They don't have a bad strategy in general, they've had a lot of success with pitchers there. They just didn't seem to adapt their strategy for arm talent. It's a great plan to get the best out of a solid pitcher, but it seems they grossly underutilized an elite arm like Cole. It's like the baseball version of no child left behind. We will make sure all kids learn enough to pass. The smart kids, well f**k them. We're gonna teach them the same way we teach the average kids.
This is my view of the Pirates as well. Their philosophy seems to be geared towards guys that can command their pitches, but don't have the stuff to get swings and misses on strikes. They don't seem to get the most of guys that can get swings and misses in the zone.
In short, they don't have Brent Strom. And Justin Verlander. Cole has said that something clicked for him when JV worked with him during spring training--something totally opposite what he thought was the correct way to pitch.
538 on Trevor Bauer... https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...s-have-come-around-on-the-high-spin-fastball/ Just about every four-seam fastball is thrown in a similar manner, with the index and middle fingers of the throwing hand last making contact with the ball. Bauer, who’s known for taking a scientific approach to pitching, explained that to increase spin on four-seam fastballs, the pitcher’s fingers must maintain contact longer to form a more acute tangential angle with the ball. Bauer believes this is largely an innate trait — unless a sticky substance helps the fingers adhere to the ball for a fraction of second longer. University of Illinois physics professor Alan Nathan, an MLB consultant, agreed with Bauer’s theory. “It’s probably pretty hard to change that [fastball spin] ratio for an individual,” Nathan said of naturally changing spin rate. “I can see that you could do it for a curveball because a curveball involves some technique whereas a fastball is pure power. There is no finesse.” It seems like Bauer tried to prove his point with an on-field experiment. During the season, Bauer ranked 164th out of 495 pitches in average spin rate at 2,322 rpms. But in one inning of an April 30 start in Texas, Bauer’s average spin rate surged while his velocity remained steady. He came close to hitting 2,700 rpm with a fastball — more than 300 rpms above his average. Bauer was asked after the game if he had used a foreign substance in that inning, and he said simply, “No comment.” He did acknowledge testing different substances in the lab at Driveline Baseball in Kent, Washington, where he trains and researches in the offseason. “I’ve melted down Firm Grip and Coca-Cola and pine tar together,” Bauer told reporters in May. “I’ve tested a lot of stuff. At 70 mph, when we were doing the tests, spin rates jumped between 300-400 rpm while using various different sticky substances. The effect is slightly less pronounced at higher velocities … but still between 200–300 rpm increase.” Driveline Baseball has tried to make it easier to measure spin rate. It released a metric in November 2016 called “Bauer Units,” a measure for spin divided by velocity. That allows us to look across teams and isolate which players might be generating spin more than others. And some of the most analytically driven teams seemed to valued spin more as soon as Statcast began measuring.
Teams have always valued it, they just didn't have the tools to actually measure it and were relying on eyeballs, and that worked ok but this is better of course.
There is a reason Gerrit Cole doesn't like Tyler Bauer, (Former Teammates at UCLA) because of these antics he is pulling.
Indians fans don't even like Bauer because of the things he does. Especially because of the drone injury from the playoffs last year.
Remember when Trevor Bauer had the Tim Lincecum delivery lol, out of UCLA. He changed his delivery. Trevor is one Paranoid human being.The dude might have mental issues, no joke. OCD maybe always trying to be perfect. He tried 100 ways to try substances on baseballs for spin rate.
Astros Pitching thru 2 games this series have allowed... 6 hits -- 6 for 60 -- .100 BA 1 XBH 3 runs 24 Ks / 4 BBs 2 ABs with RISP
Bregman is up there for some of the most swag in Houston Sports History. Him, Harden, and Watson got Houston being Swag City.
Bauer didn’t give up any runs in game 1. He let an inherited runner score Friday. Allen gave up Maldonado’s home run.
