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Post by Evil Yoda on Jun 20, 2016 20:50:23 GMT -5
It seems to me that he is not, that this is what he will be. And that's disappointing; I'd hoped the Orioles had finally broken their long ace drought. But it looks like Gausman has stopped at #2 - #3 (depending on the team) and will go no farther.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2016 22:48:14 GMT -5
I think it's way too early to say that Gausman can't improve. Right now I think his biggest problem is that he appears to be tipping his pitches, particularly his breaking pitches. Tonight he blew two fastballs right past Ian Desmond, then tried a changeup that Desmond hit about nine miles. Same with Sin-Soo Choo's two-run double that drove in what proved to be the winning runs. Any guy with stuff that electric and a fastball than occasionally hits 98 or 99 mph, shouldn't have hitters sitting on the off-speed pitches; they should be gearing up to try and catch up to the fastball. Gausman's breaking stuff isn't fooling hitters because for some reason, they're sitting on it.
On a positive note, Dylan Bundy turned in another strong relief performance tonight. I wouldn't expect to see him in the starting rotation this year, but it does give reason for optimism going forward.
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Post by mmmbeer on Jun 21, 2016 7:37:32 GMT -5
I read that Bundy will have a limit of 70 innings this year. Too early for Gausman. It took Tillman a while to gain more consistency. He may not be a real #1, but you could do a lot worse.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Jun 21, 2016 15:30:18 GMT -5
If Gausman is tipping his pitches why hasn't Wallace figured that out and got him to fix it? That may be my bias showing; this club does such a horrendous job with its pitchers, from Buck on down, that my default assumption is that Wallace isn't any good. It certainly took the organization too long to realize Adair didn't know what he was doing.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2016 22:44:33 GMT -5
If Gausman is tipping his pitches why hasn't Wallace figured that out and got him to fix it? That may be my bias showing; this club does such a horrendous job with its pitchers, from Buck on down, that my default assumption is that Wallace isn't any good. It certainly took the organization too long to realize Adair didn't know what he was doing. I said that's how it looks to me; I have no firsthand knowledge whether or not Gausman is actually doing so. You just can't take the same knee-jerk reaction every time an Oriole pitcher struggles and blame it on the organization; part of the onus is on the pitcher as well. Bundy seems to be demonstrating an inherent feel for pitching; he moves the ball around and he throws strikes. Gausman, thus far, has not shown the same ability to do so. Givens was absolutely horrendous tonight and Britton wasn't much better, but I doubt if it was due to ineptitude on the part of either Showalter or Wallace. What the Oriole pitchers didn't like about Adair was his one-size-fits-all, my-way-or-the-highway approach. I haven't heard any such criticism regarding Wallace. The development of young pitchers really doesn't vary all that dramatically from team to team. They all teach them basically the same things. I keep hearing that the reason Arrieta wasn't successful here was due to the Orioles not allowing him to throw a cut fastball. It turns out that not many other organizations do, either, at least not until the player reaches the higher environs of the minors. Arrieta's problem was that he couldn't throw any pitch over the plate with any consistency while he was here. I doubt if a cut fastball suddenly transformed him as if by magic. |
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Post by Evil Yoda on Jun 22, 2016 10:10:17 GMT -5
You just can't take the same knee-jerk reaction every time an Oriole pitcher struggles and blame it on the organization; part of the onus is on the pitcher as well. The Orioles haven't produced an ace since Mussina. It may be true that some of the fault lies with the pitcher, but who selected him? There is something wrong with this organization as far as selecting and developing pitching goes. I don't know what it is, but their track record is poor. Gausman hasn't show me that he's improving, and he's still young enough that he should be improving, if he can. Givens was absolutely horrendous tonight and Britton wasn't much better, but I doubt if it was due to ineptitude on the part of either Showalter or Wallace. Showalter and Wallace mostly irk me with their apparent indifference to pitchers struggling in the late innings, a sign the pitcher has tired. They can't get the pitcher to tell him he's gassed reliably between innings, or they can't pick it up in time to have a reliever warm. (The larger problem is that in the era of specialist relievers MLB has not seen fit to expand the size of the roster. The PA should certainly bring this up at the next contract talks.) What the Oriole pitchers didn't like about Adair was his one-size-fits-all, my-way-or-the-highway approach. I haven't heard any such criticism regarding Wallace. How does Buck miss that for over a year? In my experience in other fields, inflexibility is a tell of the incompetent. I keep hearing that the reason Arrieta wasn't successful here was due to the Orioles not allowing him to throw a cut fastball. It turns out that not many other organizations do, either, at least not until the player reaches the higher environs of the minors. Arrieta's problem was that he couldn't throw any pitch over the plate with any consistency while he was here. I doubt if a cut fastball suddenly transformed him as if by magic. Arrieta had a number of problems here, some of which were his. Although he was right about Bergeson, a poor draft pick. Maybe he shouldn't have blogged about it, by why do veterans get a pass on coming to camp out of shape? A professional athlete's off-season should be mostly about keeping in shape, excepting those who are rehabilitating from an injury or surgery. There is no excuse for coming to camp out of shape, IMO. That's like a plumber coming to the job site with no tools. So Arrieta was right, even if he was politically maladroit. I don't know how the Cubs turned him around. But you know who ought to be really looking at it, hard? Buck, Dave, and the whole front office. Because the first step in fixing mistakes is identifying them. Maybe they are. I guess we'll see in a year to two. What it looks like now is that the Cubs could look at him from Chicago, tell what was wrong with him and know how to fix it. Buck and Dave couldn't do that from yards away. I mostly like Buck but the organization's problem with pitchers is irksome and he is part of that. |
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Post by Evil Yoda on Jun 25, 2016 16:02:22 GMT -5
Gausman was much better today. Of course, he was pitching against a team that's struggling, which may account for part of it. But his command and velocity both seemed better. Now if only he could achieve the goal of all professionals: consistency.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2016 22:56:09 GMT -5
Maybe getting his first win of the season will give Gausman a much-needed kick in the arse. Those statistical dragons can be difficult to slay at times. I think the biggest thing today was that Gausman didn't pitch as if he was scared of the hitters. Maybe someone convinced him to start throwing inside once in a while, particularly to right handed hitters.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Jun 26, 2016 16:19:48 GMT -5
Maybe getting his first win of the season will give Gausman a much-needed kick in the arse. Those statistical dragons can be difficult to slay at times. I think the biggest thing today was that Gausman didn't pitch as if he was scared of the hitters. Maybe someone convinced him to start throwing inside once in a while, particularly to right handed hitters. Even casual fans like me understand that a pitcher's win-loss record is one of his least important stats. A player certainly ought to know that. Of course, we can't usually choose what kind of fears climb into out heads and set up camp there. |
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