How Did Bonser DO That?

by Jesse on Apr 27, 2007 12:20 AM EDT in News

How do you walk seven, and not allow a single run?

There are a number of things I wanted to write about tonight. Cuddyer on a slide since April 18, Kubel scorching the ball and finally getting results by going 5-for-12 over the last three games, Hunter taking a ball in the grill. But alas, I don't feel like complaining about the offense, all I can say for Kubel is "it's about time, he's been putting good wood on the ball", and everyone knows I love Torii in a "dude, I'm a BIG fan" kind of way and I'm glad he's okay. What's perplexing me tonight is the performance of Boof Bonser.

Thursday afternoon, Boof went five innings and struck out eight, walked seven, gave up three hits...and didn't allow a run to score. How did he manage that?

With one out, Mark Grudzielanek doubles before Bonser walks Mark Teahen. Reggie Sanders then grounds into a double play with two men on base, on Bonser's 17th pitch of the inning.
Sandwiching a strikeout of Emil Brown, Bonser walked Ross Gload and Alex Gordon on eight pitches in the second inning. Bonser goes on to strike out the next two hitters, but throws 21 pitches in the inning.
Bonser escapes the third inning in 14 pitches, striking out Mark Grudzielanek, allowing a base hit and recording two ground outs.
In the fourth inning, Bonser strikes out Ross Gload, then continues to walk the bases full with Emil Brown, Alex Gordon and John Buck getting consecutive free passes. Boof manages to retire a hacking Tony Pena, even though two pitches hit the dirt. With two down, David DeJesus takes two balls and a strike before offering at a pitch, flying out to Jason Kubel. Bonser threw 28 pitches to six hitters.
After allowing a base hit on the first pitch of the inning, Bonser strikes out Mark Teahen in a lengthy battle. Reggie Sanders walks on six pitches, putting runners on first and second with one away. On the fifth pitch to Ross Gload, he strikes out on a foul tip caught by Redmond. Finally, after getting behind 3-1 to Emil Brown, Bonser fights back and after an extended battle at the plate sends him down swinging. Bonser's last inning spanned another 28 pitches.

Bonser threw 108 pitches (half coming in the fourth and fifth), striking out eight. Yet, only 54% of those pitches were strikes. It seemed he went through stretches where he could hit his spots, and stretches where nothing was hitting it's mark. Luckily, Kansas City's few hits came with nobody on base, and the defense made the plays it needed to make (including a nice catch by Bartlett in shallow left field, followed up by a nice relay to the plate in time for Redmond tag Reggie Sanders out at home).

There's been something a little funky with Boof so far this year. Based off of a solid September and a postseason start, Bonser's expectations may have been high, but not many expected him to struggle as he has.
Starts IP Srike% P/IP OppOPS K/9 BB/9 5 25.2 58.7 18.04 .837 10.52 5.61
Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to make of those numbers. He's striking out too many people, he's walking too many people, he's not throwing enough strikes and he's not nearly as effective on the whole as he was last year.

But I still believe that the "real" Boof will show up, the guy we counted on last fall. More than likely, Bonser is going to start about 30 games this summer, give or take a couple. If that's the case, he has plenty of time to get over whatever mechanical and control issues he's been having. Nobody thinks Bonser will be an ace, and luckily, a couple of consecutive quality starts will turn this rough start right around.

There's one thing that still perplexes me. For all the pitches and the lack of strikes, for the lack of control...what's with all the strikeouts?

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I'm

I'm not gonna complain about strikeouts. He did lead the international league in K's, so he know how to do that, but this lack of control has really haunted him thusfar. We'll have to see how it continues...

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 27, 2007 12:59 AM EDT reply actions

Right

I'm not going to complain about those K's either, it's just the bit that perplexes me. He struck out 9.31/9 in the minors, and that's fantastic. But the way his other numbers have jumped so far, most guys who suffer like this have their strikeout numbers suffer as well. I have to believe this is a bit of a strange situation, unless I'm missing something.

