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Post by inger on Aug 11, 2019 19:59:33 GMT -5
I missed getting you a report for Trent Thornton in time for his start today, but there was an earlier report. Tad busy... All good. Look forward to your next report! We get Gabriel Ynoa again in gm 1 tomorrow. But teams are lusting TBD for gm 2. The state of starting pitching in MLB is pretty sad right now. If you don’t have one of tomorrow’s starters figured out by now... just wow... |
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Post by chiyankee on Aug 11, 2019 20:13:54 GMT -5
All good. Look forward to your next report! We get Gabriel Ynoa again in gm 1 tomorrow. But teams are lusting TBD for gm 2. The state of starting pitching in MLB is pretty sad right now. If you don’t have one of tomorrow’s starters figured out by now... just wow... More opener madness for the Yankees in Game 2. The team only has four starters so a double header is going to create all kinds of problems, at least this time we should see Nestor or Cessa instead of Tarpley & Adams. |
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Post by chiyankee on Aug 11, 2019 20:14:48 GMT -5
I missed getting you a report for Trent Thornton in time for his start today, but there was an earlier report. Tad busy... The guy probably pitched his best game of the season and took a loss. |
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Post by inger on Aug 11, 2019 22:04:40 GMT -5
I missed getting you a report for Trent Thornton in time for his start today, but there was an earlier report. Tad busy... The guy probably pitched his best game of the season and took a loss. Lot’s of similarities between this start and his first against the Yanks. We came within one hit of rousting him. But isn’t that commonly the difference between a good performance and a mediocre one?... |
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Post by inger on Aug 12, 2019 23:55:49 GMT -5
8/7/2019 vs. Baltimore Orioles / John Means 8-6; 3.12 Earlier this season Means faced the Yankees three times. At that point he was working as the follower to the opener, so hw accumulated only 5.1 innings during which he was effective, allowing only a solo HR by Gary Sanchez to erase the zeroes on his ERA. The Orioles have given him an opportunity to start and he’s easily become their best starter. He offers a below average velocity (92) 4 seam fastball that has only the slightest bit of arm side run and is thrown with plenty of backspin. His second offering is a changeup at 81 that also features a lot of back spin, though unlike his FB, it is thrown lower in the zone. Balls with backspin tend to be hit in the air, and Means has survived on weak fly ball outs. He does serve up about an average number of HR, which is excellent considering the stadium he plays his home games in. He’s been at his best at home. Pitch #3 is an 84 MPH slider that has less depth than most that he tends to throw higher in the zone than most pitchers sliders. This is not your typical slider thrown to get swings and misses when it dives in the dirt, but a pitch to generate weak fly contact. His seldom used curve is a slow 76 MPH pitch. Most slow curves tend to be those big yakkers that drop out of the zone. Though Means throws this one with straight down 12-6 movement, it only goes about 1/2 way down the clock dial. None of these offerings is much of a swing and miss threat, nor has any distinct characteristic that should fool many hitters, yet he has been excellent vs. LHH. holding them to .185 with .585 OPS for the season. He’s had a good season to date, but July was not kind to him. He’s coming off an injury and hasn’t pitched yet this month. He’s been fortunate to date to keep those fly balls in Camden Yards more often that logical. He tends to settle in quickly, but becomes rather vulnerable in the 50th through 75th pitch range. He’s been able to toughen up in high leverage situations. His ERA of 3.12 belies a rather average FIP of 4.46. That, coupled with his rather lucky results to date and reliance on control/command while coming off a long break would make me bet against a quality start today...Look for some fastballs up to be left out over the plate... Bump for start of 08/13 |
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Post by inger on Aug 13, 2019 0:01:05 GMT -5
8/7/2019 vs. Baltimore Orioles / John Means 8-6; 3.12 Earlier this season Means faced the Yankees three times. At that point he was working as the follower to the opener, so hw accumulated only 5.1 innings during which he was effective, allowing only a solo HR by Gary Sanchez to erase the zeroes on his ERA. The Orioles have given him an opportunity to start and he’s easily become their best starter. He offers a below average velocity (92) 4 seam fastball that has only the slightest bit of arm side run and is thrown with plenty of backspin. His second offering is a changeup at 81 that also features a lot of back spin, though unlike his FB, it is thrown lower in the zone. Balls with backspin tend to be hit in the air, and Means has survived on weak fly ball outs. He does serve up about an average number of HR, which is excellent considering the stadium he plays his home games in. He’s been at his best at home. Pitch #3 is an 84 MPH slider that has less depth than most that he tends to throw higher in the zone than most pitchers sliders. This is not your typical slider thrown to