Controlling something with such great movement is an amazing combination. Maddux was similar but used a variety of pitches. The movement has to be stellar with teh batter always knowing the speed.
While much thought goes into what I put down on paper, I write this blog in a free form “stream of consciousness” way to get my thoughts down very quickly. This is not meant to be a literary masterpiece but is meant to be hardcore Yankee information that is in-depth with predictions, thoughts and insight (you can judge whether I accomplish any of this). Because of my busy schedule, it is more important I get the information down rather than spend the time re-reading, re-writing and modifying. I will apologize in advance for any typo, homophone and spelling type of errors.
That being said, as always, I will give you my breakdown for each Yankee player and what I expect from them. I will also make predictions and then critique my thoughts/opinions/predictions after the season (or during). I will also offer very detailed analysis of in-game situations. This blog will not be a fluff piece. As I have done over the years, I will lay my thoughts out for all to see and I will let my track record speak for itself.
Finally, I will use OPS extremely often because I believe it is a great indication of the value of an offensive player. OPS is the slugging percentage (covers the power) and the on base percentage (covers the batting average and walks) added together. There are a lot of advanced stats out there, but for consistency, I will use OPS because outside of not taking ball park/league differences into account, the stat works great.Further, OPS against works well to gauge the success of pitchers (and is not used very often in that context)
I am an ex-catcher who played Division I baseball at Valparaiso University.
My baseball career ended with a broken disc in my back that I injured between my Jr. and Sr. years. I did play my entire Sr. year with the injury, however, I barely hit above .300 and the injury eventually required the fusion of L5 and S1.
At Valpo, we played teams such as Notre Dame, IU, Purdue and Northwestern. I was a Wade Boggs type of hitter (not as good obviously) with a .355 batting average, not much power and a .500+ OBP in college. I had the school record for walks (which has since been broken). Defensively, I was very solid throwing runners out (with a slightly below average major league arm, but a better than average release with excellent accuracy). I was good at blocking balls in the dirt, but below major league in receiving skills (the ability to actually catch the received pitch with very soft hands). I could call a game with anyone and I do hold a Division I record that will never be broken; I went my entire Junior year without committing an error (1.000 fielding %).
At the end of the day, I was not physically good enough to get to the majors, but I do have a gift with a great understanding of the game from a General Manager standpoint. My strength is on the value of players from a trade, dollar and team perspective, with a thorough understanding of the "X's and O's" of game management (honed from a SABR understanding and ex-player combination combined with my business acumen). I watch the game from a catchers perspective while calling every pitch.
I hope you enjoy my Yankee ramblings and feel free to follow me on Twitter @swigdor22
Excellent to watch. I agree with it all!Everyone makes a big deal of his cutter, but the number 1 reason he is so good is his extraordinary control.
ReplyDeleteControlling something with such great movement is an amazing combination. Maddux was similar but used a variety of pitches. The movement has to be stellar with teh batter always knowing the speed.
ReplyDelete