And I'm sure I am.

by Jesse on Apr 27, 2007 1:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Well

Well, taking a look at his ball in play numbers, nothing really jumps out at me. His grounder percentage is pretty much exactly the same as last year and his line drive percentage has actually fallen off by almost 1/3. His pop-ups have decreased a tiny bit.

I guess what jumps out at me is his homers/ fly balls has increased drastically, from about 15% to 25%. Quite a lot.

Of course, last years numbers include his good and bad parts, so..

I'd expect the homer numbers to fall naturally somewhat, just because that 25% number seems pretty crazy high. Hopefully, the walks will get under control too, because you can't be walking guys like that.

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 27, 2007 1:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Having not seen the game myself...

and relying on my brother's scouting report at the game tonight, it sounds like he was out of control DOWN, ie a lot of pitches in the dirt.

I wonder if perhaps Rick was working with him ala Baker on really keeping the ball down to avoid the longball, and he just REALLY took that in. Just obviously hasn't mastered it yet.

If that is the case, this could actually bode very well for later. Just my take.

Anyone else have that thought?

by djskilbr on Apr 27, 2007 1:54 AM EDT reply actions

Yes

He is working on his two seamer, and on keeping his breaking stuff down. They just had a lot of really good takes against him. Plus, nobody was getting strikes called on the corners yesterday, or at the bottom of the strike zone, and he threw a lot of two-strike pitches that were borderline, especially borderline low. After the hitters learned that the ump had a postage-size strike zone, they took everything that was close. I don't recall a single called third strike of the eight strikeouts he got.

Also, that first inning should have been shorter. The Grundze hit should have been caught, and the announcers said he should have been out on the throw to second. Boof clearly pitched around Teahan to get to Sanders.

But Boof is a guy who rarely challenges hitters. So he will have baserunners if the ump has a tight strike zone. The key is, he has four quality pitches, so he will also get a lot of strikeouts. He excels in getting out of jams. Given pitch counts, he'll not pitch as many innings than I would like. But he should give the team five or six innings a shot with a good chance to win. That's a fourth or fifth starter.

Free Matt Garza.

by cmathewson on Apr 27, 2007 11:31 AM EDT reply actions

Challenging hitters...

But Boof is a guy who rarely challenges hitters.

I think that's probably for the best. Boof has reasonably good stuff, but he doesn't have any one amazing knock-your-socks-off pitch that he can throw in any situation he needs it. So if he challenges hitters all game, it would seem that he's going to get touched for a lot of HR, just like he was the first four games of the season.

In a game where just one HR would've lost the game for the Twins, Boof kept the ball in the yard. He had to absorb a lot of walks to make that happen, but in a tie game, that's maybe not such a terrible trade-off. Now, if he's walking 7 batters in a game where the Twins lead by 8 runs, that's a different story.

by ubelmann on Apr 27, 2007 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Not

I'm not quite so willing to excuse the walks as all that. It worked out well this time, but walking people is probably the worst thing you can do for a pitcher. It makes it immeasurably easier to give up runs when you start giving out free passes.

Keep in mind though, I still like da' Boof.

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 27, 2007 1:12 PM EDT reply actions

The whole concept.......

of that game was quite strange. Basically, Boof and Redmond played catch for two of the five inings.

Waaaaay too many pitches were thrown, which often works against the pitcher as players can see all your stuff.

Not that Boof had a lot of stuff that he was showing. And eventually the KC hitters became too passive and just watched the ball go by waaaay too often.

By challenging the hitter more, you do get them to swing and make mistakes. By being able to wait out a pitcher, you often get to see the pitcher make mistakes.

Yet KC did too much waiting.

Strange game, to say the least, and totally against the Twins pitching principal of not walking batters.

by twintown on Apr 27, 2007 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Hmm...

...he's wild but based on last year the league doesn't quite EXPECT him to be wild yet. For lesser teams that don't have quality lineups it's going to take them a bit to learn to let him beat himself--they think they're facing the Fire Boof of 2006.

In other words, unless he improves it's not going to last.

My predict6ion.

by MNPundit on Apr 27, 2007 1:34 PM EDT reply actions