Something surprising; something not.
by Dr. Yogi on Aug 5, 2009 11:29 PM EDT
Email
PrintJeff Passan at Yahoo Sports has a great post up entitled, "25 things you didn't know about baseball". It's a great post of surprising stats he has uncovered at FanGraphs.
There are two Twins mentioned in his post, the first is #9, tonight's starter Francisco Liriano. Apparently the stats show that his slider is just fine, but his fastball sucks. It sounded like he was having trouble locating it tonight, so that actually makes some sense, but it's not what I've been hearing from the experts.
The 2nd Twins player is Joe Mauer, who is one of 6 players who does not have a weakness at the plate. Yawn. That's about as surprising as Sid Hartman referring to someone as a close personal friend.
Read the whole post. There's some interesting stuff in there. My only question would be about giving an individual pitch an ERA. I would put forth that pitchers use some pitches to set up other pitches. They have their strike out pitch, but it's only good if its used in the right way. From what I can tell, they are only taking into account what the count is, and not what type of pitch preceded it. As a former catcher, this seems incredibly important to me. By changing speeds, eye level, location, etc. the pitch sequence matters, not just the pitch selection.
10 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
This is surprising?
I thought it was known that the reason Liriano was getting killed was because he can’t throw his fastball for strikes and when he does it gets hammered. Probably because he’s lost so much velocity (94.7 pre-op vs 91.8 post)
furthermore
I thought from reading all the optimistic TJ articles about Liriano that he would actually GAIN velocity. Afterall, TJ brings pitchers back better than ever. That’s what we were told, right? Ask Humber how that went while you’re at it.
by Milt on Tilt on Aug 6, 2009 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions
no we were never
told that after TJ surgery, starters are better. There is a possibility that starters could be better and have more zip on their fastball, but it is commonly known that after TJ surgery, most starters/relievers are not as good as they once were.
See Joe Mays, Philip Humber, Willie Eyre, Luis Ayala, B.J. Ryan, Carl Pavano, Al Reyes, etc.
A few who have had success after surgery: Mariano Rivera, Tom Gordon, Chris Carpenter, A.J. Burnett, Erik Bedard.
The point is that not all pitchers continue to have success after TJ surgery as they had before. With the way Neshek throws, it is highly unlikely that he will be better and he will probably just be another Sean Henn, Luis Ayala.
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." - Kirby Puckett
Starters have similar velo, more movement
Control of the fastball is always an issue after TJ surgery. He had it last year, but he’s almost too strong this year, so he thinks he can throw harder, when he should just focus on making it nice and easy. He’ll get there. Just be patient.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
A bit, yes
Some of what I’ve read has implied that part of Liriano’s problem is that he can’t throw his slider in the same way as before, or as often, and it was his out pitch before his surgery. I think that probably is still the case, though – he probably doesn’t throw it as often as he did in ‘06, and even if it’s still effective, it’s likely not as effective as it was before.
I’m too lazy to head to FanGraphs and check at the moment, but it’d be interesting to know what his ’06 pitch numbers were.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
I think the TRN guys keep talking about Liriano's slider, so that's where I got it I think.
"You should enter a ballpark like you enter a church." - Bill "Spaceman" Lee
That's less than three MPH
That’s not much, let alone “so much.” He’s hit 95 at times this year. You can make a good living in the big leagues with an 88 mph fastball.
Bloggin' the bloggers since 1938.
by Johnny Safron on Aug 6, 2009 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Liriano seems to be doing a good job of it, though
He’s made a few million. He’s had one nice season.
Bloggin' the bloggers since 1938.
by Johnny Safron on Aug 7, 2009 8:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Yahoo Sports
Never cared for Jeff Passan. I never got the impression he understood what he was talking about. For a guy who admits he doesn’t know anything about stats, he certainly uses them a lot… and then jokes about how easy it is for him to misuse them.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Twinkie Town
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
