In terms of his stuff, his fastball, per the broadcast was 92-94 most of the night, living at 93 ish. It had serious sink down and for the most part, Norfolk’s hitters could do little else but beat it meekly into the ground. Last year, and at other times this year, Familia’s fastball has had more velocity, but the tradoff for more sink is worthwhile.
I think the "tradeoff for sink" thing is kind of like Rick Peterson's "tradeoff for lower quadrant of the zone". Familia certainly looked better when "backing off" than Harvey did that start, but I still generally don't like the idea of taking a plus stuff guy and trying to make him more crafty.
Toby also notes he is essentially using two pitches, like Harvey right now. His breaking ball is probably better than Harvey's though (my comment, not Toby's) though I think Harvey varies his fastball and moves it around the zone a little better than Familia does, who appears to have much better command of his breaking ball (not going to call it a curve or slider anymore til I hear Jeurys himself label it) than the heater.
I'm going mostly off seeing Harvey and Familia and assumptions on Wheeler, plus the one bad camera angle start televised last week, but I'm sticking to my guns from a few weeks ago that I think Wheeler will come first. The wildcard there is a Familia September cup of coffee, being on the 40 man and all.
In terms of his stuff, his fastball, per the broadcast was 92-94 most of the night, living at 93 ish. It had serious sink down and for the most part, Norfolk’s hitters could do little else but beat it meekly into the ground. Last year, and at other times this year, Familia’s fastball has had more velocity, but the tradoff for more sink is worthwhile.
I think the "tradeoff for sink" thing is kind of like Rick Peterson's "tradeoff for lower quadrant of the zone". Familia certainly looked better when "backing off" than Harvey did that start, but I still generally don't like the idea of taking a plus stuff guy and trying to make him more crafty.
Toby also notes he is essentially using two pitches, like Harvey right now. His breaking ball is probably better than Harvey's though (my comment, not Toby's) though I think Harvey varies his fastball and moves it around the zone a little better than Familia does, who appears to have much better command of his breaking ball (not going to call it a curve or slider anymore til I hear Jeurys himself label it) than the heater.
I'm going mostly off seeing Harvey and Familia and assumptions on Wheeler, plus the one bad camera angle start televised last week, but I'm sticking to my guns from a few weeks ago that I think Wheeler will come first. The wildcard there is a Familia September cup of coffee, being on the 40 man and all.
To me Harvey needs to get his change up better, it will make him a great pitcher, familia could probably get away with a sinker slider combo which is a lethal pairing
I think the "tradeoff for sink" thing is kind of like Rick Peterson's "tradeoff for lower quadrant of the zone". Familia certainly looked better when "backing off" than Harvey did that start, but I still generally don't like the idea of taking a plus stuff guy and trying to make him more crafty.
But if he's walking less and getting more groundballs, how is this is a bad thing? It hasn't hurt his strikeouts either. We'll see what happens over a larger sample (if he even continues this supposed backing off in velocity) but I wouldn't exactly say it's a bad idea if it helps him find the plate more AND increase his groundball tendencies. Those are good things. Even Toby added at the end of that Familia paragraph that it's a worthwhile trade-off.
I think the "tradeoff for sink" thing is kind of like Rick Peterson's "tradeoff for lower quadrant of the zone". Familia certainly looked better when "backing off" than Harvey did that start, but I still generally don't like the idea of taking a plus stuff guy and trying to make him more crafty.
But if he's walking less and getting more groundballs, how is this is a bad thing? It hasn't hurt his strikeouts either. We'll see what happens over a larger sample (if he even continues this supposed backing off in velocity) but I wouldn't exactly say it's a bad idea if it helps him find the plate more AND increase his groundball tendencies. Those are good things.
I guess we'll see. I'm just skeptical that "backing off" is going to work out over the long run, other than to give fodder to old baseball memes like "velocity isn't everything" and the like.
The lower velocity thing may not even be a conscious thing. I'm telling you, it was just a few starts ago we heard about a mechanical adjustment he made that gave him suddenly much better velocity again. So maybe this was a wet night, on TV, adjustment on the fly kind of thing.
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