.
Mr. T "Prediction? Paaaaiiiiiin," Dept.
The velocity of 1,000 burning suns notwithstanding ... Dr. D did not enjoy a single pitch during the first three innings. Grade "B" stuff? He needed a second pitch and a map of the strike zone to get up to Grade B stuff, brother.
Paxton threw 14 straight fastballs (!!) to start the game. Then he threw a first-pitch changeup for show, and then he threw another 11 straight fastballs. He threw 34 of 37 fastballs to begin, and he had no idea where those were going. Apparently, Dr. D's dream of a fastball/hammer whipsaw was going to have to wait again. GRRRROOOAAAaaaaannnn...
(Paxton has got some pain in both his feet, and he wasn't extending well.)
Only in the 4th inning did it occur to Sucre to start some hitters with curve balls ... the measured rhythm of the curve helped Paxton settle in, a little bit. (Paxton did say, after the game, that he felt like he's getting "closer and closer." Not to "a higher league," but to "being able to execute his own pitches".)
Paxton had Sucre catching him a lot in AA, right? Which is why they pair up so much? Has it occurred to anybody that the pairing may be both (1) familiar and (2) BAD?
Come on, somebody get Zunino in there before Paxton's bloated 1+ ERA embarrasses him any further.
The Phrase "Easy Velocity" Gets Thrown Around a Lot ...
What are those little whirlybird toys called? The rotating flower on a stick? Oh, yeah, they're "pinwheels."
When Paxton rocks back and splays himself into "pinwheel" yoga posture, and spins it forward with that frictionless effort ...you get a sense like with the PBA bowlers. Like they just lift the ball up and let it rock forward without any muscle work at all.
After the game, Paxton said something very similar -- that once he gets "into rhythm," he can use as much muscle "as he wants" (without feeling any stress).
I was trying to think of some left hand pitcher that I had EVER seen, whose velocity was more effortless than is James Paxton's. Randy Johnson... he was smooth, very, but you could feel the oomph as he finished some pitches. Don Gullett ... if you go way back into the 1970's you can think of a guy like that. Who else? I just dunno. Who else? The frictionless lefties, Barry Zito, David Wells, they didn't throw 97.
.......
Paxton had thrown 100 pitches after six IP (okay, 98, to be exact, no IBB) and somebody axed Dr. D, "is he coming back out for the seventh?" We shot back, "starting pitchers don't come back out after 100 pitches," and the instant we said it, we realized that here, probably Paxton would come back out. Not sure why we knew. For the same reason McClendon did. The section header, above :- )
So. Top of the seventh, first guy up, Adam Rosales. Count goes to 2-2, and then Paxton with sad eyes and slumped shoulders takes a fastball signal from Jesus Sucre. He pistol-squats into his left cleat, splays the pinwheel, spins it forward and the gun lights up at 97 MPH.
Rosales swings through, of course, but tips it just enough to deflect it into Sucre's face mask. Sucre topples backward, exactly as if he were the "extra" catching in Albert Brooks' "The Scout."
Sucre finished popping his ears out (yes, literally). Paxton's next two pitches to Rosales also read 97 MPH. We are two hours into Paxton's marathon here. In fact, here be the velocity graph: it rises up to, and through, the end of the game.
Brooksbaseball.net gives 95.7 MPH as the average velocity of Paxton's 80 (!) fastballs on the night. He looked like he was having a catch with his sister. No word on whether his sister is from East Germany.
This may be a throwback guy, like Randy Johnson, a guy who (in three years) can toss 120-140 pitches a turn without breaking a sweat. Even if not, he figures to be a kid who is still throwing haaaarrrrrd several years down the line.
.
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Closer and Closer ... to What, Exactly
So this kid, working with absolutely zero except --- > an "effectively wild" LHP fastball thrown from 7' off the ground ... combines with Lord Farquhar on a shutout. Headline: Paxton Cruises. Um, no. Paxton Survives 7 Different Times.
If Paxton got this fastball going, and added:
There is no telling what he could be.
As for what he is now, we'll take it. We've got games to win.
BABVA,
Dr D
He'll need the bendy stuff to put the K back in K-Pax but that will come. With Elias and Young *maybe* approaching the wall, the team is going to need him down the stretch.
In a post season series, who is Lloyd's third arm in the rotation - Paxton or Young?
....Hot lefties take a while to find the strike zone. Koufax didn't walk fewer than 5 per 9 innings until his 6th season. With the Big Unit it was his 7th or 8th season.
