Category Archives: Pitching

Kenny Rogers to start Wednesday

Well it looks like the Tigers have filled one hole in their rotation, for now until someone else gets hurt. Kenny Rogers is back and will start against the White Sox on Wednesday. Chad Durbin will be Thursday’s starter, and with a pen full of reinforcements from Toledo his role as reliever shouldn’t be missed.

Justin Verlander gets and extra day off and it will be Verlander/Robertson/Bonderman against Seattle this weekend.

Leyland sets rotation: Rogers to start Wednesday, Durbin Thursday – MLive.com: Detroit Tigers

Andrew Miller Shut Down

Virgil Vasquez will start on Friday night meaning that a spot on the 25 man roster needed to be created. That spot was formerly held by Andrew Miller. And this doesn’t sound like roster maneuvering. Danny Knobler reports that Miller will start working with Chuck Hernandez to prepare for 2008.

Miller was certainly rushed to the big leagues and handing him a spot in the rotation – and expecting him to hold it the rest of the season – was foolish. I had no problem with him making some spot starts or taking a couple turns in the rotation while guys were injured. But putting a young man in the rotation who didn’t even have a full season pro season to

  1. 1. Build stamina
  2. 2. Refine a 3rd pitch

was a poor decision.

His inability to consistently throw strikes manifested itself in 100 pitch 5 inning outings that screamed he just wasn’t ready. The stuff is there, and it was on display as he’d strike out the side in an inning. But the consistency wasn’t, as in those same innings he’d issue a couple walks between said strikeouts.

Now instead of having a pitcher they can count on in 2008 – like with Verlander going into 2006 – they are going to have to hope for a nice spring and that he can progress at the major league level.

I’m glad they are calling it a season for him. I just wish they hadn’t rushed matters in the first place. This was a Jim Leyland decision and I’m disappointed that Dave Dombrowski let him sign off on it. It’s Leyland’s job to give the team the best chance to win each day. It’s Dombrowski’s job to position the team to win each year. And I worry that this has short circuited his development.

Tigers tell Miller to get ready for 2008 – MLive.com: Detroit Tigers

Jair Jurrjens to start

The Tigers will reach down to Erie for their Wednesday night starter. They’ve tabbed Jair Jurrjens to take on the Indians. Jurrjens has been on quite the roll allowing just 2 earned runs in his last 3 starts. He’s fanned 24 over that 23 inning span.

The safe roster move would have been to go with Virgil Vasquez. With Jurrjens coming up a spot will need to be cleared on the 40 man roster, but Kyle Sleeth could be let go without much hassle. The only other issue is that if the Tigers send Jurrjens back down to the minors, they will burn an option year.

Nonetheless I’m excited to see what Jurrjens can do.

Jurrjens to start Wednesday in Cleveland – Detroit Tigers Insider – MLive.com

A different look at Andrew Miller

On Sunday, June 24th Andrew Miller took center stage on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and promptly pitched 6 shut out innings. Miller only allowed 4 hits and 2 walks and was never really threatened. Was this a dominant performance by a young stud pitcher, or just another day at the office for the slumping Braves? I don’t know if we can really say one way or the other, but with enhanced gameday data we can at least get some additional information.
Continue reading A different look at Andrew Miller

Pitching news – rotation set for Atlanta

Rod and Mario kept talking about Jim Leyland mentioning that changes were a-comin’ with the pitching staff. I’m sure that much of that has to do with injuries – or recovery from injuries – but a fraction has to do with performance.

We know that Kenny Rogers is back on Friday night. We now know that Andrew Miller will pitch on Sunday night in Atlanta. But beyond that we don’t know much. Either Chad Durbin or Mike Maroth will pitch the beginning of the homestand.

We also know that Zach Miner and Nate Robertson will be donning Erie Seawolves uniforms for rehab. Miner will pitch an inning tonight and make a couple of appearances. Nate Robertson will start on Thursday.

We also know that a spot a spot on the 25 man roster will need to be made for Kenny Rogers and that could be any reliever that’s not Todd Jones or Fernando Rodney or it could be Mike Maroth if he is traded. Rogers is on the 60 day DL, and will need to be “added” to the 40 man roster. But there is a spot available with Jose Mesa’s departure plus Vance Wilson could be moved to the 60 as well.

Eulogio De La Cruz gets the call

Eulogio De La Cruz
Credit Roger DeWitt

The Tigers called up pitcher Eulogio De La Cruz today to take a shot at being a bullpen stud.

De La Cruz has spent a good chunk of his minor league career as a reliever, until last year when he was moved to the rotation and started to find success. This year he put together a remarkable string of outings and as the injuries in the Detroit bullpen mounted he was moved up to Toledo and into the bullpen. After walking 5 and allowing 3 runs in 1 inning in his first outing on June 4th, he has thrown 7 2/3 scoreless innings over 3 appearances.

De La Cruz (or DLC as he’s often referred to on Motown Sports) is a shorter guy standing only 5′ 11″ but can crank it up into the high 90’s.

