Series Thread: TOR @ SEA August 13-15 - Wild Card Race

[Podunkparte]

Toro > Graveman

 

[Podunkparte]

Haha, told Torrens how much he sucks again and dude doubles in 2!

Some of you are choosing not to watch these games?!

 

[Msfann]

If you ever wanted to know which way the field at safeco faces check out this site, it shows all the park orientations in baseball. Link

 

[Podunkparte]

Huge win with a chance to get an even bigger one with Gilbert going tomorrow.

Bats certainly came out tonight, but our biggest one has been quiet for a while.

I'm gonna go for the Blowers special: Haniger goes yard tomorrow. 5th inning, 2 run shot, 1-0 count into the M's bullpen.

 

[Tapey]

Since the start of august which is right around when Kelenic changed his batting stance
He’s been hitting around .260ish
.900ish ops
125ish wrc+
14.3% SO and BB rate
But my favorite thing is he’s not just been a super hard pull hitter, he is absolutely smashing the ball the other way

 

[Podunkparte]

Since the start of august which is right around when Kelenic changed his batting stance
He’s been hitting around .260ish
.900ish ops
125ish wrc+
14.3% SO and BB rate
But my favorite thing is he’s not just been a super hard pull hitter, he is absolutely smashing the ball the other way

At this point, we, and more importantly he, has to just write off that first few weeks of introduction to MLB pitching and look forward. Credit to him for making an adjustment and crushing it so far.

Love that he's able to go the other way with power. A double to the corner yesterday and a homer tonight. The more he does that the more he'll get opportunities to pull mistakes and do damage to all fields.

 

[MarinersBestFan]

Toro > Graveman

I agree

 

[Duders]

Toronto had a terrible showing in Seattle with the exception of game 3. Their pitching and offense just wasn't there. I had figured we'd get swept by them but instead, it looked like we might sweep them. Our starters are looking half ways decent lately.

 

[AceKeptic]

Toronto had a terrible showing in Seattle with the exception of game 3. Their pitching and offense just wasn't there. I had figured we'd get swept by them but instead, it looked like we might sweep them. Our starters are looking half ways decent lately.

Well, for the most part.

You still can't trust Gilbert, especially with an early lead. Case in point, earlier today.

 

[SeattleCoug]

Its possible Gilbert is hitting a slight wall. Probably at the point where he could maybe be shut down soon. This matchup was kinda dicey for him to begin with, especially if he doesnt trust his secondary stuff enough.

 

[Duders]

I kind of think Gilbert was brought up for 2 reasons: 1) We needed a starter RIGHT NOW back then and 2) He was showing excellent potential. After coming up, his first outing was touch and go then followed by some pretty decent starts. As time went on, he was looked at as a somewhat regular starter who was hooefully expected to gove decent performance. My guess is the expectation for his continued performance may have been too much pressure for a young rookie pitcher and his initial confidence and trust in himself began to fall off. He really needs to regain his confidence an all his pitches and not be in pressure situations as much as possible. I'd hate to see him pushed too hard and lose his potential as an awesome starter.

 

[Msfann]

Well, for the most part.

You still can't trust Gilbert, especially with an early lead. Case in point, earlier today

One thing I liked about Felix when he was young was he used to go right after batters, his stuff was good enough to where if people made contact most of the time it was an out. And then the Kings court stuff started happening and he went into strike out of bust mode, where he would get a strike or two then nibble and nibble and nibble around the plate and it caused him to throw a ton more pitches and it wasn't nearly as effective.

I see the same stuff happening with Gilbert. He needs to trust his stuff and go after batters and be aggressive, not floundering around trying to strike every guy out.

 

[Podunkparte]

Gilbert's probably just getting tired. He's young and it's only his first year against top of the line hitters. He'll be fine.

 

[wazzu31]

One thing I liked about Felix when he was young see the same stuff happening with Gilbert. He needs to trust his stuff and go after batters and be aggressive, not floundering around trying to strike every guy out.

This is kind of an issue with not having veteran catchers or real veteran pitchers. Randy Johnson tells a good story when he was really struggling as a pitcher no one on the team could get through to him but talking pitching and mechanics with Nolan Ryan turned his career around.

 

[MarinersBestFan]

Its possible Gilbert is hitting a slight wall. Probably at the point where he could maybe be shut down soon. This matchup was kinda dicey for him to begin with, especially if he doesnt trust his secondary stuff enough.

Very rarely does a pitcher have ALL of his pitches working good on any given start.

Gilberts 'best' pitch is clearly his fastball. But the fastball MUST be set up with his secondary pitches ( curve ball - change up and his slider ) I think I listed the 3 secondary pitches in the frequency order he uses them. These secondary pitches typically are much harder to locate well consistantly for most pitchers.

In his more dominant outings he is able to throw his curve ball for a strike early in the count to get ahead of the hitters. He may only throw his changeup ( his lowest % used pitch ) to maybe 1 of every 6-7 batters he faces. But when he spots it really well it's usually a swing and a miss for a strike and most effective against a lefty batter, as its movement is down and away from a lefty hitter. Looks like a strike on the outside part of the plate at the knees and then the movement drifts it furter away than the lefty hitters bat can reach and it also drops some and the batter swings over it or cannot even reach it to foul it off.

He strikes guys out mostly with his fastball - which is clearly his best pitch at this stage of his career. BUT ... without his secondary pitches getting him ahead in the count 1-2 or 0-2 or even 2-2 is OK, that fastball is not near as effective as in a hitters count of 2-1 or 3-1 when the batter is sitting dead red fastball. And Gilbert must throw it for a strike in hopes of getting back in the count to get the batter out.

When the batter is behind in the count he has to guard against the pitcher gassing the fastball by him for a strikeout and speeds up his bat some to make certain he is 'on' the pitch. This makes the hitter inclined to also swing at fastballs off the plate which is EXACTLY what the pitcher / catcher is trying to induce.