Since his first full season in the big leagues in 2010, the Toronto Blue Jays’ David Price has been heralded as one of baseball’s elite pitchers. But what is it that makes him so good? He throws hard, but isn’t considered among the league’s flamethrowers. He doesn’t have a signature wipeout pitch, like Clayton Kershaw’s curveball or Felix Hernandez’s changeup. And he’s not a pinpoint control guy, like Mark Buehrle. In short, it’s his rare combination of velocity and command.

“Pitching is command first, and he has command,” says Jays catcher Russell Martin. “Plus he has pitches that are kind of overpowering, so he can get away with mistakes. But he doesn’t make many mistakes, and that’s the difference.”

That, and he’s a workhorse who has thrown more than 200 innings in all but one of the last five seasons.

We asked Harry Pavlidis, an analyst at Baseball Prospectus and founder of pitch-data-crunching company Pitch Info, to delve a little deeper into what separates Price from the pack.

SOUTHPAW POWER

Price’s average fastball velocity is 95 m.p.h., which is just above average for a right-handed relief pitcher, but he’s throwing it as a starting southpaw. “So he’s head-and-shoulders above a typical left-handed starter,” Pavlidis says. “And he’s strong enough to sustain that throughout a game.”

COMMAND

Since 2012, Price has walked less than five per cent of batters. He’s the only pitcher to do that while also throwing more than 800 innings. Pavlidis: “He throws everything for strikes and where he wants them to.”

K-MAN

He doesn’t have a signature strikeout pitch, because he gets strikeouts with all of his pitches. He led MLB in Ks last year and typically whiffs nearly a quarter of the batters he faces. His 4.96 strikeout-to-walk rate since 2012 is tied with Chris Sale for third best, behind Clayton Kershaw and Cliff Lee.

WORKHORSE

Although his velocity is that of a max-effort reliever, Price is fit enough to maintain his 95 m.p.h. fastball for an entire game. He’s also a durable workhorse who has thrown more than 200 innings in all but one of the last five seasons.

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PITCHABILITY

Despite his already sizable success, Price continues to evolve and improve as a pitcher, Pavlidis says. “It appears he’s becoming a little more nuanced in how he’s planning his games.” While he primarily leans on his fastball early in games, Price’s pitch sequencing has become more complex this year. “So as he goes through the game, it’s harder to figure out what he’s going to throw.”