SoxProspects News
|
|
|
|
Legal
Forum Ground Rules
The views expressed by the members of this Forum do not necessarily reflect the views of SoxProspects, LLC.
© 2003-2024 SoxProspects, LLC
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Home | Search | My Profile | Messages | Members | Help |
Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
2014 Official Spring Training Thread
|
Post by iakovos11 on Feb 18, 2014 8:43:17 GMT -5
In the universe in which he pitches better (or some of those guys just aren't ready yet). He's a wildcard for sure - you never know with a knuckleballer. But just because he throws a knuckle doesn't mean he worse than someone else. He pitched quite well for Boston last year - was key in two wins. SSS for sure. But his 2nd half with Pawtucket was very good as well.
I'd MUCH rather have Wright than Almanzar.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Feb 18, 2014 10:03:51 GMT -5
Pete Abraham ?@peteabe 27s
Jake Peavy warming up for his bullpen. So his hand is OK. #redsox
|
|
|
Post by jdb on Feb 18, 2014 10:07:42 GMT -5
Is Victorino planing to switch hit this year? Or should I ask are there any rumors he's thinking about RH only.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Feb 18, 2014 10:19:48 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by brianthetaoist on Feb 18, 2014 10:54:34 GMT -5
Am I the only one that doesn't really care that WMB added a bunch of strength? Unless he didn't have the muscles to hold off the outside slider, I'm not sure this is really the answer for him ... glad to see the dedication, though.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Feb 18, 2014 10:57:28 GMT -5
Am I the only one that doesn't really care that WMB added a bunch of strength? Unless he didn't have the muscles to hold off the outside slider, I'm not sure this is really the answer for him ... glad to see the dedication, though. The part about the flexibility is definitely good news regarding his defense. Some get stiffer when they get stronger and that would have made him worse.
|
|
|
Post by godot on Feb 18, 2014 11:03:50 GMT -5
Sounds like Will was in a good program with an emphasis on flexibility. It could help his defense and perhaps his durability, but as noted, hitting discipline is another question. He has always had a high strike out to walk ratio, so hard to believe that will change. Still, he could surprise and become a tad more consistent. He does have great power, and if he became more consistent,perhaps Bill James projection for him become a reality. Hey, it's spring training, the time where anything is possible.
|
|
|
Post by mattpicard on Feb 18, 2014 11:14:48 GMT -5
Is Victorino planing to switch hit this year? Or should I ask are there any rumors he's thinking about RH only. Link
|
|
|
Post by fenwaythehardway on Feb 18, 2014 11:23:38 GMT -5
Am I the only one that doesn't really care that WMB added a bunch of strength? Unless he didn't have the muscles to hold off the outside slider, I'm not sure this is really the answer for him ... glad to see the dedication, though. If some of his hitting issues where due to being less than 100% health wise, it could help there. And improved defense certainly wouldn't hurt, although it's a secondary issue for him.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Feb 18, 2014 11:39:01 GMT -5
Am I the only one that doesn't really care that WMB added a bunch of strength? Unless he didn't have the muscles to hold off the outside slider, I'm not sure this is really the answer for him ... glad to see the dedication, though. If some of his hitting issues where due to being less than 100% health wise, it could help there. And improved defense certainly wouldn't hurt, although it's a secondary issue for him. His wrist and rib injuries were definitely lingering.
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Feb 18, 2014 11:40:10 GMT -5
Am I the only one that doesn't really care that WMB added a bunch of strength? Unless he didn't have the muscles to hold off the outside slider, I'm not sure this is really the answer for him ... glad to see the dedication, though. Pitch recognition wasn't his issue, plate discipline was. Check out the swinging strikes on balls outside the strike zone. At the point they sent him to Pawtucket, more than a third of his strikeouts were on pitches that weren't strikes to begin with. He has a penchant for high heat. There are some players that have the ability to barrel up those pitches better than others. I don't think WMB is one of those players. If you don't believe that those players exist, watch Bryce Harper sometimes, he's as good as I've seen in a dogs age at barreling up high heat.
|
|
|
Post by brianthetaoist on Feb 18, 2014 13:06:55 GMT -5
Am I the only one that doesn't really care that WMB added a bunch of strength? Unless he didn't have the muscles to hold off the outside slider, I'm not sure this is really the answer for him ... glad to see the dedication, though. Pitch recognition wasn't his issue, plate discipline was. Check out the swinging strikes on balls outside the strike zone. At the point they sent him to Pawtucket, more than a third of his strikeouts were on pitches that weren't strikes to begin with. He has a penchant for high heat. There are some players that have the ability to barrel up those pitches better than others. I don't think WMB is one of those players. If you don't believe that those players exist, watch Bryce Harper sometimes, he's as good as I've seen in a dogs age at barreling up high heat. Yeah, that was what was I was saying ... it wasn't so much the "slider" part as the "outside" ... True, but he was hitting poorly before he was hurt. I guess there is a chance that his .194 avg when he was injured in early May was just SSS slump, and the injury kept him from moving it up, progressing to the mean, so to speak ... but we'll see. It's just not the first thing I thought of when I thought of what WMB needed to do to get better.
|
|
|
Post by godot on Feb 18, 2014 13:19:49 GMT -5
Educate me. What is the difference between pitch recognition and plate discipline? Is it the case that poor plate discipline results from the inability to recognize the pitch ( movement and location? It is coming at you and you can't recognize where it is going or movement, and thus swing to protect yourself? I doubt you can have plate discipline without good recognition. If so, then is the lack of discipline the result of poor recognition, and just a way of pointing to the result; that is, two aspects to the same process?
|
|
|
Post by grandsalami on Feb 18, 2014 13:49:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by rjp313jr on Feb 18, 2014 14:14:48 GMT -5
Discipline has to do with controlling your actions while recognition has to do with seeing and processing. You can see that something is a high fastball but not have the discipline to not hack away.
