The 2026 season has been an interesting one for Emmet Sheehan thus far as he’s been out of sync all year with his mechanics, and it’s led to some mixed results.
One primary issue from that has been a decline in his velocity. After averaging 95.6 mph on his fastball in 2025, Sheehan has seen that number drop to 94.2 mph this year.
Typically, a significant decrease in velocity is cause for concern as it’s often related to injury, but Sheehan continued to stress that wasn’t the issue. Instead, he attributed it to his mechanics.
Sheehan would also start games throwing in his normal range, but it would drop off a little bit each inning, and usually by the fourth, he was sitting around 93 mph.
After his start against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, Sheehan expressed confidence he was making progress and expected his velocity to be fully back soon.
“Yeah, I think we made some good progress for the past couple of weeks, and then today kind of went back into that old pattern,” Sheehan said on May 25. “But I think we know the path to getting it back on track, so I know it’ll be there soon.”
Things ended up clicking for Sheehan in his start on June 1 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He averaged 95.6 mph on his fastball, an increase of 1.7 from his season average.
The right-hander also held that velocity deep into the game as he was still sitting 95.4 mph by the seventh inning.
Surprisingly enough, Sheehan saw a dip in his swing and miss production with his stuff back into form. He only struck out three hitters and posted a called strike plus whiff rate of 23%, a drop from his 32% against the Rockies.
A lot of that can likely be attributed to the opponent, though. The Rockies are among the worst teams in baseball at avoiding the strikeout, while the D-Backs are among the best.
The lack of strikeouts isn’t a concern, and they should start to trend back up.
But if Sheehan is able to consistently maintain his velocity, it completely changes his outlook and gives him the potential to pitch at the top of most rotations across baseball.
Emmet Sheehan saw benefit from velocity drop
While losing velocity is one of the worst things for a pitcher, Sheehan took it in stride and saw some benefits from the experience.
“I mean, it’s definitely a challenge to try to keep guys off balance when it’s not coming out as good,” Sheehan said. “So it’s a good learning experience. Obviously, I wish it was there, but I know when it is there, it’ll be better overall, because I learned from it.”
With that learning experience, Sheehan has also relied on his other pitches a little more often than his fastball.
“I think in general, I’m a little better when I’m more off-speed heavy and can keep them guessing a little bit more,” he said.
Last season, Sheehan used his fastball 46.8% of the time, and this season it’s down to 42.4%. His curveball has been the biggest beneficiary of his adjustment, with an increase of around 3%.
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