022 Slider 25 82.9 18 4.4 12:30 1:45 -75
2021 Changeup 15 83.9 97 16.8 10:45 10:30 15
2021 4-Seam Fastball 361 93.4 97 20.1 10:45 11:00 -15
2021 Slider 457 84.9 25 4.8 11:45 1:00 -75
2020 4-Seam Fastball 123 92.0 97 20.1 10:45 11:00 -15
2020 Slider 214 84.6 29 4.8 12:00 1:00 -60
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! Note: This table is showing data from the PITCHER perspective.
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Swing/Take

Runs
Year Team PA Pitches Heart Shadow Chase Waste All
2019 91 383 -1 4 -5 -2 -5
2020 90 361 2 1 0 -3 0
2021 199 846 9 8 -11 -5 1
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Plate Discipline

Season Pitches Zone % Zone Swing % Zone Contact % Chase % Chase Contact % Edge % 1st Pitch Strike % Swing % Whiff % Meatball % Meatball Swing %
2018 86 47.7 80.5 90.9 31.1 64.3 45.3 65.0 54.7 17.0 11.6 90.0
2019 383 43.1 73.3 78.5 30.3 45.5 38.1 56.0 48.8 32.6 6.8 80.8
2020 361 36.3 71.0 72.0 33.0 51.3 39.6 52.2 46.8 34.9 3.9 85.7
2021 846 44.8 65.4 70.6 27.4 45.3 43.3 58.3 44.4 38.0 5.6 72.3
2022 58 44.8 61.5 93.8 15.6 40.0 41.4 75.0 36.2 19.0 6.9 50.0
Player 1,734 42.8 68.9 74.8 29.1 47.8 41.4 57.3 46.1 34.4 5.8 77.2
MLB 48.6 67.0 82.0 28.5 58.0 42.6 60.9 47.1 24.8 7.3 76.1
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Percentile Rankings

Year xwOBA /
xERA 		xBA xSLG xISO xOBP Brl Brl% EV Hard
Hit% 		K% BB% Whiff% Chase
Rate 		FB
Velo 		FB
Spin 		CB
Spin 		Extension
2019 39 71 6
2020 61 77 67 58 52 88 86 61 59 80 34 90 88 29 85 7
2021 47 83 10
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Expected Home Runs

Year Team Avg HR Trot Actual HR xHR HR-xHR Doubters Mostly Gone No Doubters No Doubter %
2019 23.2 5 3.9 1 1 5 0 0.0
2020 26.0 4 4.9 -1 0 3 3 75.0
2021 24.0 7 6.4 1 5 3 4 57.1
2022 20.7 1 0.9 0 0 1 0 0.0
Player 24.1 17 16.1 1 6 12 7 41.2

Expected Home Runs by Park

Year HR
2019 5 5 3 4 4 4 5 4 3 2 3 3 5 4 5 5 4 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 3 4 3 5 4 3 2
2020 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 5 6 4 4 6 3 4 6 6 4 4 5 6 5 5 6 6 3 4 6 4 5 5 5
2021 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 8 6 4 6 8 7 5 7 8 5 6 6 6 7 7 9 7 6 5 6 6 7 6 7
2022 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Player 17 18 15 16 16 16 18 18 15 11 13 17 16 14 19 20 14 14 16 17 17 18 21 19 13 14 16 16 17 15 14
! Note: This tells how many of this player's home runs would have been out of other stadiums. This accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects. For these purposes, the 2020 Blue Jays home field was still Rogers Centre, not Sahlen Field.
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Year to Year Changes