get swings and misses when it dives in the dirt, but a pitch to generate weak fly contact. His seldom used curve is a slow 76 MPH pitch. Most slow curves tend to be those big yakkers that drop out of the zone. Though Means throws this one with straight down 12-6 movement, it only goes about 1/2 way down the clock dial. None of these offerings is much of a swing and miss threat, nor has any distinct characteristic that should fool many hitters, yet he has been excellent vs. LHH. holding them to .185 with .585 OPS for the season. He’s had a good season to date, but July was not kind to him. He’s coming off an injury and hasn’t pitched yet this month. He’s been fortunate to date to keep those fly balls in Camden Yards more often that logical. He tends to settle in quickly, but becomes rather vulnerable in the 50th through 75th pitch range. He’s been able to toughen up in high leverage situations. His ERA of 3.12 belies a rather average FIP of 4.46. That, coupled with his rather lucky results to date and reliance on control/command while coming off a long break would make me bet against a quality start today...Look for some fastballs up to be left out over the plate... Bump for start of 08/13 Means hasn’t pitched since his last start against the Yanks in August 7th. Nothing about the prior assessment has changed... |
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Post by inger on Aug 13, 2019 23:27:24 GMT -5
8/14 vs. Baltimore Orioles Dylan Bundy 5-12; 5.04
I think I did a scouting report on Bundy early this season, before this thread was created. In any event, perhaps it’s time to update.
Bundy’s biggest problem seems to be that he’s working without a good fastball these days. Injury has forced him to attempt to change his manner of attack. He used to touch 100 MPH with his 4-seamer on the minors, and now throws a 4-seamer that seldom tops 92 MPH with little natural movement. He has reduced the use of that pitch from often as high as 60% to around 35-37%. It has backspin and will fly high long and often.
He’s started throwing a once ignored sinker a bit more, and it gets some swing and miss. The jury is still out on it’s overall ground ball effectiveness, but there is some promise there.
His curve, slider, and change can all be effective at times. The change is a decent ground ball pitch, and the other two get some swing and miss.
It appears that Bundy is attempting to retool the distribution of these secondary pitches, which is probably a good idea. I didn’t waste a lot of time on velocities here, as everything is near mid-eighties with the exception of the two fastballs and his slowest curve which will be 80-82.
He stumbled out of the gate, often giving up his runs in the first inning, settling in a bit for the next 3-4 innings, but using up his 100-110 pitches often before the fifth is over. He seldom succeeds past the fifth.
His last two outings have resulted in 11.1 innings, allowing two runs and 5 hits in each of those two games. He throws strikes. Perhaps too many of them. He allows one hit per inning pitched, while also striking out about one per inning.
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Post by noetsi on Aug 13, 2019 23:34:51 GMT -5
Better to throw fewer strikes and hope they get impatient  |
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Post by inger on Aug 13, 2019 23:55:48 GMT -5
Better to throw fewer strikes and hope they get impatient There is great truth in that statement. Look at Tanaka. He tempts and trades. The word is out, every team, every hitter knows it. But he dances around the edges, seemingly able to tell (at least sometimes) when he can groove a pitch to steal a strike and add even more to the temptation. The key is keeping the ball close to the hitting zone. But just outside and/or having a pitch like the splitter that looks like a strike until it’s too late to hold back a swing, then disappears. We saw that several times with German’s breaking ball today as well... |
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Post by inger on Aug 14, 2019 18:50:05 GMT -5
8/15 vs. Cleveland Indians / Adam Plutko 4-3 4.68
Now 27, the right hander continues to struggle with command, which is not good when you feature a 91 MPH 4-seamer with little movement and extreme backspin.
He also throws a slider with minimal break and a change up that has good cutting action, but little swing and miss. Both are thrown at about85-86, leaving only a slight variance from his fastball.
He features a curve at 77 that has less break than most slow curves.
All of his pitches are fly ball prone, and he has thus far pitched 145 MLB innings while allowing 39 HR. Odd in that he controlled the long ball well in MiLB. He tends to be extremely aggressive with strikes early in the game, and has allowed a whopping 17 HR within his first 25 pitches of games...
His scatter charts show some up and in to LHH, which may be pitches that he’s simply missing with, as he virtually never comes up and in vs. RHH. While he seldom walks hitters, his misses are often right in the middle of the hitting zone. He has virtually no swing and miss in his game...
He had an excellent start vs. the Yankees earlier this season (6 innings 2 runs 3 hits) and also turned in a couple of other strong starts this season. This would indicate that when he has his command, he can do well. It also shows that he seldom commands the ball...as his other starts are not impressive.
