Kevin Gausman 2017

[Frobby]

I thought Kevin Gausman's stuff was impressive today, even if his command wasn't.    His breaking stuff is much improved and I think he'll have a big year.    It's a bit disappointing he only went 5.1 innings, but don't forget that the first "hit" of the game was a lazy fly ball that Smith probably should have caught, and the second "hit" was a ball that Schoop booted.   Also, in the inning where Gausman walked in a run, I thought the ump blew at least two strike calls and arguably three on the lead off batter.    So, with a couple of breaks he easily could have gone 6+.    Very satisfactory outing for Opening Day so far as I'm concerned.  

[Drifter]

I was very happy with his performance today.

This was KG's 1st OD game. I'm sure he was pumped.. and sometimes TOO pumped. He'll be okay.

From here on out, it's on him... (and sometimes the umps).

[MDtransplant757]

His stuff was working well, until the 5th. 

[Ripken]

He got no help from the umpire.

[sportsfan8703]

Gausman looks like he'd be a 20 game winner if he didn't have to face AL East tough lineups. The blue jays really made him work in the 5th. If we had the same approach we could have knocked Estrada out early. 

[Cumberbundy]

If Gausman has this kind of stuff all year he will finish top 5 in the cy young voting. He had prime years Felix Hernandez stuff, that's who he has the potential to become, though in far less friendly venues. 

[JohnD]

After being a vocal critic of Gausman and his future potential before last year, I really really think he's going to blow up big this year.  It'll be needed too, because I have little faith in Tillman's shoulder holding up to the point he is what he was first half of last year or at other times in recent years.  By July Gausman will be our clear cut number one guy.

[wildcard]

I really think Kevin only gave up one run.  He left with one out in the 5th and a run on first.   Givens allowed that runner to score and it was charged to Kevin.   Had there been better relief pitching Kevin would only have allowed one.  

[joeyc]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

I thought Kevin Gausman's stuff was impressive today, even if his command wasn't.    His breaking stuff is much improved and I think he'll have a big year.    It's a bit disappointing he only went 5.1 innings, but don't forget that the first "hit" of the game was a lazy fly ball that Smith probably should have caught, and the second "hit" was a ball that Schoop booted.   Also, in the inning where Gausman walked in a run, I thought the ump blew at least two strike calls and arguably three on the lead off batter.    So, with a couple of breaks he easily could have gone 6+.    Very satisfactory outing for Opening Day so far as I'm concerned.  

He is never going to be a stud going 3 balls on every batter. That is why he can't make it past 5 innings. If he would just throw the flippin ball over the plate he would be much better. He has consistently gone 3 balls on almost every batter he faces, since he's been in the Majors. The starters on this team have to learn to pitch to contact. We cannot win consistently if the starters are only going to go 5 innings all of the time. The pen will be exhausted by July.

[Can_of_corn]

14 minutes ago, joeyc said:

He is never going to be a stud going 3 balls on every batter. That is why he can't make it past 5 innings. If he would just throw the flippin ball over the plate he would be much better. He has consistently gone 3 balls on almost every batter he faces, since he's been in the Majors. The starters on this team have to learn to pitch to contact. We cannot win consistently if the starters are only going to go 5 innings all of the time. The pen will be exhausted by July.

You do know that Gausman gave up 28 home runs last year right?  That was tied for 16th in the league.

And you want him to just center cut pitches?

Unless you have the ability to induce soft contact you are much better off missing bats than trying to hit them.

[Moose Milligan]

I guess I saw a different pitcher yesterday than the one you guys were looking at.  I saw a guy who had 100 pitches through 5 plus innings and was largely inefficient throughout the game, save for one inning.

Pure stuff will never be an issue for him, there's no debating that.  

[Frobby]

21 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I guess I saw a different pitcher yesterday than the one you guys were looking at.  I saw a guy who had 100 pitches through 5 plus innings and was largely inefficient throughout the game, save for one inning.

No, you saw the same pitcher I saw.    But I'd cut him some slack on Opening Day, when his command was just so-so.     

[Frobby]

10 hours ago, Frobby said:

   Also, in the inning where Gausman walked in a run, I thought the ump blew at least two strike calls and arguably three on the lead off batter.  

Here's BrooksBaseball's chart of the at bat:

 

[Aristotelian]

I only caught the highlights after getting off work, but he had some nasty movement unlike anything I have seen from him previously. He had the high 4-seam at 99 but he was also throwing another FB darting down and in to RHB at 94. I noticed over his career some of his best radar gun performances don't get the best results. I really like him in the 94-95 range and even more so if he can keep the ball moving like that.

[Frobby]

I just noticed something really weird.   On my laptop, the pitch on the bottom left is just above the black strike zone border.   On my mobile phone, that same pitch is shown as just below the border.