A Dialog With San Francisco Giants Pitching Prospect R.J. Dabovich

RJ Dabovich was a strikeout machine in his first season as a pro. The 23-year-old right-hander overwhelmed opponents with a two-pitch mix, fanning out 62 and allowing only 15 hits in 32 and a third innings between High-A Eugene and Double-A Richmond. Arizona State University’s fourth-round 2020 selection put those numbers up in 31 relief missions, a workload cut by five weeks on the shelf due to a slight back strain. Currently, Dabovich is number 26 in the San Francisco Giants system and represented the Scottsdale Scorpions in Saturday’s Fall Stars Game.

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David Laurila: They had the highest strikeout rate (48.8%) among minors that year. Are you even surprised at how dominant you were?

RJ Dabovich: “I am a little. I mean, I had never really been a ‘rummage through’. At Arizona State, I was a sophomore starter and had eight or nine Ks for every nine. Nothing too crazy. The move to the Bullpen has taken it a bit to the extreme [13.1 per nine]but it wasn’t like that this year.

“After I got drafted by the Giants, I got this pitch plan for what they wanted me to do. They said my K Rate was going to go up, but I had no idea she was going to jump like this. So I definitely surprised myself how well I implemented my plan, the plan they made for me. “

Laurel: How did it come about that you moved to the ASU bullpen?

Dabowitsch: “[Then-pitching coach] Jason Kelly felt my path would get me in the bullpen. I was a little annoyed at first because everyone wants to be the starter and pitch on Friday night. But when he said that I could influence the team over three games instead of just on Fridays – and it helped my development as he saw me as a replacement in the professional ball – I was fully for it. And my things ticked a little, so it turned out to be the best. “

Laurel: Did you see yourself as a power pitcher back then?

Dabowitsch: “More or less. I had a power fastball back then … for college anyway. I was 94 to 97-98 [mph]. “

Laurel: That was with a four sewing machine, right?

Dabowitsch: “Yes, and that’s when I really started to continue the four-seams. That fall, we started talking about it for the first time, “Hey, if you twist your hand just a little bit more in the direction of the 12 o’clock axis, you’ll be carrying a little more. That will help your breaking balls play a little better. ‘

“I forget his exact title – pitching analytics or quality control – but this guy helped me realize that when I was at the Cape last summer I got more swing and miss when I wore the fastball than I did did I had a little more sink. So we hammered this all of fall and all of spring leading into the COVID-shortened year. That was the starting point for my fastball.

“I didn’t have a power break ball in college. I had a kind of wacky curveball and a short, tight slider. When I was drafted, the Giants wanted to morph the two and do a hard downer-slider. It’s technically a curveball, but it’s a firmer curveball in the 84 to 86-87 range. It goes really well with my fastball to screw up the swing decision for the batsman. This is what I do most of all: messing up the swing decision-making process. That leads to the strikeouts. “

Laurel: You were introduced to pitching analytics in college and have evolved from there …

Dabowitsch: “Yes, that’s when we started touching it. After the COVID draft, I went to this gym – Push Performance in Guadalupe [Arizona] – and the pitching guy there had a really good understanding of analytics. He somehow refined my little understanding to a somewhat deeper one. And again the Giants helped me plan the pitch. Here we really went into the analytics page. “

Laurel: How have you improved the hand luggage on your four-sewing machine?

Dabowitsch: “Finger placement changed a bit, and then trunk position was a big deal for me. I was really upright. It always came out at 1:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the axis. It was really as easy as thinking of a side crunch, almost – like crunching my left side and getting the trunk tilt so that 1:10 turns into 12: 30-12: 45. “

Laurel: Do you have a lot to carry

Dabowitsch: “I have an average of 19 to 21” [inches], and if it’s really good, it’s in the 22-23 range. So I would say that I drive pretty decent on my fastball. I come over barrels. “

Laurel: What about the speed?

Dabowitsch: “It’s somewhere between five and seven, up to eight, nine. I think I had a 99.8 this summer. here [in the AFL] it was exactly in the range of 96-98. There were some fives, but I like to tick it off a little when I can. It’s always cool to throw a little harder. “

Laurel: Back to your breaking ball, how did you fix it?

Dabowitsch: “The thought process is that the harder I throw it, the less time a hitter has to make a decision. For me … my hand is very square so it stays right behind the ball. That’s why I get that four-seam ride. That was always my problem with the curveball: I couldn’t get up to get that spin up.

“In the Giants, I basically had to twist my hand – spear my finger and put my middle finger in the direction of the left-handed batter’s box. We call it a Palm Forward Spike Curveball. That’s the official name they used to describe it. Basically it holds the palm forward and just tears the seam down and tosses it as hard as I can.

“At first it was like a gyroscope – it spun like a ball and fell down – and then finally I just started to feel it in my hand. I got a little bit on top to get that downward twist and a bit of bite at the end. “

Laurel: The Giants didn’t want a top …

Dabowitsch: “It’s not so much that they didn’t want it, but that it’s better if there is a bit of topspin. With topspin I can throw it both at the top of the zone and at the bottom and get the same effect. If it’s a top, it just spins up and hangs there. Downstairs it still works so if it turns into a top at times, it’s not the end of the world as long as I throw it away. But if I want to land it for a shot, it has to have this topspin. “

Laurel: Is it a high spin breakball?

Dabowitsch: “Nothing crazy. It’s probably around 24-26. It’s nothing like 3,000 [rpm] or something special. And somehow it doesn’t look that good on Rapsodo. It’s negative – 4 break and 30% spin efficiency – or whatever it is – but the way it plays with my fastball and the way it tunnels with my fastball gets the swings and misses. “

Laurel: Do you have a third key in your repertoire?

Dabowitsch: “Until now no. I want to perfect this two-step mix and see where this takes me and then make adjustments from there. If I need to add a third pitch, I’ll speak to it [Coordinator of Pitching Sciences, Matt] Daniels and [Director of Pitching, Brian] Bannister and see what they think. But right now it is perfecting the two-pitch mix, being confident, and using the fastball at the top of the zone and the curveball at both the top and bottom of the zone. It’s about having a 50/50 mix as much as possible and only attacking hitters. “