Starting Plutko is a sign of the collateral damage Cleveland has suffered to their staff due to injuries/illness this season as well as the trade of Trevor Bauer...He is not one of the bright spots of the Infian rotation...
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Post by inger on Aug 15, 2019 23:46:33 GMT -5
8/16 vs. Cleveland Indians / Aaron Civale 1-1; 1.00
What a start to his MLB career. Eighteen innings, nine hits, 2 runs allowed. Three 6 inning quality starts. Eighteen K’s, only 4 BB. No HR allowed, in fact only three XBH. He’s doing something right.
The 24 year old RH has shown poise and command of his arsenal:
32% 88 MPH cutters that have a hard cut to jam right handed hitters and run away from lefties reach at the last possible moment. Results primarily in weak flyball contact.
30% 92 MPH sinkers that are prototypical of what you expect of a sinker. Gets some flies and some grounders. Will work it up in the zone at times.
14% 84 MPH change ups that are his best swing and miss weapon with good arm side cut has been destroying LHH.
He mixes in an 83 MPH slider, a 75 MPH curve with slight downward bite that comes late. His 4-seamer is a 93 MPH offering with just a bit of arm side run that seems to be falling out of favor, but still seen.
While righties have barely hit .180 off him, lefties are hitting a mere .111. He’s held hitters that are seeing him for the third time to 0 for 10, with 2 of the 4 total BB he’s allowed.
He hasn’t revealed a weakness yet, but he hasn’t had the fly balls he’s been allowing in Yankee Stadium yet, either. This will be interesting to watch. We’ve seen the Yanks stifled by these young pitchers with control/command/poise before the first time they’ve seen them. Tanaka in the hill for the Yanks. Pitcher’s duel?..
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Post by inger on Aug 17, 2019 0:10:55 GMT -5
8/17/2019 vs. Cleveland Indians / Zach Plesac 6-3 ; 3.27
The rookie right hander’s name sounds like something you want your dentist to get off your teeth, or maybe like a fish that cleans debris from the bottom of your aquarium. But when he takes the mound, Zach with an H has a good idea of what to do. Like Plutko before him, he’s a very poised young man who commands his pitches well.
4S FB used to be at 90-94, but due to some off-season tinkering, he’s now touching 97. The velocity is the biggest plus factor for the fastball though it’s also helped him set up his off speed pitches better. This pitch makes up about 50% of his arsenal. Despite the speed Plesac fans fewer batters than most pitchers in today’s game. He works the four corners of the plate well with this pitch, seeking weak contact.
About 20% of his repertoire is a change up that he works both sides of the plate with. At 86 the pitch is a bit firm compared to his heater, though now that he’s had his velo bump there a bit more diff.
His slider is the next 20% of the attack at 85 MPH. He works it up and down in the zone.
The curve has been a work in progress at 79 MPH, but it doesn’t have as much break as better curve balls despite it’s 12-6 drop.
Plesac’s splits vs. RHH are fine, but he’s fashioned strong reverse splits vs. LHH, led by a .191 batting average. He’s improved since his call up, making steady progress. His last 6 starts the team has won all with Plesac improving to 6-3 by going 3-0; 2.53. He’s only allowed 3 HR in those 6 starts.
His high leverage performance has been strong. If there is a hiccup in his game it seems to be around the third or forth inning. Once he gets by that, he stays strong through 100 pitches.
In his single start vs. the Yankees earlier this season, he pitched 7 innings of 2 run; 6 hit baseball with 5K and 1BB. Expect a challenge...
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Post by inger on Aug 17, 2019 23:07:13 GMT -5
8/17 vs. Cleveland Indians / Mike Clevinger 7-2; 3.34
Sometimes you can’t hear them talk
Other times you can
The same old tired refrain
Is that a woman or a man?
You always seem outnumbered
You don’t dare to make a stand...
Clevinger has developed into one of the most effective pitchers in MLB, and as done so quietly. His career record is 35-19, with an ERA + of 133. He’s also been extra tough in the dog days of summer and the division pushes. His August / September cumulative record has been 18-5.
He’s tough to hit, especially vs. RHH who have hit .213, throws strikes and hits the edges, keeps the ball in the park. He toughens up with runners on base with a career high leverage BA against of .189 (good sample size, (45 for 238) The HR he does allow often come in the first inning or as the pitch count approaches 75 in games where he’s not as sharp as usual, about the fifth inning.
He’s only pitched in three games vs. the Yankees with mixed results. They have trouble hitting him, but when they have they have they’ve hit the long ball well. We’re only getting a 14 inning sample though.