Conversely you can be as selective as you want but if you can't recognize an outside pitch is a slider then you'll be swinging at air, not because you couldn't "lay off" but because you thought it was a strike.
However, they go hand in hand a lot and no one really knows what the issue is except the player in most cases. At least we don't.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Feb 18, 2014 14:24:14 GMT -5
Discipline has to do with controlling your actions while recognition has to do with seeing and processing. You can see that something is a high fastball but not have the discipline to not hack away. Conversely you can be as selective as you want but if you can't recognize an outside pitch is a slider then you'll be swinging at air, not because you couldn't "lay off" but because you thought it was a strike. However, they go hand in hand a lot and no one really knows what the issue is except the player in most cases. At least we don't. Kinda hard to differentiate by looking at stats. And without being a mind reader.
|
|
|
Post by grandsalami on Feb 18, 2014 15:23:04 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by stevedillard on Feb 18, 2014 15:26:15 GMT -5
Educate me. What is the difference between pitch recognition and plate discipline? I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.
|
|
|
Post by jmei on Feb 18, 2014 15:27:18 GMT -5
Discipline has to do with controlling your actions while recognition has to do with seeing and processing. You can see that something is a high fastball but not have the discipline to not hack away. Conversely you can be as selective as you want but if you can't recognize an outside pitch is a slider then you'll be swinging at air, not because you couldn't "lay off" but because you thought it was a strike. However, they go hand in hand a lot and no one really knows what the issue is except the player in most cases. At least we don't. Kinda hard to differentiate by looking at stats. And without being a mind reader. It's not impossible to differentiate by looking at stats. Middlebrooks seems to have more of a pitch recognition problem than a plate discipline problem. His career swing rate of 45.3% is actually below the league-average of 45.9%, as is the rate at which he swings at pitches outside the zone (28.9% career, compared to 29.7% league-average). The problem is that he doesn't read location or spin well, resulting in below-average contact rates both on pitches in the strike zone (career 84.5%, league-average 87.3%) and especially on pitches out of the zone (career 56.2%, league-average 63.2%). In other words, he's not a guy who swings too often, but rather a guy who's swinging at the wrong pitches. I've said this before-- for a player like Middlebrooks who just doesn't see the ball well, trying to force him to take pitches might hurt him more than help him. The reason you want hitters to work the count is not just because walks are a good outcome. Rather, when pitchers fall behind in the count, they have to throw strikes, which hitters can then hit hard. I've always suspected, however, that the Red Sox organization philosophy of working the count needs to be relaxed at the upper levels for those hitters (like Middlebrooks or Reddick or Saltalamacchia) that just don't see pitches well enough to execute that strategy and are basically up there guessing more often than not. Because of Middlebrooks' poor pitch recognition, the longer an at-bat goes, the more likely it is that a bad result occurs (i.e., he strikes out). Thus, rather than trying to drag out at-bats, particularly against pitchers with good control/command, he should perhaps instead be trying to hammer the first good pitch he gets, even if that means swinging at the first pitch of an at-bat (there's some complicated game theoretic elements at play as well, but this is the short version).
|
|
|
Post by brianthetaoist on Feb 18, 2014 16:29:26 GMT -5
PeteAbe tweet:
How can you not love Koji?
|
|
|
Post by grandsalami on Feb 18, 2014 16:36:34 GMT -5
Sun Devil Football @footballasu Follow Former #Devil, current @browns LB @bmagee58 reports to redsox spring training tomorrow #MageeKnows @pgammo @keithlaw @bradfo @gordonedes
|
|
|
Post by soxfanatic on Feb 18, 2014 16:52:11 GMT -5
John Ely pitched a bullpen today, so one would assume he's ahead of schedule. Had TJ surgery last April.
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Feb 18, 2014 16:54:30 GMT -5
My understanding is that when a batter has either just discipline issues or has both discipline issues and pitch recognition issues, he is commonly referred to as having a discipline problem because it is the biggest problem. It really doesn't matter if he knew it was a slider if he's going to swing at it when it's not in an area that he could make solid contact anyways. If you refer to a batter as having pitch recognition problems, it's a finer detail. Batters that have just pitch recognition problems usually have a K problem but not usually a BB problem. The stat discipline is OBP-AVE but the problem is usually indicated by both a high strikeout rate and a low BB rate because you are reducing walks by striking out on pitches that were balls. It can best be seen by the charts and the percentage of swings at pitches that were actually outside of the strike zone.
Conversely, if a pitcher has both command and control issues, he is usually said to have control problems "He needs to work on control or he needs to throw more strikes or he needs to get ahead in the count, etc.". The stat command is k/BB and control is BB/9 (dominance is k/9). The problem here is that it doesn't matter what the break was if it's obviously a ball. Henry, for example, statistically and empirically, is a dominance pitcher that has control issues but not command issues. When he throws strikes, he gets excellent results.
|
|
|
Post by pedroelgrande on Feb 18, 2014 17:00:02 GMT -5
Educate me. What is the difference between pitch recognition and plate discipline? I can't define it, but I know it when I see it. My explanation is: pitch recognition is the ability to recognize the spin of the ball, if it's a fast ball, curveball etc. Plate disciple is having a sense of the strike zone, wether is gonna be a ball/strike. That's how I look at it.
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Feb 18, 2014 17:07:42 GMT -5
By he way, a slider is the easiest pitch to recognize unless you are blind. A properly thrown slider will cause the threads to give the illusion that there's a little red circle in the center of the ball.
|
|
|