he has pitched great but wondering why he does not have many K's, I know an out is an out but does he not have that filthy type fastball that gets alot of swing and misses?
The bottom line is they don't make good contact on it. If that remains the case, I don't need to see high K numbers.
He gives up .4 HR per 9 innings. He gave up 7.8 hits per 9 innings in the minors Ground ball ratio is 57.1% right now...which is real close to what it was in the minors. They can hit him..and when they do, it's not hard. I find that to be very similar to Oswalt.
He's actually got a really good breaking ball. I haven't been able to watch him, but with a fastball/curveball combo like he has, he should be getting more strikeouts. His delivery seems to allow hitters to get a good view of the ball. His fastball seems to be pretty straight. And his overall command is lacking.
His fastball actually does have good late movement, which is why hitters have so much trouble getting good contact, it also plays into his control issues. His curveball is the pitch he can't command. He often seems to bury it in the dirt or throw it wildly out of the zone. I don't remember more than 1or 2 swings and misses on his curve. As long as he gets consistently poor contact an keeps the walks down he'll be fine without K's. If he does harness the curve he's gonna be a monster.
He hasn't thrown the curveball much, and he's kept fastballs low in the zone. Really hasn't been trying to go up the ladder on guys to strike them out or throw the good curve. I'm far more concerned at our bullpen's inability to strike guys out when they have 2 strikes on them.
And I'm far more concerned at our bullpen's inability to keep the other team from scoring. I honestly and truly can not remember witnessing a worse bullpen than this. I'm sure there's been one...but wow, they're just terrible.
His fastball isn't straight. It actually has very good late explosive movement. In the past part of his problem was that he didn't know how much movement would happen.
