In an era in which successful pitchers throw in the mid-to-upper 90s, righthander A.J. Causey is thriving with a fastball sitting around 90 mph.
The 2024 fifth-round pick from Tennessee excelled in his first full professional season split between High-A Quad Cities and Double-A Northwest Arkansas. At the two stops he recorded a 1.72 ERA with 75 strikeouts and 18 walks in 73.1 innings.
The key to the 23-year-old Causey’s success is delivering his six-pitch arsenal with a sidearm delivery that provides deception and movement on all pitches.
Causey began throwing with the lower arm slot at the age of 13, when his coach realized the young pitcher might benefit by using a sidearm delivery because he didn’t throw hard.
“He knew I was playing a lot of Wiffle ball,” Causey said, “and so he said, ‘I think you should try it.’ “
He has been throwing sidearm ever since.
“He manipulates the baseball with his hand extremely well, creating the good horizontal run and lack of (vertical movement) on his sinker,” said Paul Gibson, the Royals’ senior director of pitching performance, adding that Causey’s sweeper and changeup are quality out pitches.
Causey also benefits from his changeup and fastball coming out of the same slot.
“What he lacks in raw velocity,” Gibson said, “he makes up for with huge metrics on all of his pitches.”
Causey added that he can be successful regardless of the experience level of opposing hitters, provided that he consistently hits his spots, pitches to the corners and throws good sequences.
Major league teams like to have a diversity of arm slots in their bullpens, and Gibson sees Causey as being able to fill just that role before long.
“He’s quite advanced in terms of how to pitch and the location of all of his pitches,” Gibson said. “He hasn’t really wavered one bit since he signed in terms of his strike-throwing or ability to get people out, and we expect that will continue.”
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