Gerrit Cole

[sychmd]

he throws easy and had too much control.
they were just digging in on the fastball.
he has good secondary pitches and will use them once he relaxes and martin mixes it up.
he has to pitch inside more tho and he will be great.

 

[Etrius24]

Wow

Nice numbers crow.. a relief that we get to keep him an extra year.... might help getting him to agree to a contract extension in a year or so... maybe they can extend his stay here by 2-3 years and they can build around this guy

 

[evolver115]

Well, it's safe to say that the 2011 #1 overall pick did not disappoint in his Major League debut. Outside of him missing out on the shutout, he definitely delivered the goods against the defending champs. His two and four seam fastballs are just a pleasure to watch.

Loved how he was focusing on those two pitches throughout his start, and particularly liked how he was adjusting the speed of his fastball. I saw it up as high as 99mph, and as low as 92-93. His ability to change speeds with just those two pitches and still command the strike-zone will make him a tough match-up for any big league lineup.

Now the question is, does he stay? I guess with Wandy headed to the 15 day, and Gomez already on it, Cole probably has at least another start up in the bigs before a decision has to be made. Can't wait for his next go round.

 

[element1286]

I saw one breaking ball, forget against who but it looked good. I wondered if they wanted him to keep bringing the heat?

Seeing it consistently at 97/98 and that one at 99 why not I guess? Getting to those speeds looked easy to him.

Pitchfx says he threw 65 fastballs, 14 sliders, and two changeups.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Etrius24]

I have to say I would like to see the kid throw a lot more change ups. Only 2??? come on!

 

[Darkstone42]

I have to say I would like to see the kid throw a lot more change ups. Only 2??? come on!

I assume this was part of the plan. Martin might have wanted to get a feel for Cole's stuff, and yesterday was a fastball day. Besides, why bother with the changeup when they're not hitting the fastball?

 

[Etrius24]

Darkstone

This is the majors.. I know the kid has an electric arm.. but if you only throw one pitch it is VERY hard to continue to make bats miss... Big league hitters can time and wait on a fastball if they know that all the pitcher is likely to throw them is the fastball...

It is why Mariano Rivera was moved to the bullpen...And to be the greatest closer of his era he still had to learn the cutter.... Throwing the gas just does not work often by itself through a lineup three times in one night.

I remember when Pedro Martinez was throwing 98 and making it look easy.. It was his change and his curveball that made him elite... Even when he could light up the radar gun...

 

[Darkstone42]

Darkstone

This is the majors.. I know the kid has an electric arm.. but if you only throw one pitch it is VERY hard to continue to make bats miss... Big league hitters can time and wait on a fastball if they know that all the pitcher is likely to throw them is the fastball...

It is why Mariano Rivera was moved to the bullpen...And to be the greatest closer of his era he still had to learn the cutter.... Throwing the gas just does not work often by itself through a lineup three times in one night.

I remember when Pedro Martinez was throwing 98 and making it look easy.. It was his change and his curveball that made him elite... Even when he could light up the radar gun...

I don't mean for his career, I mean just last night. Guys weren't centering the fastball last night, so why not just keep throwing it? He was locating it well, velocity and movement were there, he was throwing it for strikes, there was no reason to go to any other pitches. Sure there will be in future starts, but he didn't need them last night.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[HammerDown]

He's up to 129 innings now. Check out this story and video on how the Pirates should proceed with Cole for the rest of the season.

Playoff contenders closely monitoring workloads of young pitchers - ESPN

 

[steelparrot]

Ah I didnt know about the 20 innings in the instructional league, that makes it alot safer for him.


Maybe if/when Wandy comes back he can finish the year in the bp? Another flame thrower in the bp can never hurt.

This isnt a Strasburg situation though, you can make an argument he doesn't belong in postseason rotation.

 

[Illinest]

Liriano and Burnett are 1A and 1B in the playoffs. Liriano is pitching better but Burnett is the old man.

If Wandy comes back he would be the third guy I'm sure. If he doesn't come back then I believe that Locke has the inside track. Of course Locke has been a little sketchy lately. If Cole pitches well and Locke continues to scuffle then it might be Cole 3 and Locke 4.

Cole could easily be shifted to the bullpen for the playoffs and I think he would kick some ass. Morton - I'm not sure what we'd do with him. He's the 'starter of last resort' as far as I'm concerned and I don't know if I'd want to see him in the bullpen. He gives up too much contact.

 

[Etrius24]

Morton was solid in his last effort and I think that the more Morton Pitches the better he will be.. The Velocity is there....

