Rays Righty Drew Rasmussen Throws Baseball’s Best Cutter

February 11, 2026 adminsr

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Drew Rasmussen throws against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

The Best Pitches series rolls on – we’ve already tackled changeups and curveballs. Today, it’s the cutter’s turn.

We’re going pitch by pitch through the arsenals of all starting pitchers who threw 135 or more innings last season to determine the game’s best – and worst – offerings. The main inputs are pitchers’ bat-missing and contact management results. Each pitch is compared to league average swing-and-miss rates and pitch-specific Adjusted Contact Scores.

Adjusted Contact Score is, on a scale where 100 equals MLB average and the lower the number the better, the relative production a pitcher “should have” allowed based on the exit speed/launch angle mix of every batted ball yielded. An average pitch gets a “B’”, and a sliding scale is applied to each pitcher’s results to approximate a bell curve.

Today’s subject is the cut fastball. The pitch was more effective than typical in 2025 – the 32 qualifiers averaged a 96.3 Adjusted Contact Score, way better than its 2024 106.2 mark, and a 9.7% whiff rate, almost identical to its 2024 mark of 9.8%. Five pitchers recorded “A” grades or better, with Drew Rasmussen (Rays) earning the only “A+” grade and Tanner Bibee (Guardians), Davis Martin (White Sox), Taj Bradley (Rays/Twins) and Garrett Crochet (Red Sox) following closely with “A” grades. All five had cutter usage rates of 20% or higher, with Rasmussen (31.5%) and Crochet (27.8%) leading the way.

RHP Drew Rasmussen (Rays) – A+ – (70 Adj. Contact Score, 13.2% Whiff Rate) –

Rasmussen’s pitch-specific Adjusted Contact Score ranked 2nd among qualifiers, while his whiff rate ranked 5th. His cutter also received an “A” grade in his only other year of eligibility, 2022. He induces tons of grounders (53.8% rate, well above qualifiers’ 36.8% average), and also throttled fly ball authority (57 Adjusted Fly Ball Contact Score, 1st among qualifiers) with the pitch. His cutter had plenty of spin (2704 rpm) and horizontal movement (3.2 in.), while its velocity (89.4 mph) and vertical movement (0.7 in.) were average and well below average, respectively.

RHP Tanner Bibee (Guardians) – A – (75 Adj. Contact Score, 13.5% Whiff Rate) –

Like Rasmussen’s, Bibee’s cutter has an established track record – it received an “A+” grade in 2024. While it resembles the Rays’ righty’s cutter in many ways both stylistically (2705 rpm, 3.8 in. horizontal movement) and in terms of performance (4th in both contact management and bat-missing), Bibee uses his to rack up popups. His 21.6% pop up rate was almost exactly double the qualifiers’ average of 11.4%. The pitch’s velocity (86.2 mph) and vertical movement (2.1 in.) were both well below average.

RHP Davis Martin (White Sox) – A – (87 Adj. Contact Score, 12.9% Whiff Rate) –

Martin’s cutter keyed a league average range season in his first full season as an MLB starter. It ranked 2nd in pitch-specific whiff rate and tied for 10th in contact management. There was a bit of random chance involved in Martin’s high placement. He yielded a very low 10.9% line drive rate with the pitch, a figure that is likely to regress upward moving forward. On the other hand, he muffled liner authority – his 74 Adjusted Line Drive Contact Score was the best among qualifiers. His cutter had above average spin (2580 rpm), but average velocity (89.8 mph) and below average horizontal (0.1 in.) and vertical (3.4 in.) movement.

RHP Taj Bradley (Rays/Twins) – A – (92 Adj. Contact Score, 14.2% Whiff Rate) –

Bradley’s cutter also received an “A” grade in 2024. He posted the highest pitch-specific whiff rate among qualifiers, while his contact management performance was in the middle of the pack (tied for 16th). While his fly ball rate allowed was below average at 26.8%, his pop up rate of 13.8% was above the qualifiers’ average of 11.4% – that’s a nice combo. Stylistically, the pitch has above average horizontal movement (2.4 in.), but its velocity is average (89.6 mph) while its spin (2178 rpm) and vertical movement (2.2 in.) are well below.

LHP Garrett Crochet (Red Sox) – A – (79 Adj. Contact Score, 12.2% Whiff Rate) –

Crochet’s cutter received a “B+” grade in 2024. Its pitch-specific whiff rate ranked 7th this season, its contact management performance tied for 7th. He uses it as a grounder-inducing pitch – his 44.9% grounder rate was well above the qualifiers’ average. Visually, the pitch stands out, with above average velocity (91.2 mph), spin (2596 rpm) and horizontal movement (2.1 in.). Its 2.9 in. vertical movement is below average. The lefty needed his cutter to step forward in 2025, as his four-seamer took a step backward.

A Fairly Extreme Oddity – Though his cutter earned an ordinary “B” grade, RHP Brandon Pfaadt (Diamondbacks) got there in a very unusual manner, posting the very best pitch-specific Adjusted Contact Score (60) and the very worst whiff rate (4.6%) among the 32 qualifiers.

Just Missed: 5 pitchers earned “B+” grades: Dean Kremer (Orioles), Shane Baz (Rays, now Orioles), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers), Patrick Corbin (Rangers, free agent) and Chris Bassitt (Blue Jays, free agent). Between Rasmussen, Bradley and Baz, the Rays sure did have some success establishing the cutter. Of this group, Yamamoto specialized in managing contact, while Baz, Corbin and Bassitt were better bat-missers. Kremer was measurably above average in both disciplines.

The Worst Cutters: Logan Allen (Guardians), Tomoyuki Sugano (Orioles, now Rockies) and Seth Lugo (Royals) all posted “D+” cutter grades. They posted the three worst pitch-specific Adjusted Contact Scores (Lugo = 168, Allen = 155, Sugano = 126), and Sugano’s 4.9% whiff rate was 2nd lowest among all qualifiers.

2024 “A” Grade Recipients: We’ve already discussed Bibee and Bradley. Kutter Crawford (Red Sox) and Nestor Cortes (Brewers/Padres, free agent) suffered injuries and didn’t pitch enough innings to qualify in 2025. Sonny Gray (Cardinals, Red Sox) dropped from an “A” grade in 2024 to a “B” grade in 2025, as his pitch-specific Adjusted Contact Score actually improved from 103 to 92 while his whiff rate plummeted from 14.3% to 9.6%.

Overall, 2025’s best cutters came in all shapes and sizes. They tended to have limited vertical movement, above average horizontal movement, average to below average velocity, and widely varying spin rates. Four of the five biggest bat-missers got “A” grades or better. Here is a table with all 2025 qualifiers’ cutter grades.