I'd like to get a little discussion going, and would love some input from those who are watching the games, not just reading the box scores, like myself...
Start by start:
May 25 @ CLE 3.1 IP 4 H 2 ER 5 BB 6 K May 30 MIN 5.2 IP 5 H 1 ER 2 BB 11 K Jun 6 @ NYY 5.2 IP 2 H 3 R 1 ER 5 BB 3 K Jun 11 LAA 4.1 IP 2 H 1 ER 6 BB 6 K
Totals:
19 IP 13 H 5 ER 18 BB 26 K 2W 0L
12.3 K/9 is unbelievable 1.4 BB/K is not. at all.
His WHIP sits at 1.63, but important to note is that almost 60% of his baserunners get to first via walk.
Is his control this bad? Is it nerves? Something else?
by buffalobillsrul2002 » Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:46 pm
This might be the David Price we see. The way he's pitching right now, it's really difficult to score on him (generally walks in bunches hurt you, but it's better to give up no hits and a lot of walks then no walks and a lot of hits), but he also can't get deep into games because he wastes so many pitches per hitter. I'm kind of nervous that TB won't try to get him to change all that much, because he's "doing the job" right now in real-life terms... He'll end up being a good ERA/K guy, with an ugly WHIP (and maybe an average W guy). Also interesting to note that his command troubles seem to come when he's pitching with a big lead (Maybe he just loses focus? anybody comment on how he pitched in AAA with big leads?)
I've watched his last couple starts, and he is constantly trying to nibble away at the corners of the plate. He had several borderline pitches on 2 K counts that were called balls because they ended up just off the plate when they hit the glove.
From what I've seen so far, he's going to have some games where he walks 6 people and throws 100 pitches in 4 innings, and he'll have some games where he strikes out 12 people, depending on the ump.
I think we can all agree that he'd be more effective if he'd trust his movement and pitch in the strike zone to keep his pitch count down more often.
He wasn't really ready to come up, but Kazmir made it so they needed to do it. To me his control has just been bad, it's not so much nibling to me as he isn't that close or around the plate. I think it's more something in his delivery that is effecting him. I remember when I first saw him he reminded me a lot of Ubaldo as far as stuff and delivery, but I guess you can add poor control to that as well. I think he will eventually solve his control issues, but I'm not surprised he is having some problems early on.
buffalobillsrul2002 wrote:but it's better to give up no hits and a lot of walks then no walks and a lot of hits
buffalobillsrul2002 wrote:but he also can't get deep into games because he wastes so many pitches per hitter
Anyone else see the contradiction in these 2 statements? If he can't go deep into games because he's wasting pitches especially by walking too many batters how is that better then throwing fewer pitches with some of those walks being base hits instead, assuming most would be singles? I'm just trying to understand the conflicting logic of those 2 statements.
buffalobillsrul2002 wrote:anybody comment on how he pitched in AAA with big leads?)
I don't know about big leads, but part of the problem may be that I don't think they ever let him go more then 5 IP in AAA no matter what his pitch count was. However, the few times I saw stats on one of his AAA starts I think he was usually around 70 some pitches with 5 IP, so he hasn't been as efficient in the majors yet.
He will be fine in the long run. Right now, he is struggling with his fastball command quite a bit. His changeup is still a work in progress, so he is really just working off of the fastball and slider. Once he gets some consistent control of the fastball, we will see those walk rates tumble quite a bit.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by bceagles04 » Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:16 pm 
