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This year's Verlander & Weaver?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by PhilaYank36, Apr 17, 2007.

?

Who will be the next rookie stud in the Majors this year?

  1. Tim Lincecum (SF)

    14 vote(s)
    31.1%
  2. Yovani Gallardo (MIL)

    3 vote(s)
    6.7%
  3. Homer Bailey (CIN)

    4 vote(s)
    8.9%
  4. Phil Hughes (NYY)

    3 vote(s)
    6.7%
  5. Matt Garza (MIN)

    7 vote(s)
    15.6%
  6. Adam Miller (CLE)

    5 vote(s)
    11.1%
  7. Andrew Miller (DET)

    2 vote(s)
    4.4%
  8. Luke Hochevar (KC)

    4 vote(s)
    8.9%
  9. Tom "Oz's stalking victim" Gorzelanny

    3 vote(s)
    6.7%
  1. PhilaYank36

    PhilaYank36 Guest

    Very good point from the raging bull. Not only were his pitch counts obscenely high, but his delivery (it's on YouTube) requires so many moving parts and is so violent at the end, that a major injury must be on the horizon. Unless the kid is a genetic freak, though.
     
  2. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    I picked Garza because:

    1. I'm a fanboy.

    2. He has sick shit.

    3. The only thing standing between him and the majors is Sidney Ponson.
     
  3. PhilaYank36

    PhilaYank36 Guest

    How Garza isn't already in the Bigs boggles my mind. I mean, he's not even in the relief corps, for cryin' out loud.
     
  4. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    Milking his service time and thinking of this rotation in '08:

    Santana
    Liriano
    Ortiz
    Garza
    Bonser

    That's why he's collecting dust in Rochester. And he does need to work on changing speeds.
     
  5. Chi City 81

    Chi City 81 Guest

    Shouldn't that fall on Mauer? If he wasn't softer than shit, he'd make the pitchers (save Liriano) pitch the game he calls.
     
  6. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    Oh, he does.

    If you've watched Ramon Ortiz pitch thus far this year, you realize that Rick Anderson's mantra has reached dogma status in Minnesota.

    Throw strike one. (If this means pumping in fastballs down the middle on the first pitch, go ahead.)

    Walk no one. (The best hitters fail 70 percent of the time. Make them earn their way on.)

    Change speeds. (This means throwing the straight change, not the slider. Garza's still working on the change).

    I'd mock its zen-like approach, but it appears to work.
     
  7. PhilaYank36

    PhilaYank36 Guest

    Hey, sometimes simplicity equals success. Never really heard of a pitcher that had a ton of success by throwing more balls that strikes. But if I could add just one more, it would be:

    Move the ball. (Go up when the hitter is looking down, out when looking in. Change the batter's eye level by changing planes.)
     
  8. Chi City 81

    Chi City 81 Guest

    Tom Glavine's made a career of it. Of course, the umps called them as strikes, but I digress.
     
  9. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    I think the one that Anderson has to be applauded for is his fanatical devotion to never walking anyone.

    He simply won't allow it, and it really does improve a pitcher's performance. The overwhelming percentage says that even if you throw a strike in a hitter's count, as long as it's a fastball you still have the advantage. Even if they're sitting on the fastball.

    Or, you can go the Jeff Weaver route and hang Torii Hunter a 3-2 slider with the bases loaded.

    See how that works out for you.
     
  10. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Or you can go the Mike Hargrove route and have Charmin Weaver intentionally walk someone to get to Hunter.

    Seriously, how the fuck did he do so well last October? That's got to be the greatest statistical freak of all-time.
     
  11. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    At the time he posted, Owings wasn't out of the game?

    Predicting success for relative junkballers is so dangerous.

    It's like seeing a QB with no arm but reminding us that Joe Montana and Tom Brady existed....
     
  12. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    I'm not convinced that that's the wrong move.

    Hunter is much more likely to swing at a bad pitch. But you can't hand him that slider.
     
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