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Gausman Wasn't Ready, Now What?


Rene88

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You know his first two starts look just like Verlander's when he came up.

Halladay did not exactly light the world on fire either. Point is that lots of young pitchers struggle initially. There are also guys who come up are lights out their first start or two and amount to nothing.

Gausman is for the first time in his career facing hitters who he can not simply throw the ball by on a consistent basis. Its an adjustment and one that I think he has the stuff to overcome. Patience is a key. If he is still struggling after another start or two then it's prob time to send him back down and have him work with Peterson to fine tune what needs to be fine tuned.

I am cautiously optimistic. The talent is there and from everything I hear the kid is willing and able to accept coaching. Its way to early to say he will not be the Ace that we all hope he will be and its to certainly to soon to say he will.

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But folks on this board said the Orioles had staff in place to evaluate these players and the consensus was that he was, in fact, ready.

Some did, some didn't. We should have done a poll! I was on record as saying I wouldn't have done it, but that I was still excited to see the kid. Now that I've seen him (live from the third row last night), I really don't think he's ready. There's something about his delivery where the batters are picking up his fastball too well. And his command isn't major league ready, either. I'm not looking forward to seeing him pitch to Cabrera and Fielder.

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I'm fine with throwing him out there a few more starts... its not like the other options really give us a much better chance to win. Let the kid learn by fire, and it could make him a better pitcher in the end. Being down in AA where his pure stuff is enough to get guys out won't make him learn to pitch better.

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I think we are declaring Gausman "not ready" a little too soon. He wasn't terrible against a very hot hitting Toronto team. He had 5 K's in 5 innings in that game. Last night he was terrible. He knows he has to be down in the zone. When he was in the 2nd and 3rd innings he looked very good. He got whacked around even at Bowie in the beginning of the season. I don't think it's a reach that Gausman adjusts, keeps the ball down against Detroit, and steadies the ship.

2 swings and misses in 66 pitches, only one on a fastball. Even last game, he only got 7 swinging strikes, not very many for a guy who thows 97 mph with a killer 82-83 mph changeup. He's just not polished enough yet. I'd be much happier if he had a normal professional progression and first dominated AA for a period of time and then honed things further in AAA.

Just to put that 2 swing and miss number into perspective, Hammel made the Nats swing and miss 14 times on Monday against the exact same lineup.

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I would give him his next start, and then send him down of he needs it. It's not the end of the world. The Rays, who are one of the best organizations in baseball at developing pitchers, frequently take this approach. ( See Archer, Odrizzi, Davis).

The key is that there has to be enough data at the major league level to send back with Gausman. You need to know if there is something you need to work on, or if its a one start blip.

Also keep in mind, I believe Snyder caught his first game. The elevated balls could just be a product of throwing to a bigger catcher. If that is the case, I definitely want to see him get one more start with Wieters behind the plate.

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Man I'm really tired of hearing "he needs to keep the ball down"

He has a 97 mph fastball and he has to keep the ball down???

Strasburgh doesn't have to keep the ball down

Verlander doesn't have to keep the ball down.

Hell even Chen doesn't have to keep the ball down

With a 97 mph fastball he should be able to at least occasionally throw his fastball by people.

But you are all correct Kevin Gausman can't pitch above knee high with his over hyped 97 mph fastball.

What the hell does this say about the O's scouts. Is there knowledge of pitching relegated to reading a radar gun.

There has to be real baseball scouts that saw a 97 mph fastball with little or no movement and a delivery with no deception and realized that he wasn't a top 5 pick.

If Gausman's fastball is this bad a pitch then he will never be our long sought after TOR pitcher.

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It seems like his "problem" is best fixed in the majors. In the minors, he will be able to just throw the ball past hitters, which won't solve anything. Regardless, if Gausman does get sent down, I want Steve Johnson starting.

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Gausman is fine, and can help now. He'll need a little handholding as he adjusts to attacking major league lineups, but that's why Wieters is there. I would be curious to see catcher views of his various pitches to see if he is tipping; otherwise, the stuff is plenty good to get out MLB hitters right now.

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Gausman is fine, and can help now. He'll need a little handholding as he adjusts to attacking major league lineups, but that's why Wieters is there. I would be curious to see catcher views of his various pitches to see if he is tipping; otherwise, the stuff is plenty good to get out MLB hitters right now.

It wouldn't surprise me if he's tipping his pitches. That's a pretty light hitting Nats lineup and he was giving up hard hits to Denard Span and Roger Bernadina.

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Man I'm really tired of hearing "he needs to keep the ball down"

He has a 97 mph fastball and he has to keep the ball down???

Strasburgh doesn't have to keep the ball down

Verlander doesn't have to keep the ball down.

Hell even Chen doesn't have to keep the ball down

With a 97 mph fastball he should be able to at least occasionally throw his fastball by people.

But you are all correct Kevin Gausman can't pitch above knee high with his over hyped 97 mph fastball.

What the hell does this say about the O's scouts. Is there knowledge of pitching relegated to reading a radar gun.

There has to be real baseball scouts that saw a 97 mph fastball with little or no movement and a delivery with no deception and realized that he wasn't a top 5 pick.

If Gausman's fastball is this bad a pitch then he will never be our long sought after TOR pitcher.

When Strasburg or Verlander throw 97 MPH fastballs right down Broadway, they wind up as souvenirs. One reason that they are superstar pitchers is that they don't miss in the middle of the plate very often.

Gausman's stuff is plenty good enough. But he has to learn to locate much better. Chris Tillman had the same problem when he first came up.

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Man I'm really tired of hearing "he needs to keep the ball down"

He has a 97 mph fastball and he has to keep the ball down???

Strasburgh doesn't have to keep the ball down

Verlander doesn't have to keep the ball down.

Hell even Chen doesn't have to keep the ball down

With a 97 mph fastball he should be able to at least occasionally throw his fastball by people.

But you are all correct Kevin Gausman can't pitch above knee high with his over hyped 97 mph fastball.

What the hell does this say about the O's scouts. Is there knowledge of pitching relegated to reading a radar gun.

There has to be real baseball scouts that saw a 97 mph fastball with little or no movement and a delivery with no deception and realized that he wasn't a top 5 pick.

If Gausman's fastball is this bad a pitch then he will never be our long sought after TOR pitcher.

This is a ridiculous post. Yeah it was the Orioles scouts that hyped Gausman. There wasn't a consensus about him from all of baseball. Your act verges on ancient.

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I know that the pitch track it neveer the best way to check location of the pitch but i think this shows why he struggled.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/live/MLB_20130528_BAL@WAS

You can scroll pitching and look at Gausman vs each hitter. Almost every pitch put in play was right down the center in the lower half of the plate. The balls were all on the outsides and never would have had the hitters worried as they started out balls and stayed there. I count 12 of the 20 balls far outside the zone to the lefties. When you throw 97 you don't have to have pinpoint control but you have to be close to the corners or even off the edges. He needs to be more out of the middle of the plate and then when he is throwing balls atleast something that a hitter might bite on not just sailed high and away.

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