 

[sychmd]

pitchers need to pitch to strengthen their arms.
that is the way every exercise system works.
during HS, he played a HS year followed by legion and pitched at least 20-25 games x 7 innings.
college, he threw a college season (19 starts or more) followed by a summer (cape league) of 6-8 starts x 7-9 innings each.

dont baby the arms, that is what makes them weaker and more prone to injury.
dont overwork acutely(in a game), but keep building them weekly.

 

[stillmatic32]

pitchers need to pitch to strengthen their arms.
that is the way every exercise system works.
during HS, he played a HS year followed by legion and pitched at least 20-25 games x 7 innings.
college, he threw a college season (19 starts or more) followed by a summer (cape league) of 6-8 starts x 7-9 innings each.

dont baby the arms, that is what makes them weaker and more prone to injury.
dont overwork acutely(in a game), but keep building them weekly.

I like the way you laid that out. Plus the guy just looks like a horse. Not sure that means aything, but thought I'd mention it.

I admit it would be fun to see him come out for one inning and throw 100+ every pitch.

 

[pixburgher66]

pitchers need to pitch to strengthen their arms.
that is the way every exercise system works.
during HS, he played a HS year followed by legion and pitched at least 20-25 games x 7 innings.
college, he threw a college season (19 starts or more) followed by a summer (cape league) of 6-8 starts x 7-9 innings each.

dont baby the arms, that is what makes them weaker and more prone to injury.
dont overwork acutely(in a game), but keep building them weekly.

You strengthen your arm in OTHER ways, not by increasing a pitch count or innings. Controlling innings is NOT babying an arm, it's preserving it. The big issue with pitchers will always be the elbow...the torque you put on it during a pitch is ridiculous. There's a lot that goes on every day for pitchers we, as fans, don't see. In sports medicine, you do see it. Trust me, they're strengthening their arms WITHOUT compromising the elbow. Strengthening muscles doesn't occur with pitching, fatigue does. Concentrated resistance exercise (free weights, therabands) is what they do allllll the time. They employ 10+ people to control that.

 

[element1286]

You strengthen your arm in OTHER ways, not by increasing a pitch count or innings. Controlling innings is NOT babying an arm, it's preserving it. The big issue with pitchers will always be the elbow...the torque you put on it during a pitch is ridiculous. There's a lot that goes on every day for pitchers we, as fans, don't see. In sports medicine, you do see it. Trust me, they're strengthening their arms WITHOUT compromising the elbow. Strengthening muscles doesn't occur with pitching, fatigue does. Concentrated resistance exercise (free weights, therabands) is what they do allllll the time. They employ 10+ people to control that.

Maybe strengthen is a bad term, I think being able to recover from the fatigue successfully is what sychmd is describing.

 

[sychmd]

You strengthen your arm in OTHER ways, not by increasing a pitch count or innings. Controlling innings is NOT babying an arm, it's preserving it. The big issue with pitchers will always be the elbow...the torque you put on it during a pitch is ridiculous. There's a lot that goes on every day for pitchers we, as fans, don't see. In sports medicine, you do see it. Trust me, they're strengthening their arms WITHOUT compromising the elbow. Strengthening muscles doesn't occur with pitching, fatigue does. Concentrated resistance exercise (free weights, therabands) is what they do allllll the time. They employ 10+ people to control that.

i pitched in div 1 college, am a physician, and a biomedical engineer.
you can isolate the various muscles, shoulder, elbow, connective tissue during exercise and conditioning routines.
nothing is as effective as actually throwing. unfortunately, with all the big money invested in an arm, they often play it on the safe side and limit the amount of throwing a pitcher does.
often the problem lies in the lack of throwing that occurs in the off-season, but another area of neglect is the lack of regular throwing that occurs between starts and the lack of pitches within a start.
the in between throwing has minimal breaking pitches, unless you are throwing a true cutter.
a major factor is the build up of the bones in the arm, especially the humerous (upper arm) by frequent extended (distance or esp hard throwing), that then potentiates the tendon and ligament strengthening process.

look at catchers. they throw hard everyday and do a lot of extended throwing of distance as well.
most SS fall into the same category of strong arms throwing daily, often as hard as they can, at 100-130 feet.
they dont throw breaking pitches.
it is not the amount of throwing that is harmful or how hard you throw.
it comes down to the amount of breaking pitches you throw with a fully equipped arm.
not throwing enough compromises the strength and integrity of the shoulder to wrist and leads to injury when trying to bear the torque or load required.