Left-hander Matt Hall gave a lot of credit to the guys playing behind him, plus the guy behind the plate, for his impressive stats over nine starts at West Michigan, the Tigers’ Low Class A affiliate.
Hall is 6-0 with a 0.72 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. He has allowed 34 hits and 14 walks over 501/3 innings with 56 strikeouts.
Since being drafted in the sixth round in 2015 out of Missouri State, Hall is 6-1 with a 1.60 ERA and 1.06 WHIP over 20 starts. He has 90 strikeouts in 84 1/3 innings.
What does he attribute his success to since turning pro?
“Mainly just being able to trust my defense behind me,” Hall said. “They’ve been phenomenal behind me all year. I have absolute confidence in them that they’re going to make the play behind me.”
Hall, 22, said the defense has “saved me from several big innings making nice plays behind me.”
Among those Hall played with last season at Connecticut, the Tigers’ Class A short-season affiliate, are shortstop Steven Fuentes, first baseman Will Allen, outfielder Cam Gibson and catcher Shane Zeile.
“We have four great outfielders that have a lot of speed,” Hall said. “Derek Hill, he’s a stallion out there, just gets to everything. (Joey) Azocar gets tremendous reads. Gibson is a solid leftfielder. Even Rashad Brown, he makes a lot of plays most outfielders wouldn’t.”
Zeile is the nephew of former major leaguer Todd Zeile.
“Shane’s the definition of a true professional,” Hall said. “He’s calm. He’s collected. He just has a great feel for the game. He knows what’s going on. He’s just a phenomenal defensive catcher.”
Hall allowed four hits and one walk over six shutout innings in his most recent start for the Whitecaps. He hasn’t given up a run in five of his nine starts and has not given up more than one run in any start this season.
“I didn’t have my best fastball, but I still managed to throw it for strikes,” Hall said of his last start, a 3-0 win at Great Lakes on Wednesday. “Had good command of a curveball. Threw it quite a bit.”
Hall, 6 feet and 200 pounds, struck out 171 in 125 innings as a junior at Missouri State.
“If I go out there and hit my spot, a lot of the time it’s going to go my way,” Hall said.
Hall said he has been throwing his fastball 87-90 m.p.h.
“Just able to locate it really well, which has been extremely helpful,” he said.
Hall said the curve always has been his go-to pitch.
“Being able to throw it for a strike is huge, even when I’m behind in the count,” he said.
Hall said called his change-up his “project.”
“It’s come a long way since the beginning of the season,” Hall said. “I give a lot of credit to Mark Johnson, our pitching coach. He’s been on me a lot about it this year, really helping me develop it.
“It’s not new, but I guess you could call it new because it’s a completely different change-up from what I’ve been throwing in the past,” Hall said. “It has more movement and better speed differential. I’d say it’s more consistent.”
