(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Two inches (and often one or none) simply isn't enough to fool major league hitters, who are so well trained that they make mid-swing adjustments in hundredths of a second, and are so strong that they can hit a ball out of the park while breaking the bat.
Whether this is a physical problem for Wang or not, I don't know, but I doubt it. Perhaps his foot still hurts and he's somehow favoring it, throwing the slider less often because it bothers him physically.
This is unlikely, as any difference in his delivery due to throwing the slider would be tantamount to "tipping" his pitches, and batters would have picked up on it long ago.
Perhaps he's still rusty, having missed some time due to the foot injury, and doesn't yet have the "feel" for the slider. This seems very likely to me, as pitchers often talk about how difficult it is to get a feel for their sinker, slider, or cutter, and how much practice this takes.
Having missed more than half of last year, and having thrown only about 21 innings so far this year in the majors, (plus 13 scoreless innings in AAA), Wang is a little behind on his usual regimen.
Maybe this means that with a bit more practice, he'll get that feel for the slider—and with it, his confidence in the pitch—very soon. This should enable him to keep hitters a bit more honest and not so frequently serve them the heater they already expect. I just wish the "practice" didn't have to come in Yankee Stadium and against the Mets.
Admittedly, I have not looked over all the available data. Wang has thrown hundreds of pitches this year and thousands in his career, and I simply don't have the time to examine every one, but this hopefully gives us an idea of where to look for answers the next time Wang takes the mound.
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