Kevin Gausman Today, 2013

[Art Wing]

I would like to see a lot more change-ups during his next start.

[SoBo]

There are some tough graders in this group. I'm impressed as all get out by Gausman tonight. I think if Jake made this start people would be fine with it.

[JustMyOpinion]

Didn't know he threw that hard, consistently between 95-99 mph. Otherwise was pretty impressed.

[Tbone83]

I was modestly impressed. Threw hard, threw strikes, worked fast. Has to locate better, though. I see potential.

[backwardsk]

Didn't know he threw that hard, consistently between 95-99 mph. Otherwise was pretty impressed.

Doesn't seem like he throws that hard. He has a nice fluid motion. Repeatable mechanics.

[DrungoHazewood]

If Arrieta or Garcia made the exact same start, there would be calls to get him outta the rotation.

If Arrieta or Garcia was sitting at 96 and touching 99 with good secondaries we'd assume that they'd undergone some kind of Steve Austin Million Dollar Man robot surgery, and the debate wouldn't be to get him out of the rotation, but whether or not it was fair to have a cyborg pitching for us.

[DrungoHazewood]

I was modestly impressed. Threw hard, threw strikes, worked fast. Has to locate better, though. I see potential.

Yea, I reserve "really impressed" for a kid who has apocryphal Dalkowski velocity (105-ish) with an easy, mechanically sound delivery, precisely locatable secondaries, and impeccible command even in his debut.

[Orioles0615]

If Arrieta or Garcia made the exact same start, there would be calls to get him outta the rotation.

Quality logic right there :rolleyestf:

[Going Underground]

Works fast and throws hard. Nice poise. Reminds me of Max Scherzer. We shall see what happens. One game means nothing. Three of the balls caught on the warning track would have been homers in Camden Yards. The Nats should be a little easier then the Jays.

[Frobby]

I was unable to get home in time to see Gausman pitch, but recorded the game so I could watch his innings some time this weekend. In the meantime, I offer these observations:

- Per fangraphs, his fastball averaged 96.5 mph, while his slider averaged 83.3 and his changeup 83.5. That differential is very impressive, and in the long term, bodes well.

- 89 pitches in 5 innings is a pretty nice pace for his first start, and a 58-31 ball/strike ration is also very solid for a first start. Only 2 walks in 5 IP also very acceptable for a first outing.

- Gausman didn't induce many swings and misses. His 90.7% contact rate on pitches in the strike zone would be in the bottom (worst) 20% among qualified MLB starters. It's kind of surprising he didn't induce more swings and misses considering his high velocity and great differential with his secondaries.

But if you'd like to see his swings and misses, here they are.

http://www.fangraphs.com/not/video-kevin-gausmans-swinging-strikes-set-to-van-halen/

[Don_Aase_Fan]

His line notwithstanding, I came away very impressed with the young man. Worked fast, had an easy, fluid and repeatable delivery and displayed plus offerings. The tailing changeup that K'd Lind in the 1st was pretty jaw-dropping after all those upper 90 fastballs. His fastball seemed to get a little flat towards the end, and he paid the price for working up in the zone, but overall I can't wait to see him pitch again.

[crowmst3k!]

I don't see what Gausman could learn from staying at Bowie. His stuff will play here, he just needs to know how to pitch to the more patient and selective MLB hitter.

His fastball is disgusting, and once he can handle consistently locating it, he'll be terrific.

His change is a plus plus pitch, and almost has curveball break. A churveball? A curve-up? That will be his out pitch, and it reminded me of Greinke's.

It will suit him well to develop another pitch...a slow curve, something that sits in the low 70's that he can throw for strikes. Hitters should be way out in front of something that bends in at 74 after seeing a 97mph fastball.

[TradeAngelos]

Love the way this kid works. Doesn't waste any time and attacks the zone. He will be fine, he has the stuff.

I agree that that slow curve is about the only thing he is missing, maybe he can develop that over time. Either way he is already better than anything else we can trot out there right now.

[webbrick2010]

I sure don't think Wieters helped him out much.

When I saw him setting up inside on Arencibia I was throwing the remote at the TV even before he launched the two run HR.

With a 97 mph fastball and supposedly good command he just needed to pound the strikezone down and away.

Wieters and the Orioles often try to get too cute. Too many changeups, too many curve balls early in the count... and then they get behind and give up the HR. The O's staff is near the bottom in BB' and HRs allowed.... I think they need to pound the strikezone with fastballs and shelve the secondaries.

[webbrick2010]

Go look at it again. Wieters set up outside and Gausman missed location and the ball drifted back over the inside half. I think Wieters falls into a rut with the fastball. You need to move it in and out and he calls for a lot of outside fastballs. They had Lind 0-2 on two outside fastballs. The third one got spanked into LF. You probably catch him looking with one on the inside half. As for Arencibia, he hit something offspeed his first time up and hit the fastball his second time up. Just saw on the MASN blog that the Jays are averaging 6.4 runs per game over their last ten. They are a good offensive club and swinging well right now. Gausman made a couple of mistakes and paid for it.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_05_23_balmlb_tormlb_1&mode=video

Thanks I looked at it again... Wieters attempted to set up outside although he wasn't even set by the time Gausman was releasing the ball. Gausman really works fast.

A terrible pitch to exactly the wrong hitter.

Thanks I looked at it again... Wieters attempted to set up outside although he wasn't even set by the time Gausman was releasing the ball. Gausman really works fast.

A terrible pitch to exactly the wrong hitter.