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We've mentioned that a good AA/AAA pitcher has to have SOME thing he does EXCELLENTLY if he wants the bright lights and big city.  Cha Seung Baek kinda had four pitches and he did everything decently.  That's a good PCL pitcher.  A quality American League pitcher has a bread-and-butter weapon of SOME kind -- amazing command, or a parachute changeup, or something.

Dr. D purports to list a handful! of things Andrew Moore does better than AAA pitchers do them.  But hey now, Andrew Moore is not the 19-year-old Felix Hernandez.  He's not on any top 10 prospect lists.  There has to be something wrong.  Those things could be:

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CAVEAT 1

Moore only got one swing-and-miss among his 50 excellent pitches Saturday.  Strikeouts are necessary.  This is not a burial; it's an interesting topic for discussion.

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CAVEAT 2

We saw three innings.  (True, they were three innings that matched the saber statement of Moore's 1+ walk rate in AA last year.)  But in fairness, we can't imagine that Moore goes 12-for-13 on King Felix (TM) sequences every time out.

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CAVEAT 3, DOESN'T COUNT

It's not an advantage to be short.  On the other hand, Moore's arm slot is so over-the-top that his release point is actually higher than average.

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PLUS WEAPONS, ANDREW MOORE

Any one or two of the below would be enough.  Well, usually they would.  Moore's weapons are "soft" weapons and he probably needs like 3 of them to be true.

1.  King Felix (TM) Pitch Sequences get batters out.  You are an SSI Denizen and you know baseball; you don't need further documentation of this claim.

2.  The scouts swear up-and-down that Moore has a swing-and-miss changeup.  I didn't see that except once.  Topic for discussion, as it were.  This was the rookie Doug Fister:  move the fastball around, throw a parachute change.

3.  Moore had 4 clear, separate pitches.  Having four pitches, if they are really pitches, that is a separator.  Ryan Franklin had success for NO other reason.

4.  Moore commanded his offspeed pitches.  Orel Hershiser rule:  command one pitch compete, command two pitches win, command three pitches dominate.  Well, he commanded the slider; often he commanded the split; he didn't command his changeup.

5.  His pitch sequences are RANDOMIZED.  He's as likely to throw a slow curve on the hands as he is to throw a ladder fastball as he is to throw a split in the dirt, and any of them on the first pitch.  Mike Marshall Doctrine, 33-33-33 Throw Dice Before the Game.  No, honestly, gentlemen, this kid has the guts of a burglar and he will throw WHATEVER is not expected at the time.  You don't need ten starts to establish something like this.  It's an attitude, a mindset, and he has it.

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The next four count for one-half of a bullet point each.  Remember, if all these 9 things add to 2.5 or 3.0 things that Moore can actually do, then Andrew Moore is a big league pitcher.

6.  Andrew Moore had excellent "cut" on his pitches.    Here is the movement chart from Saturday.  Notice that the fastball rises and moves in on a lefty hitter, compared to the norm.  Any movement that is not "average" keeps the pitch from looking "straight." 

7.  Moore has a Tim Lincecum windup, super high front side, and throws with a remarkably vertical backspin (causing the cut gloveside, of course).  Excellent deception.  Also, scouts love overhand pitchers.

8.  Moore works very fast, with great confidence.  This is a classic scouting grade "Pitches with a lot of confidence," attacking the hitters and keeping them on their heels.

9.  They said Moore throws a slowball.  He actually threw 90-94 and had nice life.  Right about where Ryan Franklin was.

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ARSENAL

FASTBALL - cuts, has life, and we're here to tell you he can hit the mitt.

CHANGEUP - minus 8 MPH on his fastball and the scouts say it's really good.  Can't confirm.  The shape of the pitch was WEIRD on Saturday; it looked like a humpback power curve and it was usually up.  

SLIDER - 85 MPH, average-solid pitch and he was locating it.  Hisashi Iwakuma slider.  In fact Andrew Moore did many things similar to Iwakuma, and did them better.  Iwakuma couldn't have located like Moore did Saturday.  ('Kuma has the wipeout shuuto, the reliable ladder fastball and the MLB Wisdom (TM).

SPLITFINGER - Some sources call this a 78 MPH version of the changeup; Brooks classes it as a forkball.  It moved like a forkball.  The movement chart is linked.  Per the flight of the ball, Moore had four very distinct pitches, although we don't know if he grips the "split" differently.  Does it matter?

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IF WE HAD OUR DRUTHERS

Moore would have kept the changeup and splitfinger more consistently low, to break down out of the zone.  Maybe that would be the key to strikeouts; maybe it HAS BEEN the key to strikeouts.  Maybe that's the kind of refinement Dipoto will want to see at Tacoma.

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BEST BET?

If Moore's next three outings were just like Saturday's, and he got a 6.0K level of swings and misses, then he would be a Doug Fister class Best Bet.  Hey, it's three innings.  :- )  But guess what, LrKrBoi29.  We were specific about what we like here.  No?

Be Afraid,

Dr D