With it being spring training time, there are all kinds of nuggets that were getting from our terrific beatwriters Matthew Leach and Derrick Goold. Here’s some nuggets coming from Leach today.
One change that Perez will make is in his delivery. Strictly a reliever, he had thrown from both the windup and the stretch. From now on, he will no longer pitch from the windup.”To me, there’s no reason for it,” Duncan said, “and I was thinking today, I don’t understand why they haven’t said something about it. Because he actually is much better out of the stretch than he is out of the windup.”
Is Perez better out of the stretch? Here is his FIP splits, with him in and out of the stretch.
Windup: 3.01
Stretch: 4.86
Take it for what it’s worth. I guess we’ll have to trust Dave Duncan’s judgment but lately the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I hear when he is trying to tinker with our young pitchers. Seems like he’s always on the prowl when it comes to pitchers “tipping”, at times to the point of severe paranoia.
But, Kyle McClellan and Blake Hawksworth is catching his eye so far.
“I watch a guy like McClellan, as little experience as he has, I watch him and I go,’Wow,'” Duncan said. “This guy’s got really good stuff, and everything he throws is around the strike zone. This guy, he’s got my attention right now.”
“I see a different Hawksworth so far this spring,” Duncan said. “He looks stronger and more mature, and stuffwise [he] looks a little different to me so far.”
McClellan has my attention for the same reason, between A, AA and the AFL he walked only 12 batters in 77 innings. And with the news of Clement possibly not being ready for opening day (who didn’t see that coming?), Hawksworth has a more legitimate shot at making the rotation out of camp.
Kary Booher reports that Jeff Luhnow has come out and said he expects Jaime Garcia and Bryan Anderson to start their season back in AA, though they could see some time in AAA at some point this year.
Future Redbirds 
What do Perez’s K/9 rates look between the windup and stretch?
windup 13.3 K/9
stretch 10.8
Of course, there is no history of how he would pitch from the stretch without men on base. It is not a good comparison to throw out all of the days he had good command and went 1-2-3 from the windup. Are there numbers from other guys who pitch from the stretch all the time comparing FIP, K/9 etc. with men on base and without?
I don’t like the idea for a young hard throwing pitcher. IMO, the stretch places more stress on the arm. One reason being that young pitchers have a tendency to rush their pitches from the stretch. I know some relievers prefer it when they get older and learn to get more movement on the ball.. but a windup is more relaxing and fluid and I would not have a young going without a windup…asking for trouble.
Due to his weakness, I believe that it is more important to evaluate BB/9
According to Goold, Perez is also adding a curve and maybe a change this spring. He noticed that in AAA hitters were ignoring his slider and cheating on his fastball to hit it. So if he has another offspeed offering to foil their timing it could help too. They are using the stretch as a way to maintain control. I agree with the on base versus empty base idea but I would still be interested in his walk rate for stretch vs windup, maybe his control is better in one or maybe if he just stays with one style they think they can work on his control better.
hugo,
i believe perez has always had the curve, he may just be throwing it more. i don’t know if he needs to all that often, his fastball and slider is deadly as it is.
I may be in the minority here but I still have some hope/faith for Blake Hawksworth. I’m not talking ace hope, but 4th/5th starter hope.
I know he was pretty bad last year but he was really good in 2006. If he shows well enough in spring why not let him fill that #5 spot until Clement comes back?
For Perez, I think it is a great idea for someone who struggles with control to throw strictly from the stretch. Around 90% of the most important pitches you will throw in the game are thrown from the stretch, and by only throwing from it, you become more comfortable. Greg Maddux is known for his intensely long bullpen sessions warming up for a game, and of all the pitches that he throws warming up, you will see that he only throws the final 10 pitches from the windup in his bullpen, demonstrating the importance of pitching out of the stretch. Also, it simplifies the mechanics for a pitcher as he will not have to go between the two methods throughout a game.
I don’t believe that the stretch creates more stress on the arm, as you can work with the timing once the pitcher becomes accustomed to pitching soley from the stretch. Personally, I made this change 3 years ago in my Sophomore season and it made everything so much simpler mechanics-wise. In my opinion it is a great idea for Perez.
i also think its a good idea. as long as he doesn’t have a big loss in stuff in the stretch (which i don’t think he does), it should help him out with his control as he will be doing the same thing every pitch.
The numbers I’ve found show his command is horrifying out of the stretch, his walk rate triples. Obviously he’s going to need to learn to throw out of the stretch, but I’m not crazy about Dave’s logic here.
Making the right decision for the wrong reason type of thing.
nuhusky knows a heck of a lot more about pitching then i do, so if he says it’s a good thing i’ll take his word for it
SB12, that could just be b/c he doesn’t have the chance to walk as many out the windup. think of it like this, he can usually only walk 1 guy out of the windup per inning. he can walk a lot more out of the stretch. when he is on, he isn’t going to get a chance to pitch out of the stretch b/c he just doesn’t give up many hits. however, on the days he isn’t pitching well he usually walks the first guy and has to pitch the rest of the inning out of the stretch.
its hard to tell how he does just basing it on splits from last year. there are so many variables. i think the best comparison is to see how he pitches this year compared to how he pitched last year. if he walks fewer guys it probably worked, if he gives up more hits and his strikeout rate goes down while still walking a ton it didn’t.
“think of it like this, he can usually only walk 1 guy out of the windup per inning. he can walk a lot more out of the stretch”
I can’t believe I didn’t think of it like that. Thanks for the correction.
derrick goold has a nice note about clayton mortensen in his blog that you may want to add. as expected, duncan loves his sinker.
I got on here to take note of the selection bias inherent to looking at windup numbers versus the stretch (since there is a strategic choice b/w those two categories…pitchers don’t randomly or equally choose one or the other)…but I see other readers have already beat me to it. Well done, guys! D.GOOCH