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Post by inger on Aug 23, 2019 17:54:49 GMT -5
08/23/2019 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers / Hyun-Jin Ryu, 12-3; 1.64 A bit roly-poly at 6’3” and 255. Hey, speak for yourself, Inger! You just hit too close to home!  At one time I carried 233 on my 5’11” frame. I’m keeping it around 193-195 now for the past two years...The 233 was a stress response when my first marriage was on the rocks, leaving the greenhouse business was imminent, etc.. Since my forties before that I had been around 210-220. Hard to believe I was a skinny kid and young adult... |
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Post by inger on Aug 23, 2019 17:59:14 GMT -5
Just a follow up to the group: Are there any features in these reports that are boring/should be eliminated? Anything you can think of you would like added? “Critique” and criticism are not the same thing. I doubt anyone can offend me... I love them! Don’t change a thing!  Thank you, but I feel like I’m missing a secret sauce somewhere... We went to a Jimmy John’s yesterday for Subs. Ruthie has a tuna sub and loved it, so she complimented them. At that point the girl at the counter said that there was a “secret ingredient” they weren’t allowed to tell. With very little prodding, the girl looked around to make sure no one was close by and said “soy sauce”. On tuna? Who knew, right? So I put some soy sauce while I was posting the Ryu report... but it really didn’t make my phone look good. Won’t try that again... |
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Post by kaybli on Aug 23, 2019 18:18:47 GMT -5
Just a follow up to the group: Are there any features in these reports that are boring/should be eliminated? Anything you can think of you would like added? “Critique” and criticism are not the same thing. I doubt anyone can offend me... One of the best parts of the forum now. I read them every day! |
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Post by pippsheadache on Aug 23, 2019 18:22:10 GMT -5
They're pretty hard to beat Inger. I always read them.
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Post by inger on Aug 24, 2019 10:32:13 GMT -5
Aug 24 vs. LA Dodgers / Tony Gonsolin 1-1; 3.00
The 6’3”, 205 pound right hander is a 25 year old rookie with only 18 innings upon which to judge who or what he is. Here’s what I’ve found so far:
4S 94, throws this pitch nearly 50% of the time. He gets a lot of ground balls on it, works it up, down, side to side. Often misses badly with this pitch, sometimes up, more often to the glove side.
Splitter 87, unlike many splitters this pitch that has made up 25% of the mix, behaves as though it may have some back spin. It’s all over the place, often missing to the glove side, though there is a bit of arm side fade.
Slider 88, thrown hard for a slider, it doesn’t move much in it’s 12-6 trajectory, but has been getting him some swing and miss. It’s been an extreme fly ball pitch so far when contacted.
Often misses down and in to righties.
Curve 81 has sharp downward bite and gets swing and miss action. Sharp 12-6 bite, but also gets hung and hit in the air. This pitch is also often in the dirt or at RHH ankles.
Way too small of a sample to say, but so far he appears to lack control and command. Take some pitches, Yankees. Watch for pitches that are way too far inside. The fastball and splitter will threaten the health of LHH and the breaking stuff will threaten the RHH.
It would seem the breaking pitches, which combine for less than 1/4 of his repertoire have promise, but won’t be all that helpful until he knows more about where they’re going.
I would say off-hand that he’s been fortunate to hold onto a 3.00 ERA. He’s going to have to show more pitchability today to succeed...It is to his advantage that the Yankees have never seen him before...
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Post by inger on Aug 24, 2019 23:59:08 GMT -5
8/25, vs.LA Dodgers / Clayton Kershaw 13-2; 2.71
Veteran 6’4” left-hander has a small and tidy mix of mixes:
4S FB 91. Straight as can be, lots of backspin. Can throw it where he wants it. 45% of mix
Slider 87. Not a lot of depth, but does a great job of getting it hit into the dirt. 40% of mix
Curve 74. Slow ball with with quick bite for swing and miss and ground ball action. 14% of mix
Change up 86. Firm. Cuts to the arm side. Gets weak fly balls, but seldom used.
It’s not the greatest stuff you’ve ever seen, but the execution is what makes it work. Lifetime winning % of .700. He knows what to do, and he does it consistently...
