12 Responses to “Today in over-emphasizing velocity”
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Snickering…
Good thing we DIDN'T get Cliff Lee – what a ripoff; he's only averaging 91.5? What a total failure.
My work day just got a little brighter…amazing that people actually buy into the things they read from writers like Andrew Marchand. Funny post, Brien.
This time Brien bashed the Andrew Marchand post before I even saw it.
Thanks for saving me the wasted time Brien!
Brien, I know the point you're making, and I agree with it and the notion that the whole Pineda's velocity thing is a drama contrived by the MSM who either are misguided or have nothing to do.
But the implied critique (I think) is that in the absence of having demonstrated a consistently effective third pitch that Pineda has used during the regular season, his primary and secondary pitches have to be plus-pitches to compensate. Whereas if a pitcher has 3 or 4 above average pitches, there is less need for one of them to be excellent.
The pitchers you list here have several above average pitches with movement, so they don't need a plus-pitch to be successful. Conversely, Randy Johnson was pretty much fastball/slider for his career, but since both were so plus-pitches, he could get by on those alone; he didn't need a more robust repertoire.
If Pineda can develop his change into a useable third pitch, then I'm content with him throwing 92-95. But if he remains fastball/slider, then he needs to turn it up a notch to be the starter we think he can be.
I think the point that Brien is trying to make is that the Yankees have consistently said he needs a changeup, but they have also said it's been really good in spring training. I think it was Martin that said he wouldn't have known it wasn't a pitch Pineda had all along if he hadn't know it ahead of time. I also think Marchand has consistently harped on velocity to the point of absurdity. He hasn't acknowledged that the changeup is a pitch that Pineda is having success with. The constant harping on Pineda's velocity is what has gotten Brien's dander up I think.
Totally agree, with the caveat that Pineda needs the effective change up to carry over to the regular season to be a legit third pitch–which I think is the geenral consensus, if Pineda is to become a frontline starter.
Agreed. I'd also like to see what happens in the regular season with his fastball. Don't have anything to back this up, but I think the consensus has been that fastball velocity goes up a couple of ticks with adrenaline in the regular season. So there is still reason to think that he will hit his last season average at some point anyway.
I also think this lack V-lo talk has been completely blown out of proportion due to Hughes struggles last year. Gabe's post on Monday made a good point about this. The comparison between Hughes and Pineda that the beat writer's were making was completely nonsensical. Plus, the fact that he was traded for Jesus Montero doesn't help the V-lo talk either.
Also, I'm willing to cut the kid some slack. His is still young (23) and has plenty of time to develop. Based on last year and the spring so far, I think he will be very successful.
With the inclination to draw on recent "experiences" in evaluating pitchers (i.e., Hughes dead arm), it's a good thing Pineda isn't Japanese otherwise he'd have to tolerate the Igawa comparisons too.
Yu Darvish already has.
If Andrew Marchand was a country, and he had a flag, I would burn it.
like it.