Whoa.. a lot of Fister material here.
Doc, you're going to have explain to me how Fister has a "55" fastball and French's is a "minus-minus" fastball. These guys throw nearly exactly the same velocity and French is a lefty with less horizontal movement but better life on the heater. Both have slightly below-average fastballs.
I only got to see the first couple of innings, but my initial take was actually that the fastball is worse than advertised (88mph with no real sink?) and the curve is better than advertised (did a good job getting called strikes).
Even so, Fister has a fringe arsenal all around. Whether he develops into a #4-5 SP or not will depend ALL on command and pitchability. Thats something thats going to be really difficult to get a handle on until we get to see several starts.
Q. Okay, your first Key To The Game was, what does he do on 2-0.
A. Right. He hits the black, and/or he changes speeds.
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Q. Your second Key To The Game was, does he have offspeed stuff. Does he?
A. He does. Definitely.
A. My favorite pitch of his is his #3 pitch, a 70-74 mph change curve that just made Quentin look ridiculous in the 2nd. It is practically a Nishiguchi-class change curve with a gigantic break that drops right in there.
Weirdly, Johjima only called for it five times. I wonder why. Maybe it looked like it was hanging. One *was* swatted foul down the line. But...
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Q. What's his #2 pitch?
A. He throws an 82 mph slurve, straight overhand.
It does not have tight spin, does not break hard, but he does get real good arm action on it. When it's up it acts like a plus change, with the batters having a tough time reading it early. When it's down it comes in looking like a fastball and they sometimes fish for it.
I have a huge bias against these Shigetoshi Hasegawa slurves, but Fister throws it with such good arm action that it works okay for me.
They'll tell you he throws two pitches in this 79-84 range -- a slider and a changeup -- but they look like functionally the same pitch to me.
Objectively speaking, it's probably his best pitch, though I wish he'd throw the change-curve more.
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Q. How's his fastball?
A. It's 88-89, a foot short maybe, but nothing tragic. It's a consistent 88. He doesn't leave 86 fastballs out-and-over.
It's a tad short, but it has REAL good running action in on righties. When thrown low it can dive like a Stukka. It did this to Konerko on PK's first strikeout.
Don't sell Fister's heater short. What it lacks in velo, it makes up in movement. It's a "55" (average to plus) fastball even BEFORE you consider his plus command.
He threw it about 70% of the time or something, which is fine with me if he can live on the black like that.
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Q. What's that Ray Miller thing again?
A. Miller was Earl's pitching coach, and the guy who turned CHANGE SPEEDS, CHANGE LOCATIONS, WORK AHEAD into a bumper sticker.
As with George Brett's pitching coach Charlie Lau, people have had two reactions to Miller: (a) dismiss him, or (b) preach that this is the ONLY way for ANY pitcher to pitch.
Randy Johnson and Erik Bedard don't have to throw three pitches. Nolan Ryan didn't have to work ahead in the count. Tim Wakefield doesn't have to change speeds. Tim Lincecum doesn't have to set hitters up.
But for the middle 80% of pitchers -- yes, hitting is timing, and pitching is upsetting timing (as Teddy Ballgame put it).
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Fister can change locations, and he can change speeds, and he can work ahead. If he tenaciously sticks with that, come storms or high water, in Chris Bosio style, he's got a good shot.
BABVA,
Dr D
Comments
although RRS' first start, his velo was down also (perhaps due to nerves and tightness).
As far as no sink, am guessing you missed the Konerko strikeout. :- ) He threw about six FB's that dove like that.
If you have access to tape, go back and watch Joh's glove. Check for very late movement of his mitt as the ball comes in. It reminded me of Freddy Garcia's rookie year.
I did miss the late end of the game..
I'm probably jumping to conclusions judging his arsenal in a single game, but there wasn't anything there that he offered beyond fringe in the first couple of innings. His command is really going to be key.
I was going, you have got to be kidding me, why is this guy even in baseball.
Seriously. And after two batters I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. ;- )
He settled down.
At a quick glance, I know *exactly* what you're talking about, Taro.
First look, he's got an 88 fastball and a slurve that is just a wrinkle. Guarantee you that's exactly what he got scouted as being, which is a "fuhgeddaboudit" pitcher.
But you watch him, and he has unusual run on that FB, and the slurve really pulls the string pretty good, and he does locate, and he sets guys up. The more you watch, the more you like, so that explains your & my disconnect if you only saw a bit of him.
It could be.
I'm definetly going to be looking out for his next start.