Paxton is basically nuking MLB lineups and it "looks" like he is struggling. He's not struggling with getting guys out butmore with figuring out some consistency. Outwardly he still brings that Zen-like calm, as if he is the Master and not the Grasshopper. But I'll give you dollars to doughnuts he still has some internal butterflies. Mixing my winged-insect metaphors, I know.
Why wouldn't he have some nerves? He's thrown just 11 big league games, or something like that, and it's nearly Sept. and he's in the middle of a wicked WC chase and he's expected to be a big cog.
Let's just count our blessings and let the guy figure it out. Give him a bit...then watch the AL duck and cover. They'll be the flies....he'll be the swatter. (I couldn't resist adding another).
Sidd Finch, Doc! Sidd Finch........
Except he's real, a lefty, and ours.
Moe
Steve Carlton?
How's the leg plant looking, Doc?
Five games series or seven? I don't know off the top of my head what the playoff format is. Five game 3-2 or 2-2-1? Seven game 2-3-2-? Felix and Iwakuma will pitch games one and two. Three and four should be Young and Paxton. If the games are at Safeco, Comerica or some other pitcher's park (Dodger Stadium) then I don't think it matters that much. But if one of the games is at home and the other is at a bandbox like Camden Yards, then you definitely want Young at Safeco and Paxton at the bandbox.
Almost every "Great Player" in every sport has a hole somewhere in their game, but the rest of their stuff has the chops to cover it up. I remember somebody saying once about Doctor J. that every small forward in the game thanked God that the Doc didn't have a jump shot, because then he would have been impossible to defend.
Then he would have been Jordan on offense.
The difference between the mere great and the all-time great is often something like that.
Randy Johnson was "Great" for a long time, all the while with holes in his game. He walked guys for example. But he didn't give up many hits.
In '91 he gave up 6.8 walks a game AND just 6.8 hits a game (per 9 innings).
In '92 it was 6.2 walks and 6.6 hits.
He had a hole in his game; a hitch in his get-along.
The next year his BB's dropped to the high 3's. The he was pretty great.
When his BB's dropped to the high 2's per 9, then he became basically the greatest lefty in the history of the game. At that point he was giving up 6.8 hits/2.6 BB's and K'ing 12.5 guys/per 9.
Paxton in his MLB career? 6.7 hits/2.6 BB's and "just" 7.7 K's. He's 25.
Johson didn't do some of that until he was 30 or more. At the age of 28, Johnson still wasn't averaging 7 innings a start. At the age of 25, in his 2nd MLB season, Paxton is averaging 5.5, which is exactly what Johnson averaged at 25, in his 2nd MLB season.
Basically JP just bamboozled the Texas Rangers, throwing to a catcher who operationally had only one finger. That's high school stuff. Or Nolan Ryan stuff. Or Bob Feller.
He went for 118 pitches. His previous professional high PC was 104, vs. the Tuscon Padres on July 8th, 2013.
Even at his record PC last night, he was still throwing the heater by MLB hitters sitting on that heater, dead red. As Doc pointed out, btw. He will figure out a consistent slurvy pitch or two. Until then, he's basically the guy we saw last night. Ask the Rangers what that was like.
I'm with Alfred E. Neuman on the subject of James Paxton: "What? Me Worry?"
And Griz, Paxton is one of the best 5 or 10 starters in the game right now. He's my #3 in the playoffs. Do you not start Russell Wilson in the playoffs because he's a rookie?
BTW Griz, dropped my daughter off at the U last weekend. It nearly killed me. I was a wreck.
So basically, in his rookie year, Paxton has the whole unhittable thing mastered, and he just needs to work on efficiency and good health? Dude. If he stays healthy, the Mariners are going places.
Yes Elias just turned 26 earlier this year... but a guy "rushed" to the majors from AA that is forced to pitch in a pennant race AND exceeds the most innings he has ever pitched over a 5 month stretch AND he posts roughly 8 hits / 9 innings, 3.6 walks / 9 innings, and 8.3 K's / 9 innings...
If Elias cuts down on his HR's next year and can get stronger... He may not be Paxton, but... WOW!!!
Moe, I completely understand your trip to Montana! Not fun at all!!! Keep hanging in there! And completely agree!!!!
Ha. The question isn't what you or I would do - it's what Lloyd will do. He likes his veterans. But he also likes Pax. It'll come down to the next month's performance, I guess.
It was wicked. Yikes. Hardest thing I've ever done was drive away.
But even this old dog is learning to text pretty efficiently (one finger) and trying to figure out the magic of Facetime. Man, that's Buck Rogers and Dick Tracy stuff!
She promised to text me each morning, just a "Hey Dad!" and I promised to not forget to breath.