Yorman Bazardo will be sent down to make room. I think this is less about Bazardo’s performance, which wasn’t bad, and more about seeing what the team has in De La Cruz and whether he can provide the help they need in the pen.

Verlander says no-no

Verlander's No-No
Reuters
I wish I could type up something poetic or dramatic or chuck full of literary goodness. I don’t really have that in me, and I don’t think I could muster it right now anyways. But watching this unfold was a thing of beauty. Justin Verlander was good in the first inning, and better in the 9th. His defense helped him of course, but with strikeouts accounting for 12 of the 27 outs, he certainly didn’t overtax them. A triple digit fastball, a sharp curve, and a masterful change-up had a pretty good Brewers offense shaking their heads after flailing helplessly at the plate.

Selfishly, I could care less about the Tigers offense tonight. Brandon Inge was great again, and Curtis Granderson added his 13th triple (and only his 3rd at home), but mostly I just wanted to see Verlander take the mound. The 7th and 8th innings when the Tigers were up only served to help me catch my breath and sigh before moving back to the edge of my seat. I was doing the mental out count down starting in the 5th. “There’s number 14, half way home.” I cursed Bill Hall as he saw pitch after pitch and earned walk after walk. I was thinking that if anyone broke it up, it would be Hall – or worse yet he’d run Justin’s pitch count up too high to finish.

And yet in the 8th inning when Hall walked, it was the much maligned Neifi Perez who cut down Hall at second base on a fabulous play before Placido Polanco turned over the double play, saving Justin a few more pitches, and a little more energy.

Not that Justin needed more energy, he was feeding off the crowd that stood when Justin stood and didn’t sit down until they got in their cars to go home. Verlander reached back and hit 102 on the FSN gun at around pitch number 109. After hanging an 87mph curve on pitch number 111 he took a moment for a walk behind the mound. Dan Dickerson later asked if it was to soak in the moment, which was my first thought as well. But it was just so Verlander could harness his adrenaline before throwing pitch 112 which sealed history as it nestled into Magglio Ordonez’s glove. History. Awesome.

Some other thoughts that didn’t fit in the narrative:

  • Magglio Ordonez who gets hammered for his defense, has really been pretty good this year and a diving grab rescued a liner from a fate on the turf. Probably the closest threat to a hit in the game.
  • I flipped on the radio in the 9th, and if you missed it Dan Dickerson was money. He conveyed the moment without spelling it all out. People knew the situation, they could hear the crowd. Jim Price pretty much stayed out of the way, and Dickerson carried us on the tension in his voice. I’m not saying this just because Dan’s been nice enough to do some interviews for the site, but he is a very very very good broadcaster.
  • I love watching the emotion from Dave Dombrowski, and I love the fact that he keeps score during a game. The fact he’s a fan, just like the rest of us, I find to be very endearing.
  • This was Pudge’s 2nd no hitter after catching Kenny Rogers perfect game in 1994.
  • This was home plate umpire Ron Kulpa’s first no hitter. I thought he was quite good, but a called 3rd strike to Craig Counsell to start the game appeared off the plate. That set up a pretty big strike zone that Verlander used to his advantage. And he threw the same pitch to Counsell in the 9th with the same result.

A listing of all no-hitters.

Kenny on the Mend?

One of the more encouraging things I saw at Sunday’s game took place before the game even started. I saw Kenny Rogers throwing long toss for about 15 minutes. He was throwing from the gate of the visitors bullpen to the left field foul line. In a game he’s starting, he’ll actually warm up by throwing a little farther than that. Still, it looks like a guy who is much closer to pitching than he is to surgery.

The positive prognosis was also iterated by Danny Knobler on WDFN Monday afternoon. Knobler said that in a conversation on Friday, Rogers told Knobler that he would be disappointed if he wasn’t back in a month.

Right now, and barring set backs, it looks like the worst case scenario is that Rogers will be back in the rotation in another 6 weeks or so. That would put him at right about where his scheduled rehab would land him. But it seems like he’s even ahead of that.

What this really means is that the Tigers bullpen should receive a boost. Ideally Rogers assumes Chad Durbin’s spot in the rotation. After a couple shaky outings, Durbin has been decent. Certainly suitable as a 6th starter to say the least. If he can avoid a big slide in his next half dozen starts, he’ll most likely retain a roster spot and slide to the bullpen.

Like relievers Jason Grilli and Wil Ledezma, Durbin is out of options and has to clear waivers before returning to the minors. I’m all for retaining as much talent as possible in the organization, and roster status should be a factor in these decisions. But the middle of the bullpen has struggled and they need better results. Swapping out Durbin for a struggling reliever could provide a boost.

Now this is all premature because Rogers isn’t even pitching yet. Durbin could struggle. The bullpen could find their stride. But the pen could receive a boost in the form of the disabled list.

Comparing Zumaya

A couple weeks ago we took a look at Joel Zumaya’s 2 inning save against Toronto through the eyes of MLB.com’s Enhanced Gameday. Last night against the White Sox Zumaya had an outing on the opposite end of the effectiveness spectrum.

