Eno Sarris, Special to ESPN.com 9y

Where have Alex Wood's strikeouts gone?

MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood was 15th in strikeout rate last year among qualified starting pitchers. This year, he's all the way down to 67th, dropping from 8.9 K's per nine to 6.7, the second biggest drop among starters.

His velocity isn't down much, he's throwing the same pitches -- so what gives?

I caught up with Wood recently and asked him about his drop his K's. Turns out it's a combination of mechanics and approach that have robbed him of some strikeout potential -- and there's hope that both areas can be improved. Let's just say the pitcher is well aware of what's wrong, and he had answers at least for the way forward.

Let's have a closer look:

The approach

One thing of note on Wood's statistical line: His ground ball rate has increased this season from 45.9 percent in 2014 to 47.5 percent in 2015. That's not a huge jump, but it does point to something that has changed slightly from last year: where he's throwing the ball in the strike zone.

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