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Post by inger on Aug 26, 2019 20:10:12 GMT -5
8/26 vs. Mariners / Tommy Milone 3-7; 4.81
Tommy Milone is now 32 years old, which seems eons away from 2012-2013 when was an up and comer in Atlanta with consecutive 13-10 and 12-9 seasons. Things went way downhill for the 6’ 215# lefty after that, but he’s still working. Even when he was younger and had a respectable fastball, he allowed more hits than innings pitched.
Now, he working with a reduced power arsenal, and you can credit him with knowing how to pitch, in, out, up, down. He tickles the edges of the strike zone nicely, but all too often had to come to patient hitters and gets hit hard.
He’s got reverse splits that show LHH batting .299 with an OPS against of .848. He runs into trouble the second time through the order, which means that the dance is seldom longer than 5 innings for him.
In high leverage situations he’s been blasted to a .405 BA and 1.059 OPS. Ouch. He’s gotten batters to hit the ball on the ground 94 times vs. 89 fly outs. The biggest problem is that there have also been 62 line drives off him, which have produced a .610 average. All very ugly math, right? Knowing how to pitch is much more helpful if you have a weapon or two at your disposal.
4S, 87. Seriously. Below hitting speed, and almost no movement. This is what you get about 50% of the time. When he has to come to hitters with this, guess where it goes?
Change, 80. A little sink. You see this baby about 35% of the time. Not much differential from the fast ball at 7 MPH.
Slider, 78. Really slow, there is a bit of two plane movement, which seems to be an aerodynamic impossibility at this speed. How doesn’t this just stop and fall on the ground after 55 feet?
Curve, 76. Very little 12-6 movement. Gets hit in the air a lot. If he misses his spot with it, guess where it goes? It’s almost never swing at and missed, so give our guys Hell if they miss it...
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Post by inger on Aug 26, 2019 23:52:54 GMT -5
Sorry about the crappy editing on that one guys. Got finished just in time to leave the house. I have a sale if their credit goes through, but the credit is fringy at best. 🤞
What a shame, lovely people... Just hit a bump and the credit went to hell...
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Post by noetsi on Aug 27, 2019 0:11:07 GMT -5
The next two Seattle pitchers have awful ERA's (6.17 lol).
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Post by inger on Aug 27, 2019 11:48:41 GMT -5
8/27 vs. Seattle Mariners / Yusei Kikuchi 5-8; 5.19
6’ 194 pound-left hander has pretty decent stuff. He started 2019 off pretty well before the league caught up to him. During that early stretch he faced the Yankees in YS3 and dismantled (insert poor Mickey Mantle joke here) us quite well. He twirled 7 2/3 innings of 1 run three hit baseball, fanning three and walking one. He also had quality starts and victories in his next two starts, and seemed to on a roll.
After those games. Yusei’s next 14 starts create an ugly vision at 4-10, 7.50. Then in his last start before today he suddenly showed what he’s capable of against Toronto, pitching a complete game two-hit shutout with 8 Ks and only one free pass.
Some things to look for: Batters that have attacked his first pitch have put up a BA of .340 with .966 OPS. He’s allowed a hefty 31 HR in just 592 PA against.
While he has a bit of a ground ball tendency, he’s also allowed a lot of line drives. For the season the count is 196 GB, 136 FB, and 106 liners off which he has allowed a .654 BA including 7 HR. I’ve noticed that quite a few pitchers allow 0 line drive HRs, so I believe 7 to be a high number of such HR. All of this in 26 starts comprising of only 135 innings.
4S FB is nearly straight and at 93 is nothing special. It comprises 40-50% of his pitch mix.
He has an indistinctive slider at 86 that he’ll throw 25-30% of the time.
Curve at 76 is probably under-used at 5-25%. It’s probably not available to him on some days. While it’s a high contact pitch that contact is on the ground quite often due to sharp bite on the pitch.
The change is also probably under used at about 12%. It has sink and cut action and has been an extreme ground ball pitch.
The worrisome issues for today are what he did in his last start, how he performed in his prior appearance vs. New York, and the possibility that he may be learning to tap into some wicked secondary pitches he has in his quiver. If we’re seeing a good bit of that curve on display early he may be tough to get to.
