An interesting test for MacKenzie Gore

The Padres rookie pitcher faces the Reds (again) on the road today with lots of potential ramifications for him and the team.

MacKenzie Gore will start his third MLB game today, facing the Cincinnati Reds, and while this seems like it should be a no-doubt dominant outing for the kid, there are definitely some variables that make this one a little bit more interesting.

First, let’s examine his first two starts.

Against the Atlanta Braves, Gore went 5.1 innings and threw 73 pitches. He walked 2, gave up 3 hits and 2 runs, and pitched to a 5.51 FIP. Not exactly stellar, but the kid was fighting against a good lineup and nerves in his first MLB start. He even admitted that he didn’t have much besides his fastball that day.

One week ago against the Reds, at least at home, he appeared to be a lot more like the pitcher we expected from years of hype. He went 5 scoreless innings and threw 88 pitches. He gave up 4 hits, zero walks and zero runs while striking out 7 guys.

The fastball dropping from 73% to 65% shows that he was much more comfortable with his other pitches. What can we expert from Gore today? What about after today? Those are the things that I want to dig into a little bit deeper.