​A few weeks ago, I decided that there had to be a better way to figure out which baseball players were making meaningful changes to their approach. I used tools like Process+ and the Statcast rolling leaderboards, but I wanted to try to spot trends or changes before they led to clear performance boosts, and everybody in my leagues was adding the player I was researching. So I built a database.I’m not a coder by nature, so I will admit to using AI for help with the coding, but the design was something I had been thinking about for a while. I took some of my preferred indicators that could be used to spot shifts in performance and added them to a database. That included results-stats like exit velocity and barrel rate, or velocity increases and usage changes for pitchers. It also included process-based stats like swing rate, chase rate, pull air rate, two-strike usage for pitchers, etc., and it also included biomechanical indicators like arm angle for pitchers or batting stance changes for hitters. I then had the database set up to flag any meaningful changes across segments of 50 plate appearances (or about three starts for a starting pitcher).What that led to was me having an evolving database of hitters and pitchers who were doing new things that deserved my attention.Now, some of it was not as useful. You can have pitchers who stop using a pitch for two starts because of hitter handedness, or you can have a hitter who has a surge in barrel rate without anything else changing in their process or swing mechanics. However, by having something flag these names for me, I’m able to dig into each name and see if there is something tangible happening under the hood.As a result, I can now share some of those changes with you. Two weeks ago I did that with some hitters, so today it’s time to look at some recent changes for starting pitchers of note. Tyler Mahle – Braves (Fastball Velocity/Locations, Splitter Usage)Mahle was traded to the Braves in an underrated deadline move. In five starts with his new team, he has a 1.48 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 27.4% strikeout rate in 30.1 innings. Some of this could simply be tied to the fact that his four-seam velocity is up (93.2 mph with the Braves vs 92.7 mph season average). He’s also keeping the four-seamer up in the zone 67.3% of the time with the Braves, which is 10% more often than he has on the year. That location, and the added velocity, has led to a 14.5% swinging strike rate on his four-seamer over these five starts, which is well up from his 8.9% mark on the season.Another important change for Mahle has been that he has leaned into his splitter far more often with Atlanta, throwing it 38.5% of the time with the Braves, after throwing it a little over 26% of the time with the Giants. He’s also been throwing the splitter harder, averaging 86.8 mph with Atlanta, which is almost one mph up from his season average. That has cost him some drop, but he has a 72.5% strike rate on the splitter with the Braves