=== The Natural "Three's All He'll Need" Dept. ===
Last spring training game, we got to see the legendary Sasquatch go 2.5 hitters, albeit in a driving rain.
We didn't see the 99 mph, but with a hurried bullpen, a slippery mound, a cold day and a wet ball, we did see 93-95 right off the bat. Inconclusive as to the high-90's claims, but obviously the man is King Kong add a little more chest hair.
Didn't see the "gnat at 1,000 yards" command, either, in those 12-odd pitches through the rain.
What we did see, was that when Pineda's vorpal curve went snicker-snack, the ML hitters were locked as badly as Pedro ever dreamed of doing. Each and every time. With the ball coming from behind Pineda's ear, and as hard as he sells the offspeed, they had zero um zero-minus chance of pulling the trigger. Looked like Mariano Rivera throwing a change.
Pineda looked vaguely amused by the tiny little ML hitters. Worked the first one to 3-2, then dropped a savage hook on him for strike three and Blowers broke up laughing in the booth. I got your Typhoon Irabu right here, George...
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=== That Explains the Radio Silence ===
Sims upped the in-booth raving to (pleasantly) "apoplectic." Even Niehaus, verrrrrrry slow to give credit to any young player OR to any pitcher, called Pineda "the best thing he saw in March."
Sims relayed that, providing the M's can keep Pineda healthy, he comes to camp in 2011 with a view to being in the 5-man rotation.
...............
They noted that Pineda was 6-1, 165 when the M's took him. Now? They showed a clip in the dugout; Pineda did not fit under the roof, and he wasn't close to fitting. Seriously. He looks like Shaq's size.
The first source you see, reporting Pineda as one of baseball's top 20 prospects, go with them from then on.
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=== DL ===
As far as Pineda using a compact motion -- not using a Jered Weaver - Randy Johnson motion, no need for panic: Greg Maddux used a fairly short-arm delivery (in which the elbow doesn't fully extend and in which the muscles, not leverage, generate the power). Mad Dog averaged 250 IP a year and never paid a price for it.
NFL quarterbacks all use short-arm deliveries, since they don't want to set fumble records like the last non-short-arm'er (Dave Krieg). It's not inherently wrong. If you can afford the power loss, you gain deception and quickness.
Very, very possibly, Pineda's elbow is getting a little tendinitis because of his age, rather than because of his delivery. We dunno.
It's just that it boggles my mind, any time I see a short-armer who has velocity. What a freak.
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When I watched Pineda throw, the first thing I said was "where the heck is the ball??" (from the perspective of the hitter) He comes back and then the ball is in the catcher's glove and the hitter doesn't know how it got there. Short arm with the ball hidden behind his ear until it's burning a hole in the catcher's mitt.
Pitch-wise, he reminded me VERY STRONGLY...of Rafael Soriano. Wouldn't we all enjoy another crack at turning Soriano into a starter? :)
Never really occurred how similar to Soriano ... probably because of how visually dissimilar. But that's a great comp in many ways, in terms of the explosion of the FB, the age, the questions about RP/SP, etc.
Visually, they look nothing at all alike...but their pitches end up looking the same. The unspectacular slider (very little break on it) that is effective because of the great arm action and deception, the fastball that looks hittable and never is hit due to 12+ inch swerve and late explosiveness, the tendency to work up in the zone...etc.
Yeah, I think Dave likes him some Pineda.
http://img18.imageshack.us/i/pineda.mp4/
That clip made me laugh out loud ... thanks Grizzle