I entered the year really high on Daisuke Matsuzaka, and so far he's met my expectations... 4-0, great K rate, 3.14 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. But...
A big reason I liked him was that I thought he could cut his walk rate down from last year. Walks were never a problem for him in Japan. But he's actually walking MORE batters this year, not less. 17 BB in 28.2 IP. That's horrible. He's had two starts where he has had zero command, but somehow got away without too much damage. But that can't go on forever, can it?
Be interested to hear some opinions on what others expect from this guy the rest of the way.
by jake_twothousandfive » Sat Apr 19, 2008 3:36 pm
This year he has 17 walks in 28 innings. Last year he had 80 in over 200. Since walks were never an issue for him in Japan, it looks like he's just having early control issues.
He'll work through these issues and be even better when he gets things figured out. The fact that he can work out of the trouble he has been creating with these walks is also encouraging. I'm wouldn't worry much about it.
"Don't take anything for granted, because tomorrow is not promised to any of us." ---Kirby Puckett
Actually walks were a very large problem for him in Japan, early in his career. he had 87 in 180ip, 95 in 167.67ip, 117 in 240.33ip, and 15 in 73.33ip. Then he adjusted. His last four years in japan he 63 in 194ip, 42 in 146ip, 49in 215ip, and 34 in 186.33. In those last four years, his era fell under 3. In the previous three his era was not lower than 3.60.
"I do not think baseball of today is any better than it was 30 years ago... I still think Radbourne is the greatest of the pitchers." John Sullivan 1914-Old athletes never change.
Dock Ellis once threw a no-hitter with 8 walks. Moral of the story: it doesn't matter how they get on base, it only matters how many of them there are.
0-3 to 4-3. Worst choke in the history of baseball. Enough said.
Yoda wrote:It is a problem. He doesn't have the same command that he did in Japan and it will result in some ugly outings against good hitting teams.
it is a problem but he has shown he's capable of fixing it. i'm pretty confident he'll win the cy young this year.
That is a bold statement. Of course the hardware is pretty much meaningless since he doesn't need to be the best pitcher to win it. I think he'll get some votes but his overall numbers will only be slightly better than 07.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." ~George Carlin
thedude wrote:Actually walks were a very large problem for him in Japan, early in his career. he had 87 in 180ip, 95 in 167.67ip, 117 in 240.33ip, and 15 in 73.33ip. Then he adjusted. His last four years in japan he 63 in 194ip, 42 in 146ip, 49in 215ip, and 34 in 186.33. In those last four years, his era fell under 3. In the previous three his era was not lower than 3.60.
Thank you. Good info here.
I had only looked at his last few years in Japan and didn't see the early year walk issues.
He's my top starter and I'm a little worried. The results so far are fine but I've seen him pitch one game this year on Sunday night baseball against the Red Sox and although he got the win he looked horrible. One can only hope that he gets it together before his won loss record starts refecting his actual performance.
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by Spartans Rule » Sat Apr 19, 2008 3:00 pm 