I would think the change to be effective vs. lefties with the cut on it. It will interesting to see if he uses that against them or reserves it for RHH.
His record says push over, but I’m not so certain. The league caught up to him once. Has he adjusted?...
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Post by inger on Aug 28, 2019 0:54:28 GMT -5
8/28 vs. Seattle Mariners / Justus Sheffield 0-0; 6.36
Twenty three year-old lefty stands 6’ with thick socks on. Weighs in at 200. He was effective in 11 AA starts this season at 4-3; 2.17, struggled at AAA in 11 starts and one relief appearance, 2-5; 6.36, with a big 12 HR allowed in 52.1 innings. He’s struggled with walks at the MLB level in his limited experience (9.2 innings, 10 BB).
He has a powerful core and a 3/4 drop and drive delivery that pulls him off line on the follow-through (like Domingo German).
He has a mostly straight 93-97 MPH fastball. When he has his delivery together he can run into a stretch of throwing low strikes and be quite tough. Perhaps it’s his small frame, but he seems to want to go 100% on every pitch. This makes him struggle with command and mechanics.
The slider is between 87-89 and is the biggest key to his present and future success. He’ll throw it to lefties, of course, but will also back door right-handed hitters.
If he has the two pitches above working and keeps his mechanics together... if...he could have a good day. First start jitters out of the way, he’s still pitching against his former team, and they're still the Yankees.
He’ll throw an occasional cutter at 92-93, bit mostky just to show another look. It’s unrefined at this point.
He also has a “show me” curve that has no distinguishing qualities.
There is a change up that tends to be 87-89 MPH. He throws it too hard, which matches his 100% effort M.O. when he tones it down a bit he gets some tumble and dive. Developing this pitch could be the difference maker in whether or not he ultimately goes to the bullpen or becomes a #2-3 starter.
Overall, good stuff. Probably will benefit from additional MLB experience this fall, but also will likely need another 1/2 season or more in AAA next year to clean up mechanics and reduce effort in order to gain more run on his fastball and overall command.
I still like him as much as I did when the Yankees had him, and I still harbor the same hopes and doubts about him. It will be nice to see him and gauge his progress. If he can throw strikes early in this game and make it through 5-6 innings it would be a major boost for him...
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Post by inger on Aug 28, 2019 21:53:40 GMT -5
I could take the night off tonight, but a couple of days ago I was thinking about doing this write up. Then the M’s named a starter and ruined my plans...
Undecided 0-0. 0.00
Undecided has been named the starting pitcher an MLB record 14,384 times since the inception of organized baseball.
He hasn’t decided what pitches he will throw and he has no idea how hard he can throw or if he has more than just one pitch, we have no idea of his height, weight, nationality or handness.
While some sources credit undecided with holding the record for being the only pitcher to have been announced into a game without ever facing a batter, other sources report that TBD has 15,004 such appearances, and unannounced has had 3,553. Then there was also Larry Yount, with one...Some day that Casey Stengel announced Damned if I know at least twice and Yogi Berra once announced Who Cares? The day after the harmonica incident...
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Post by kaybli on Aug 28, 2019 23:55:00 GMT -5
I could take the night off tonight, but a couple of days ago I was thinking about doing this write up. Then the M’s named a starter and ruined my plans... Undecided 0-0. 0.00 Undecided has been named the starting pitcher an MLB record 14,384 times since the inception of organized baseball. He hasn’t decided what pitches he will throw and he has no idea how hard he can throw or if he has more than just one pitch, we have no idea of his height, weight, nationality or handness. While some sources credit undecided with holding the record for being the only pitcher to have been announced into a game without ever facing a batter, other sources report that TBD has 15,004 such appearances, and unannounced has had 3,553. Then there was also Larry Yount, with one...Some day that Casey Stengel announced Damned if I know at least twice and Yogi Berra once announced Who Cares? The day after the harmonica incident...  |
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Post by kaybli on Aug 29, 2019 5:30:02 GMT -5
If you ever have the time, inger, how bout scouting reports on our own starting pitchers?
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Post by inger on Aug 29, 2019 10:40:03 GMT -5
If you ever have the time, inger, how bout scouting reports on our own starting pitchers? It’s occurred to me... perhaps nice for the playoff matchups... |
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