King debut
The debut of our most exciting prospect since Alex and Ken occurred yesterday in Motown, and it's hard not to get too excited. Obviously both Pay-Rod and Brittle-bones are future lock HOF's, so it that out of the question for Felix?
It's all about health. Right now Felix is already a good enough starter to win 12-15 games. On a good team, maybe 15+. Because he is getting such a good start so young, he will have the opportunity to rack up some obscene numbers if he enjoys a long career.
But as every baseball fan knows, the number of pitchers with great arms is small. The number of pitchers with great arms that can stay healthy is incredibly small. For every wonder arm like Clemens or Ryan, there are hundreds of Ryan Anderson's. Guys who have great stuff, but simply don't have the mechanics or miracle physical make-up to endure years of throwing baseballs.
So we won't worry about Felix right now, we'll just enjoy the ride. As long as he stays healthy, he'll be the most exciting player to watch in an M's uniform for a long time.
I guess it is hard to talk about his pitching debut and not mention anything from yesterday. The one thing I heard many people asking about was his pitch selection. He is a fastball, curveball, changeup kinda guy right now.
DO NOT listen to Niehaus when it comes to pitches. Any long time watcher of M's games can tell you that. He will call a 91 mph pitch a changeup. He will call a slider a curve. He will call two IDENTICAL pitches thrown back-to-back different things. He seems to have some idea that he has to immediately after every pitch declare what it was, even when it wasn't always obvious. Sometimes pitchers throw curves that don't break. Or sliders that don't slide. But Niehaus has to identify every pitch, so he throws it out there, rightly or wrongly.
When will Felix throw sliders? We've been told he is not to throw them to protect his arm. We've also been told it might be his best pitch.
We need someone who is close to the situation to answer those questions. But whatever you do, don't listen to Niehaus.
Time to start looking for tickets for Tuesday...
The debut of our most exciting prospect since Alex and Ken occurred yesterday in Motown, and it's hard not to get too excited. Obviously both Pay-Rod and Brittle-bones are future lock HOF's, so it that out of the question for Felix?
It's all about health. Right now Felix is already a good enough starter to win 12-15 games. On a good team, maybe 15+. Because he is getting such a good start so young, he will have the opportunity to rack up some obscene numbers if he enjoys a long career.
But as every baseball fan knows, the number of pitchers with great arms is small. The number of pitchers with great arms that can stay healthy is incredibly small. For every wonder arm like Clemens or Ryan, there are hundreds of Ryan Anderson's. Guys who have great stuff, but simply don't have the mechanics or miracle physical make-up to endure years of throwing baseballs.
So we won't worry about Felix right now, we'll just enjoy the ride. As long as he stays healthy, he'll be the most exciting player to watch in an M's uniform for a long time.
I guess it is hard to talk about his pitching debut and not mention anything from yesterday. The one thing I heard many people asking about was his pitch selection. He is a fastball, curveball, changeup kinda guy right now.
DO NOT listen to Niehaus when it comes to pitches. Any long time watcher of M's games can tell you that. He will call a 91 mph pitch a changeup. He will call a slider a curve. He will call two IDENTICAL pitches thrown back-to-back different things. He seems to have some idea that he has to immediately after every pitch declare what it was, even when it wasn't always obvious. Sometimes pitchers throw curves that don't break. Or sliders that don't slide. But Niehaus has to identify every pitch, so he throws it out there, rightly or wrongly.
When will Felix throw sliders? We've been told he is not to throw them to protect his arm. We've also been told it might be his best pitch.
We need someone who is close to the situation to answer those questions. But whatever you do, don't listen to Niehaus.
Time to start looking for tickets for Tuesday...
posted by Tom at
10:13 AM