Metric 2018 2019 +/-   2020 +/-   2021 +/-   2022 +/-  
Fastball Velocity 91.4 92.6 1.2 ↑ 92.0 -0.6 ↓ 93.4 1.4 ↑ 91.3 -2.1 ↓
Offspeed Velocity 83.5 0.0 0.0 82.7 0.0 83.9 1.2 ↑ 0.0 0.0
Breaking Velocity 85.5 85.1 -0.4 ↓ 84.6 -0.5 ↓ 84.9 0.3 ↑ 83.0 -1.9 ↓
Exit Velocity 89.8 87.9 -1.9 ↓ 87.7 -0.2 ↓ 87.3 -0.4 ↓ 84.9 -2.4 ↓
Launch Angle 14.6 16.2 1.6 ↑ 24.4 8.2 ↑ 13.4 -11.0 ↓ 12.5 -0.9 ↓
Barrel % 0.0 5.5 5.5 ↑ 3.9 -1.6 ↓ 8.7 4.8 ↑ 16.7 8.0 ↑
Hard Hit % 40.0 32.7 -7.3 ↓ 35.3 2.6 ↑ 30.8 -4.5 ↓ 16.7 -14.1 ↓
Sweet Spot % 13.3 32.7 19.4 ↑ 35.3 2.6 ↑ 29.8 -5.5 ↓ 50.0 20.2 ↑
xBA .226 .243 0.017 ↑ .211 -0.032 ↓ .195 -0.016 ↓ .257 0.062 ↑
BA .313 .276 -0.037 ↓ .221 -0.055 ↓ .211 -0.010 ↓ .286 0.075 ↑
xwOBA .316 .331 0.015 ↑ .301 -0.030 ↓ .314 0.013 ↑ .479 0.165 ↑
wOBA .396 .379 -0.017 ↓ .329 -0.050 ↓ .325 -0.004 ↓ .536 0.211 ↑
xSLG .288 .392 0.104 ↑ .360 -0.032 ↓ .336 -0.024 ↓ .498 0.162 ↑
SLG .438 .513 0.075 ↑ .442 -0.071 ↓ .379 -0.063 ↓ .714 0.335 ↑
K% 5.0 25.3 20.3 ↑ 30.0 4.7 ↑ 30.0 0.0 8.3 -21.7 ↓
BB% 15.0 11.0 -4.0 ↓ 10.0 -1.0 ↓ 16.5 6.5 ↑ 33.3 16.8 ↑
Swing % 54.7 48.8 -5.9 ↓ 46.8 -2.0 ↓ 44.4 -2.4 ↓ 36.2 -8.2 ↓
Whiff% 17.0 32.6 15.6 ↑ 34.9 2.3 ↑ 38.0 3.1 ↑ 19.0 -19.0 ↓
In Zone % 47.7 43.1 -4.6 ↓ 36.3 -6.8 ↓ 44.8 8.5 ↑ 44.8 0.0
Out of Zone % 52.3 56.9 4.6 ↑ 63.7 6.8 ↑ 55.2 -8.5 ↓ 55.2 0.0
Out of Zone Swing % 31.1 30.3 -0.8 ↓ 33.0 2.7 ↑ 27.4 -5.6 ↓ 15.6 -11.8 ↓
First Pitch Swing % 30.0 38.5 8.5 ↑ 33.3 -5.2 ↓ 31.2 -2.1 ↓ 16.7 -14.5 ↓
First Pitch Strike % 65.0 56.0 -9.0 ↓ 52.2 -3.8 ↓ 58.3 6.1 ↑ 75.0 16.7 ↑
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Statcast Fielder Positioning

vs RHHvs LHH
YearAlignment TypePAwOBAPATotal%PATotal%
2018 Shifts 20 .396 17 3 17.6 3 0 0.0
2019 Shifts 91 .379 50 6 12.0 41 16 39.0
2020 Shifts 90 .329 58 19 32.8 32 29 90.6
2021 Shifts 190 .323 99 5 5.1 91 73 80.2
2022 Shifts 12 .536 5 0 0.0 7 4 57.1
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field.
Learn more about how positioning is defined here

Pitch Tempo

Bases EmptyRunners On Base
SeasonTeamPitchesTempoFast %Slow %PitchesTempoFast %Slow %
2018 11 14.8 54.5% 0.0% 24 20.3 0.0% 4.2%
2019 78 20.1 2.6% 0.0% 76 23.7 0.0% 10.5%
2020 98 20.9 0.0% 5.1% 58 24.7 0.0% 6.9%
2021 223 20.7 2.7% 3.1% 151 25.2 0.0% 20.5%
2022 12 19.4 0.0% 0.0% 18 24.2 0.0% 22.2%
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Pitch Distribution

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