Seattle Sports Insider

Luke French Interview

Posted by

8/6/09

On Kevin Calabro, ESPN-710, about 3:20.

We loooooove Kevin's work, but he did start off the segment with an out-of-character rebuke for all the 'nerds' out there. He'd obviously read the 'net griping about his previous interviews and the minor league bus-work.

"Hey, Luke, sorry, the nerds could not care less about you as a person; they just want to hear about your pitches. So let me get the seamhead stuff out of the way first off.... "

LOL. Was expecting the "And don't even think about bringing that stuff in the paint on KIRO, you pencilnecks" finish. When Kevin goes off on somebody, you know he's torqued.

...............

I/O: French says that this year, with Detroit, he has been "going through a dead-arm phase" (that has lasted the whole year).

This dead-arm phase has had his fastball down to 84, 85 mph, and he can't quite understand it.

Wednesday, he did feel better, was able to get on top of the ball more, and throw a FB that "is more normal for me."

Crunch: Glad that he used to throw 88-89 and glad that he can still throw 88-89 for a few innings, if on long rest. But the above doesn't sound too rosy to me.

French says that he's, quote "anywhere from 85-91," which is a terrifying characterization for a pitcher to put on himself. That is what John Halama and Jorge Campillo would say.

But French is confident that he sits 88-89 and obviously doesn't see his own fastball as a problem. So that's interesting.

.................

I/O: French throws, according to him, in order:

Two-seam fastball
Four-seam fastball
Changeup "may be my best pitch"
Slider "just started throwing a year-and-a-half ago"

He does say that, even when he touches 91, "I'm more of a deception guy than somebody who will blow it by you."

Crunch: the good news is, maybe his slider will get even better. Against the M's it was terrific.

The bad news is, very possibly the AWOL slider on Wednesday is going to be AWOL a lot.

French's slider DOES have a nice run value on the year and, if he's encouraged to stick with it, it could be his meal ticket to a little productivity.

...................

I/O: French was "surprised" at "how good Rob Johnson is back there."

Per French, he's smart, he knows the hitters extremely well, and just gives a pitcher a feel that he knows what he's doing, can outsmart the hitters.

Surprised to be on the same page with Johnson as much as he was for a first game.

Crunch: Okey doke. :shrug:

....................

I/O: French saw Mauricio Robles in ST. He throws low-90's, mid-90's, yeah, pretty live arm ... when are we done with this interview? We're going on four minutes now.

Crunch: An ML pitcher on the cusp, isn't feeling real warm and fuzzy towards a young kid with an arm twenty times better than his. Fringe-O-Vision translation, yeah, Robles' arm stands out in a crowd.

.....................

I/O: Did you know you were going to the M's? No, but I was like, yeah, whatever.

Who'd you root for as a kid?

The Mariners. Yawn.

.....................

I/O: French couldn't seem to get off the phone with Calabro fast enough.

Crunch: For four minutes, French's personality reminded me a whale of a lot of John Halama's. FWIW. Maybe we'll get to see French blow bubbles on the backstroke out there too.

We report you decide,

Dr D

Comments

Wakamatsu on the pregame interview

Asked by "Hall of Famer Dave Neihaus!" what he liked about French Wednesday, Wok answered:
1. He likes French's personality :- ) (seriously, ROTFL)
2. He likes French's changeup
3. Adair needs to work with French on getting on top of the fastball more, which was Jarrod Washburn's secret to success in 2009
..................
In French's interview with Calabro, he was emphatic about getting on top of his FB more, so it's great to know that French is as coachable as that.

So with a dead arm French

So with a dead arm French still throws 4mph harder than Halama did. I'm ok with that.
A dead arm is a concern though.. you hope it doesn't linger. Washburn has dealt with that in his career multiple times though, so we hope its not a long-term thing.
If French's average velocity jumps to 88-89mph (where RRS averages), than things look MUCH better for him.

Good stuff. Its interesting

Good stuff.
Its interesting that French himself underrates his slider despite the fact that it blows his other pitches away run value-wise and he actually throws it twice as much as the changeup.

Definitely

Other things being equal, 88-89 is above the cutoff point, 86-87 below it, IMHO...
Wok said they'd get to work on achieving that 88-89, in effect...

French = 23 YO

You lose perspective sometimes, these kids playing, because the fact is they are very nearly KIDS. We're talking a few years past puberty in some cases. Here at my place of business there's a new 20 yo kid who came on board last week. And he's a smart, motivated guy, interested in doing a good job, etc. But man, the communication skills, the ability to evaluate a situation quickly, the recognition of how his actions impact other things... it is just flat not developed yet.
This is the first thing I thought when I heard French interviewed by Drayer on the post-game show the other night. A couple questions in, he lost interest, and started parroting platitudes that were'nt exactly relevant. He sounded like a young guy who was not exactly comfortable with a microphone stuck in his face talking to thousnads of people via a reporter.
My guess is, that even his Rob Johnson comment above was parroting something he heard the other pitchers say to him (Oh, you're going to like throwing to RJ...).
His comments about his FB, I would also chalk up to a youngster's lack of ability to self-analyze & self-evaluate.
At least that's my take, through the very narrow filter of that one interview I heard. From what you describe above, I take almost nothing from it, other than the factual comments about his repertoire.

On the Calabro tip, I absolutely love the guy. Some of my all-time favorite radio moments are courtesy of that man's wit, candor, and great voice. But for some reason I have been very disappointed in his radio host persona/schtick. I'm not sure why.

If he's routinely making comments like above...

...then I would not be Calabro's biggest fan either. Snide, obnoxious and condescending stuff like that doesn't do anything for me.

Don't think that's Calabro's MO

Those three adjectives sure don't seem to fit the man, from what little I know... My guess is it was just an attempt at humor, or more likely trying to put his interviewee at ease with some flippant comment, or trying to establish some comraderie. I've *never* picked up the snide or condescending vibe from from him. At all.

Definitely not his MO

It was more a mood like eye-rolling than real meanness or anything like that. Cala-bro' is as good-natured a guy as you'll find in that biz.

Doug Fister Up!

Doc...what do you know about Dougie? I know he's got outstanding control (100 walks in 400+ minor league innings) and a halfway decent minor league K rate (looks very similar to Chris Jakubauskas in that regard)...but I don't know what he throws. Anynone have a scouting report?