Walker Buehler gaining confidence, ahead of critical matchup against his former team

Over his last eight starts, Walker Buehler has looked reformed for the San Diego Padres.

Appearing as a guest on 97.3 The Fan, Buehler spoke about why the last eight starts have been better than his previous first seven.

“A lot of the stuff we’ve been working on being more in there. Obviously, the first six or seven weren’t kinda what we wanted,” Buehler said during an interview with Sammy Levitt of 97.3 The Fan.

“Changing stuff takes time, and I feel like some of that stuff has settled in and been more natural. I feel like we’ve been doing the right things, and it’s nice for it to pay off.”

Through his last eight starts, Buehler has been looking like the same player who won two World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020 and 2024.

After winning a World Series with the Dodgers, Buehler has now been on three different teams, after signing a minor league deal of $1.5 million with the Padres this past offseason.

Through his first seven starts this year, Buehler struggled for San Diego, pitching with a 6.75 ERA.

Since May 10, Buehler has had the fourth-best ERA [2.76] through his last eight starts with 36 strikeouts.

With all of the recent success, Buehler credits how he’s been throwing different kinds of pitches over the plate, instead of how he’s traditionally thrown.

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“Some improvement to the changeup, a lot more sinker, a lot less cutter, slider has improved a little bit,” Buehler said. “You know we’ve kind of taken a look at everything that I do and seen. Try to find something that we can kind of alter or fix and get myself a little more confidence to throw it on both sides of the plate.”

Buehler’s sinker usage has increased from 12.7% during April to 21.2% in May and 19.4% in June. Over the last two months, the pitch has seen 40 batters, and only 11 of them have landed hits, while 6 struck out.

The Whiff percentage from the sinker has also gone up, as he generated a 0.0% Whiff rate during April. In May, his sinker had a 12.5% whiff, and a 3.2% in June.

As Buehler has started to find his groove again while pitching for the Padres, Friday night will be a huge test for him, as he is scheduled to take on his former team, the Dodgers, when they come to Petco Park for a three-game series this weekend.

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