Baffeled

[klaiggeb]

What I don't understand, and never have, is how MLB pitchers with at least 3 years of service, have such a difficult time throwing strikes.

Yesterday was a good case in point:

Yes, Anderson ONLY walked one, but he was CONTINUALLY behind in counts, 3-1, 3-0, and so forth.

Giant starters have also been awful at putting hitters away in 2 strike counts.

For a Major League pitcher, THAT is flat out unacceptable.

For crying out loud, they ONLY let a guy throw 100 or so pitches, and with these clods, that usuall amounts to around 4 to 5 innings.

In particular, I point out Tyler Anderson and Webb(who hasn't got that 3 years I mentioned above, but has pitched his ENTIRE life!), as the biggest culprits.

Also, when they were healthy, you could throw Cahill and Smyly into that bunch, too.


And Farhan stayed PAT at the deadline...

Sheesh.


As I said in an earlier post, I simply can't believe that Farhan believed for one second that this team is/was going anywhere but the golf course when this season ends!

[Islandboagie]

Our pitching staff isn't very good, in fact it's probably one of the worst in baseball. You have to give them a little slack, if most of them were on any other team in baseball they would likely be in the minors. I think the department of analytical geeks scouting pitchers needs to be restructured. What we've found out so far is Zaidi and his guys are very good at scouting position players but terrible at scouting pitchers.

[klaiggeb]

I do not disagree, bogey, they're very good at scouting position players, and I agree with you also that they suck on scouting pitchers.

I also agree that most of our pitchers would not be in the top three in any other rotation.

But all that said, there is no excuse for not being able to throw strikes, in constantly falling behind in the count.

Now the bullpen, that's a different story entirely. They do suck oh, and I can't see many of them being with us next year.

But I cut the starters no slack at all. They are major league pitchers.

Throwing strikes is a must!

[Islandboagie]

I don't think we need a rotation of Jeff Samardjizas. He throws strikes, do you like him?

What we need are guys that can throw pitches that appear to the batter as a strike, but end up out of the zone. Or pitches that appear to be balls that end up a strike. AKA, guys with good stuff. Of course, hitting corners is also important.

Our pitchers get behind in the count because they don't have many pitches that fool hitters. If our guys threw more obvious strikes over the plate it would probably result in more hard hit balls, not count leverage.

A good pitcher will throw very few pitches that are considered right over the plate. They nibble, they live on the corners, they go up and down, change speeds, they throw pitches that can only be fouled off.. etc etc..

We agree that we need pitchers who can get ahead in the count. But you think our guys can do that effectively, I don't.

[klaiggeb]

I agree with you, boagie, we don't need a rotation of Jeffy's.

And I don't disagree with you that our pitchers aren't top of the rotation guys.

No way.

I spent most of the first half of my life either between the chalk lines, on the mound, or coaching; That's over 35 years.

I was not a hard thrower. I was sinker-baller, breaking ball pitchers so I understand first hand what working the corners and moving the ball all around is like.

I understand our pitcher's need to nibble.

I do. I get that.

Nibbling is one thing, blatantly missing the strike zone so often, as our guys frequently do, is something else.

What I see is our guys AFRAID to throw strikes.

Afraid.

As if they don't think their stuff is good enough.

Maybe it isn't, but walking guys, who frequently come around to score, IMHO, is just as bad, or worse.

For a ML pitcher, in my mind, THAT is inexcusable.

As I've said before, these guys are MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHERS.

Webb, I will excuse a little bit, since he missed most of the 2019 season due to his steroid fiasco.

But only a little.

Anderson, Cueto, Cahill and the rest have no excuse.

We obviously are not going to agree, again, about this.

I know how hard it IS to nibble, but what our guys are doing is unacceptable.

I don't want guys who pound the middle of the strike zone.

But I want the walks, and the constantly, behind-in-counts to stop.

That, I think we can agree on.

[reedonly]

I think it might be possible that the catchers are partially at fault here. Someone asked why opposing runners on first seem to be getting a bigger jump. Baggerly mentioned on KNBR yesterday that the catchers were not setting a target but sticking their mitt up when the pitch comes. Also, the pitchers are carrying around a pocket card in their back pocket, presumably to tell them what to do in a given situation. I'm guessing it's confusing them a bit. Dizzy Dean once said "the dumber a pitcher is, the better. When he gets smart, he begins to experiment and get into trouble." Pocket cards and spreadsheets are no substitute for talent.