Comments on: I Don’t Get It

By: joser

joser — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:50:07 +0000

His fastball is his best pitch. And it needs to be.

It isn’t. And it doesn’t.

By: Carlj17098

Carlj17098 — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:47:40 +0000

The link to that AP article is [long link to article lacking anything resembling an informational substance]

By: Carlj17098

Carlj17098 — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:46:37 +0000

I've never posted on this site before, but I've read it for a while, so I just thought I'd throw a comment in on this. One of the most interesting aspects of this story to me is that Felix's situation is the kind of thing that the mainstream media and beat writers should be all over. We have the technology and data to know that he threw way too many fastballs and it didn't work, but we have no way of discerning why. Baker kind of alluded to some of the potential confidence issues in one of his blog posts, but it seems no has has asked him a direct question about it. Not that a reporter would necessarily receive a direct or straight answer, but there has to be someone, if not Felix himself, who might be able to at least try and explain why he'd throw so many fastballs. For what it's worth the Associated Press kind of vaguely chalked it up to chemistry issues in this article lacking anything resembling an informational substance.

By: feingarden

feingarden — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:44:29 +0000

If we’re going to start quoting Crash Davis in regard to Felix, I’m seriously starting to get the sinking feeling that we should be using the “million dollar arm… 5-cent head” line. Either arrogance, ignorance, or stupidity, but 16 straight fastballs HAS TO STOP. Jeezuz.

By: waltcohe

waltcohe — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:22:40 +0000

Felix threw 12 changeups last night. Not sure where USSM got the ’2′ data. It’s easy to get confused because many of them register at 89-90mph.

His fastball is his best pitch. And it needs to be.

He buries a ton of his changes. It’s easy for the changeup to look good in the data when he’s using it as a ‘kill pitch’. They’re unhittable due to the fact that they’re physically on the ground when guys hit it/or strikeout. But how much “work” is he really doing with it?

Linear weights is a tremendous idea, a promising one. But the data source should be reliable. I think you guys could be on the verge of a breakthrough.

By: joser

joser — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:59:31 +0000

His stats may prove me wrong, but thatâ€™s how it feels to me.

Which is why we try to ignore our feelings and go with the data. So far this year, four out of Felix’s nine starts have had a net positive WPA, and one was just fractionally negative, so your feelings jibe almost exactly with what we’ve actually seen.

The only time Iâ€™ve heard him complain about pitch selection was when Silva didnâ€™t throw a fastball.

No, he wasn’t complaining that Silva didn’t throw a fastball, he was complaining that Silva didn’t throw his best pitch. It so happens in Silva’s case that is a fastball, but it was pretty clear that Wakamatsu wasn’t fixated on “fastball”; he was fixated on “the best pitch in that situation.” I’m just worried the organization thinks Felix’s best pitch is his fastball, because it clearly isn’t. Especially when he’s facing a lefty.

By: ThundaPC

ThundaPC — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:55:45 +0000

Hey, guess what? It's not Johjima's fault.

If you were wondering about the 16 straight fastballs he threw to start the game, I asked Johjima about why he wanted to do that and he told me to go ask the pitcher. He tried to get him to throw the breaking ball but Felix was insisting on the fastball. Adair said that will be addressed.

By: Mothy

Mothy — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:38:09 +0000

Although I’m not ready to blame the coaching staff yet, I am starting to get suspicious of them. Because it’s not just Felix that is throwing too many fastballs. Although it might be on the players that they’re not following Wak’s game plan… I don’t lean that way. When the offense or defense doesn’t follow the game plan Wakamatsu has been pretty vocal about it. The only time I’ve heard him complain about pitch selection was when Silva didn’t throw a fastball. I tend to think the coaching staff is overemphasizing the fastball to the pitchers.

By: WTF_Ms

WTF_Ms — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:40:49 +0000

I guess the larger question is, do we sign him long term, and hope he “gets it”, like others have (Unit, Ryan, etc…), or do we get the max value out of him now, and cut our losses so to speak?

By: WTF_Ms

WTF_Ms — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:39:07 +0000

Whatever the problem, it needs fixed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_laaxl1EKqQ