CINCINNATI — The pitch started on the inside half of the plate and zeroed in on Shohei Ohtani’s back knee. As he took it for a ball, Ohtani straightened up as if the pitch was going to hit him, and then he stepped out of the box to recalibrate for a few seconds. Patrick Bailey tipped his glove at Logan Webb, who took a glance up at the scoreboard.

The score bug registered it as a four-seamer, and why wouldn’t it. Webb loves his straight fastball even if his pitching coaches tell him not to throw it, and he smiles when mentioning it in postgame interviews. But the numbers were off, not just with that pitch, but with others in that game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The velocity was lower and the spin rates were higher, and Statcast later caught on. Webb had added a cutter to his repertoire, and this spring there was no keeping it a secret.

What started out as an experiment to try and give a different look to Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy has turned into an intriguing part of Webb’s pitch mix. The sinker and changeup always will be his bread and butter, but this spring he showed more variety. A few weeks ago, in one of his few Cactus League starts with available Statcast data, Webb threw 13 cutters, including several to right-handed hitters. Later in camp, after a changeup-heavy start, he joked that he had to focus on not falling in love with the cutter.

“I feel good throwing it,” he said. “I think it’s getting to the point where I can be confident in it and kind of know I can throw it to any guy. That’s the big thing, knowing you can throw it to any hitter at any time. I think it’s been good so far … now it’s just part of the scouting (report), right? It’s every hitter, it’s righties and lefties. If you offer the chance to throw it, I’ll throw it. I’m excited to keep throwing it and keep messing around with it.”

The pitch moves in on lefties and away from righties, giving a much different look from his sinker and changeup, and the hope is that it keeps left-handers from diving out over the plate. Far too often last season, it seemed hitters could narrow their focus against Webb, but it wasn’t just because his two main pitches move the same way. They also got far too close in the MPH column at times.

Webb’s changeup can get up to the 89-90 range, while his sinker can be 91-92. This spring, there was an emphasis on widening the gap. Webb was pleased to regularly see one of the game’s best off-speed pitches registering at 85 mph.

“I think I’ve thrown a couple of 83s,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever really done that.”

It’ll be a different look, and Webb is hopeful that makes a difference. He was sixth in Cy Young voting in 2024 and led the National League in innings for a second straight year, but he said he wasn’t very happy with his season overall. His FIP dropped year over year, but his ERA and WHIP were higher in 2024 than in 2023, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was just about cut in half.

The most notable dip was with his changeup, with hitters posting a .275 average and .411 slugging percentage against the pitch after going .225 and .309 in 2023. Webb responded by cutting his usage, but that’s not ideal. A lot of last season wasn’t quite what he wanted.

“I think a lot of it had to do with the team didn’t win, and I was frustrated about that,” he said. “But myself, I look back at some games that I let get away and we could have won and it could be the margin of error. Maybe if we won those games we would have had a better chance of getting back into the playoffs. It’s knowing that if it’s a tie game or if you’re winning, you keep it that way. I think the best guys do that, and I think I can do better at that.”

The most visible changes this spring came when Webb was on the mound, but the time behind the scenes was just as important. Now in year seven, he wants to be better at preparing for starts. It wasn’t an issue before, but the hope is that some additional tweaks lead to more consistency.

Asked how he can get better off the field, Webb smiled. He pointed to the end of his row of lockers, where Justin Verlander’s jersey was hanging.

“That guy,” he said.

It’s a high bar, but one Webb is hopeful he can reach. He has become known as one of the game’s best workhorses, but there’s more in the tank for the 28-year-old.

“I definitely think there are some goals. I would like to win the Cy Young, and 200 strikeouts is a thing that I haven’t done yet. That would be cool,” he said. “I think it’s just about going out there and competing and knowing that I had to get better in my scouting, I had to get better before the game and in between my starts. That’s what’s fun about playing. The more you play, the more you learn. That’s been the biggest thing for me.”

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