The arsenal is simple:
4S FB at 96. Tends to go up and in more vs. lefties than righties. Lots of high strikes and swings and misses for a FB with little movement. He will elevate above the zone when ahead on the count.
Slider at 81 has good sweep and some 2-plane movement.Lefties seldom see the pitch. He tends to start it at RHH, buckling them and finding the strike zone with it. It freezes many for called stokes and gets the swing and miss too.
The 78 MPH curve bites downward 12-6, generates some swing and miss along with weak fly ball contact.
The change up is mostly a weapon to fight LHH. He tends to throw it inside trying to get hitters jammed and out in front for foul balls on any hard contact. He gets lots of lefties to pound this pitch into the dirt. It’s a very firm 88 MPH...
Tough assignment...
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Post by inger on Aug 19, 2019 23:38:50 GMT -5
8/20 vs. Oakland A’s / Homer Bailey / 10-8; 5.22
If the 33 year old has one trait that stands out, it’s inconsistency. He’s made a dozen starts this season in which he’s shut his opponent down with 2 runs or less. That includes an early season vs. the Yanks where he surprised with a one run, three hit effort over six innings in a 6-1 KCR’s victory. He’s also been hit hard, early, and often in several other games.
His 10-8 record is a bit surprising after he ushered his way out of Cincinnati last season with a 1-14 mark. This is the most wins he’s had since accumulating 11 in 2013. He’s a strike thrower that works the ball in and out much more than most pitchers, but does little up in the strike zone. He relies on weak contact to succeed and is an extreme reverse splits fellow. Tough on lefties, but righties tend to hit him him well and draw more walks than lefty hitters.
One thing that struck me was his scatter charts. I already mentioned that he works the ball in and out more than up and down, and these charts showed how extreme that trait was. Some of his strike zone misses are extreme. Look for some hitters to dance out of the way.
4S fastball, 93. Has some natural sink. Nothing special, but on some nights it has extreme sink, and he’ll pile up more strikeouts with it than usual. Some even say he has two fastballs, one that is a true sinker, but I doubt that. The “true sinker” is such a dominant pitch that if it were a reliable and commendable option every night, he’d use it a lot more.
Splitter, 84 has good sink and gets GB to the extreme.
Hard slider at 88, 12-6 but not a lot of drop. Contact is frequent but on the ground more often than not.
Knuckle curve at 79 is often hit airborne. It’s not a great curve, but it’s another off-speed option that he needs to keep batters out of rhythm. He’s had a better season than his 5.22 ERA indicates, and his FIP is middle 4’s...This may be a tougher assignment than expected. When he’s right, he’s no pushover...
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Post by greatfatness on Aug 20, 2019 5:11:30 GMT -5
8/20 vs. Oakland A’s / Homer Bailey / 10-8; 5.22 If the 33 year old has one trait that stands out, it’s inconsistency. He’s made a dozen starts this season in which he’s shut his opponent down with 2 runs or less. That includes an early season vs. the Yanks where he surprised with a one run, three hit effort over six innings in a 6-1 KCR’s victory. He’s also been hit hard, early, and often in several other games. His 10-8 record is a bit surprising after he ushered his way out of Cincinnati last season with a 1-14 mark. This is the most wins he’s had since accumulating 11 in 2013. He’s a strike thrower that works the ball in and out much more than most pitchers, but does little up in the strike zone. He relies on weak contact to succeed and is an extreme reverse splits fellow. Tough on lefties, but righties tend to hit him him well and draw more walks than lefty hitters. One thing that struck me was his scatter charts. I already mentioned that he works the ball in and out more than up and down, and these charts showed how extreme that trait was. Some of his strike zone misses are extreme. Look for some hitters to dance out of the way. 4S fastball, 93. Has some natural sink. Nothing special, but on some nights it has extreme sink, and he’ll pile up more strikeouts with it than usual. Some even say he has two fastballs, one that is a true sinker, but I doubt that. The “true sinker” is such a dominant pitch that if it were a reliable and commendable option every night, he’d use it a lot more. Splitter, 84 has good sink and gets GB to the extreme. Hard slider at 88, 12-6 but not a lot of drop. Contact is frequent but on the ground more often than not. Knuckle curve at 79 is often hit airborne. It’s not a great curve, but it’s another off-speed option that he needs to keep batters out of rhythm. He’s had a better season than his 5.22 ERA indicates, and his FIP is middle 4’s...This may be a tougher assignment than expected. When he’s right, he’s no pushover... Funny that they're facing Bailey today and I was thinking of Phil Hughes earlier. Once upon a time they were the two best pitching prospects in baseball. |
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