The enigmatic Tanner Scott and how he can recapture his old form

"Tanner Scott was the Dodgers' second-biggest free-agent signing of the 2024 offseason, but he was expected to have a big impact on the team. Remember, this team basically won a World Series on the strength of 2.5 starting pitchers and a dynamite bullpen. Signing Scott was only projected to make the bullpen that much better. Things got off to a slow start before he, seemingly, hit his stride. Then, he didn't."

"Scott finished a tumultuous 2025 campaign with a 4.74 ERA, 4.70 FIP and a 17.6 K-BB% (which was actually better than his 16.3% mark from 2024). Oh, and he missed the remainder of the NLDS, the NLCS and World Series due to a lower-body abscess procedure. Just a banner year for him that still ended in him receiving a World Series ring. But like most competitors, he probably wanted to contribute (positively) to the team."

"When I wrote about him in the middle of June (linked above; will be used as the line of demarcation for the purposes of this article), it seemed like Scott was turning it around thanks to changing the arm angle on his 4-seam fastball - his best pitch throughout his career. In fact, his run value per 100 pitches (RV/100) on his fastball in 2024 was 1.987 - 5th-best among relievers, behind , Bryan Hudson (old friend), Kirby Yates (hello) and ."

"From June 17 through the rest of the regular season, Scott saw very subtle changes to his fastball's metrics while raising his release point, primarily that he had less arm-side movement. Key: Angle = Arm Angle; Mvmnt = Arm/Glove-side movement; HRP = Horizontal release point in feet; VRP = Vertical release point in feet The result was his fastball got obliterated after June 16: .286/."

Tanner Scott produced a turbulent 2025 season marked by a 4.74 ERA, 4.70 FIP and a 17.6 K-BB% while missing postseason appearances due to a lower-body abscess procedure. Scott altered his arm angle and raised his release point midseason, which reduced arm-side movement on his four-seam fastball. The fastball, previously elite in run value per 100 pitches in 2024, struggled after June 16 as the movement profile changed. The mechanical/release changes appear to be a primary reason for diminished effectiveness, suggesting a need to restore previous release characteristics to regain prior fastball success.

Read at Dodgers Digest