Zumaya basically couldn’t find the strike zone to save his life last night. He through 32 pitches in one inning, and only 11 went for strikes. It resulted in 4 walks and a hit batter. Zumaya thought he was being squeezed.

zumayasz.jpg

Enhanced Gameday only captured 26 of Zumaya’s 32 pitches. Plotting them it does appear that Zumaya had a couple of pitches in the strike zone that were called balls. But there are also a ton of balls no where near the strike zone, and in general Joel was leaving the ball up.

Against Toronto, Joel was consistently on the edges of the strike zone. Against the White Sox he was erratic. Enhanced Game Day does allow us to take a look at one aspect of mechanics and that is release point.
Joel Zumaya release point comparison
While there is overlap in the clusters, it appears that Joel Zumaya was releasing the ball closer to the center of the mound. Now it is hard to say what, if anything this data means. The difference could be in the calibration of the cameras. Or perhaps Zumaya was working from a different part of the rubber Or it could be that his mechanics were altered and he was releasing the ball closer to his head against the White Sox.

In terms of velocity, of the 26 pitches that gameday captured, 23 were fastballs. Of those 23 fastballs only 10 topped 100mph so Zumaya was working a little under the velocity we saw in Toronto. Against the Jays he averaged 100.5 on the gun. Again, this could be a calibration issue, or it could be that Zumaya was never comfortable last night for one reason or another.

This data is still quite new, and I’m still learning to work with it. As we learn more about the data, and it’s limitations and strengths, hopefully we’ll be able to discern more.

A different look at the Bonderman-Halladay Duel

Taking advantage of the enhanced gameday data once again, I’ll take a look at Jeremy Bonderman’s and Roy Halladay’s awesome performances last night.

We’ll start with Jeremy Bonderman. The table below shows the mix of pitches and results for Bonderman:

It was a little surprising to see that Jeremy Bonderman didn’t miss that many bats last night, and none with his fastball. But what he did was induce a ton of weak contact. This was probably one of the biggest factors in keeping his pitch count so low.
Continue reading A different look at the Bonderman-Halladay Duel

A different look at Zumaya’s outing

I think everyone was mighty blown away by Joel Zumaya’s 2 inning save last night. He pounded the strike zone with 100mph plus heaters and buckled knees with his curve ball. But just for fun, and because we can, let’s take a look at all the pitches that made up his night.

I don’t know if you noticed in the playoffs last year, but MLB Gameday started using an enhanced version that had camera’s catching the path of the pitch, the velocity, and the release point. This was kind of a neat feature, but what makes it gold is that the data is captured and stored on MLB.com’s servers. Inspired by the book Baseball Hacks: Tips & Tools for Analyzing and Winning with Statistics, and with some programming of my own, I worked this offseason to be able to capture and analyze this data. Imagine my disappointment when after the first 8 games the Tigers hadn’t had an “enhanced” game. Fortunately they did last night.
Continue reading A different look at Zumaya’s outing

Tiger news round-up

I’ll be a day late on announcing the DVD Giveaway winners. I promise it will be announced tomorrow night. In the meantime, some stuff worth reading:

PECOTA and the Central

The straight run of Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA projections for the AL Central put the Tigers in 3rd place with 85 wins. Nate Silver makes some tweaks and post-adjustment he’s looking at the Tigers winning 88 games. With his other adjustments that puts them in a tie for 2nd place, one game out. So essentially it’s a 3 team toss-up in Silver’s eyes. Kind of hard to argue with that, unless you’re a White Sox fan who doesn’t like the 77 win projection.

Power ranking season

Fox Sports latest power rankings place the Tigers 6th, down two spots from last week. Meanwhile the Twins surged up 3 spots. Not sure why. But half of the top 6 teams are from the AL Central.

ESPN the Magazine picks Tigers

I don’t think it’s on newstands yet, and you need to be an Insider I think to flip through, but they’re picking the Tigers to win the AL Central.

New displays coming to Comerica Park

You know those fancy, colorful, shiny displays that you see on the facing of the upper bowl of many newer arenas? Comerica Park is getting those. They are also replacing the out of town scoreboard in right-center with an LED display. Similar ones I’ve seen in Pittsburgh and Cleveland seem to display a ton of information, so I think it could be a good thing. It will also make for dynamic ad space so hopefully it will be additional revenue for the club to sink into a Carlos Guillen extension.

I’m not sure I’ll like the strip on the upper bowl though. I’m trying to visualize it, and I think it might take a little away from the retro look of the park.

The Freep also had a story and video looking at stadium preparation for the Opener.

Four Tops get anthem duty

The Four Tops have been tapped to sing the National Anthem for the Opener. No announcement yet on first pitch, but I’d imagine it will be Kwame and Granholm. Gates will open at 10:30am with a ceremony (not the ring ceremony which is on April 4th). Me, I’m hoping for a fly-over.

Things are looking good weather-wise calling for 54 and sunny.

Now if only those tickets would arrive.

Other stuff