SF Giants hurler introduced refined pitch in win over the San Diego Padres

On Monday night, Landen Roupp tossed six shutout innings in a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres. The SF Giants pitcher introduced a new cutter that he leaned on quite a bit in his first outing of the year.

SF Giants hurler introduced refined pitch in win over the San Diego Padres

Roupp used a cutter to mixed results last year. Eno Sarris of The Athletic showed that he was using a new grip with his cutter in his 2026 debut.

The righty pitcher threw the cutter 16 times, accounting for 18 percent of his pitches thrown. He tallied three of his 13 whiffs with it and hitters only had a 76.4 MPH average exit velocity against it.

Roupp has a 3.59 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.41 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, and a 2.14 SO/W rate in parts of three seasons with the Giants. He has shown to be an effective starter, even if he has not handled a high volume of innings yet.

The next step for Roupp is either showing improvement in his control or adding another pitch. That cutter can be effective in more ways than one.

For starters, it adds a pitch in Roupp’s arsenal that has more glove side movement. That adds some variance in his movement profile, and is a pitch he relied on against left-handed pitchers.

If the cutter can steal strikes and get outs, that is a bonus. However, its real value will be in limiting the exposure of Roupp’s other pitches, most notably his curveball and changeup.

Roupp can steal strikes with his curveball, both in and out of the zone. Hitters know it is coming and still struggle to barrel up the pitch. Left-handed hitters will see a lot of changeups, and that has developed into a nice offering. It has helped neutralize the platoon advantage.

More importantly, the cutter could help Roupp by simply not having to use his curveball or changeup as often. Hitters get better the more they see a pitch within a game, but if Roupp can limit that exposure, it helps his best offerings remain effective deeper into his starts. That is the real value in the cutter. 

The 27-year-old pitcher tallied six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and two walks in Tony Vitello’s first win as the Giants manager. The cutter was a big part of his win. The next step is whether that pitch can remain effective the more times that hitters see it.