It does not have much sink, but has horizontal run similar to a lot of sinkers. Almost like a 4S fastball that happens to have double the amount of run as a normal 4S.
Alimber Santa vs. Carolina: 4 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BB, 7 K Fayetteville's game was suspended in the 6th. Jose Fleury was about to enter a 1-1 game.
AAA SP FB velo thru first turn: Whitley 96.8 max, 95.3 avg France 96.6, 94.9 Solis 96.5, 94.1 Tamarez 96.6, 94.1 Murray 95.9, 93.5 Dubin 95.0, 93.9 Hansen 94.4, 92.5 Bielak 94.3, 93.0 Garcia 94.3, 92.9 Endersby 93.3, 90.8
AAA RP avg FB velos (most recent appearance): Record 92.8 Gage 93.3 Taylor 90.6 Davis 94.7 Buttrey 94.1 Paredes 92.8 Nothing stands out other than Taylor is down from where he usually throws and I thought Paredes threw harder than that. From the SP side the most notable thing to me is that Dubin is still 3-4 mph down on his velo vs his peak. He was sitting high 90s before he got hurt last year. If he’s not able to get that back that’s a big ding to his value. But they still have 5 guys (Whitley, Tamarez, Murray, France, and Solis) who would likely sit 96+ in an MLB relief role.
Yeah... it's funny, talented pitchers can have some success when they listen to the coaches and embrace the philosophical viewpoint of one of the 2-3 top organizations in all of baseball over the last decade plus.
Whitley could be every bit as good as Gerrit Cole if he keeps his head straight and stays healthy. His stuff is on that level.
He still is throwing a lot different pitches instead of focusing on three pitches like the coaches wanted. If Whitley and the coaches are on the same page, it seems that the coaches have embraced at least some of Whitley's philosophy since he's still working on a lot of pitches at once. I am doubtful that Whitley has completely embraced the philosophy of the Astros coaching staff.
I didn't get to see him pitch, but what I have heard is that Bill Murphy has gotten through some to Whitley and they are consistently talking - which is a MAJOR improvement over what they had with Strom and then Miller.
Sure. But usually turning 25 and getting married means you are growing up and maturing somewhat compared to whatever you were doing as a 20 year old multi-millionaire that was considered the top pitching prospect in the world. Humility would seem to be something that would be developed in that situation, though certainly not by everyone.
