Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
I'm strangely okay with this.
Hicks just didn't have the breaking stuff to finish batters off. And frankly, at 103 mph, they couldn't put the damn ball in play either. So guys just shortened their swing and fought pitches off until he spun them a cement mixer or walked them. He really was in a rough spot in relief.
So he needed to make his breaker MORE nasty or his fastball LESS nasty so they can at least put the ball in play and let the defense get outs.
So make him a starter and have him throwing 97-98 with the same spin rates. He'll still have that nasty downward sink and plenty of armside run. Maybe it will put a little more depth on his breaking pitches and perhaps he can develop a better true off-speed pitch like a changeup or curveball (both of which require much more feel than a grip and rip slider).
I do have some concern over his height. Shorter pitchers that come from 3/4 w/ a short-arm delivery have trouble driving a ball down in the strike zone. To get the ball there, the pitch has to come out of their hand low and stay low. Whereas a tall pitcher with an overhand delivery can have it start high and dive through the zone.
So the consequence of being a shorter pitcher that works down in the zone is going to be that hitters are going to take pitches that you and I look at and ask "how the hell did they lay off of that?" Because in order to get it there, it started low and they knew to spit on it as soon as it left his hand.
Lord, give that kid a curveball and he'd be unhittable though. Then he'd be able to work UP as well because they'd have to respect the possibility that it's a curve and can dive. You give him fastball/curve at 97 with that kind of run - he'd be a shutout waiting to happen every start. He could challenge every quadrant of the zone that way.
As it stands, I think if I'm a hitter I treat him like a knuckle baller. "If it's low, let it go - if it's high, let it fly" and after awhile he'll have to abandon the top of the zone to become something of a supercharged Jason Marquis.
Or maybe just a rich man's Dakota Hudson at that point.
In either event, it's a worthwhile experiment. It's either him or that Bond Villain they signed out of Japan, VerHagen.
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Interesting stuff, thanks for the info.
The way this team goes Flaherty could be out until the All Star break.
So is it closer by committee?