Brenan Hanifee 2019

[Frobby]

After a rough beginning to his season, Brenan Hanifee got on track tonight, 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s.    He got through 5 IP in a tidy 72 pitches.    I thought they might let him go 6, but no.

[Frobby]

Hanifee pitched 5 shutout innings tonight, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K’s.   Second consecutive 5 inning shutout for him.    He escaped some jams tonight with 2 errors (one of which was his own) in addition to the 7 H+BB.

[WalkWithElias]

It's nice to see the shutouts, but I'm concerned about the BB:K ratio. On the season he's walked more than he's struck out. That tells me he's nibbling and not trusting his stuff. The game where he only walked 1 batter, he also gave up 10 hits in 4 innings. He's still very young for Frederick, not turning 21 until later this month. 

[Luke-OH]

21 minutes ago, WalkWithElias said:

It's nice to see the shutouts, but I'm concerned about the BB:K ratio. On the season he's walked more than he's struck out. That tells me he's nibbling and not trusting his stuff. The game where he only walked 1 batter, he also gave up 10 hits in 4 innings. He's still very young for Frederick, not turning 21 until later this month. 

He was all over the place the game I watched, not at all like the looks I got last year or 2017. I don’t know if he made an adjustment and can’t find the feel yet or what. 

[Frobby]

Hanifee was used in relief yesterday and took the loss, allowing a single and a walk-off homer to begin his third inning of work.    To that point, he had pitched well, yielding only one walk in two innings.

[Frobby]

A bad outing for Hanifee tonight, lasting only 2.2 innings and allowing 5 runs, 3 earned.   He only allowed 3 hits but also walked two and hit two.   All but two of the baserunners came in the third inning.    Hanifee really hasn’t seemed himself this year from a command standpoint.   

[Frobby]

Hanifee had his 4th straight good outing today, 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K’s.    In his last four games, he’s thrown 23.2 innings and allowed 4 earned runs.    Good to see him returning to form.   His ERA is at 4.15, getting closer to decent.

[TheDeau52]

Saw he did well pitching last night. Hope he keeps it rolling.

[cboemmeljr]

57 minutes ago, TheDeau52 said:

Saw he did well pitching last night. Hope he keeps it rolling.

Sadly, his Quality Start was wasted:

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HRA	Outs	BF	NP	ERA
Brenan Hanifee	7.0	7	2	2	0	6	0	21	26	87	4.89

[Frobby]

Nice to see him go 7 innings.    This hasn’t been a great year for Hanifee but I still think he’s a solid prospect.    

[TheDeau52]

33 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Nice to see him go 7 innings.    This hasn’t been a great year for Hanifee but I still think he’s a solid prospect.    

Agreed, and he's still 21 at high-A. He's got plenty of time to continue developing.

[Luke-OH]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

Nice to see him go 7 innings.    This hasn’t been a great year for Hanifee but I still think he’s a solid prospect.    

I finally got around to watching some recent 2019 video of Hanifee, the struggles with walks immediately made a lot of sense. They are having him throw his changeup a lot. And he has no idea where it's going. I went to the LH vs RH splits to confirm and yep, his 2019 walk rate versus LHB is about double his rate vs RHB, despite being practically even last year. 

The main thing that's disappointing to me about Hanifee is that he hasn't gained any velocity as he's filled out his frame. He's 90-93 still. He has time and the physicality to throw harder if he could get more separation, but he's looking more like he's headed to a relief role eventually. 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Luke-OH said:

I finally got around to watching some recent 2019 video of Hanifee, the struggles with walks immediately made a lot of sense. They are having him throw his changeup a lot. And he has no idea where it's going. I went to the LH vs RH splits to confirm and yep, his 2019 walk rate versus LHB is about double his rate vs RHB, despite being practically even last year. 

It seems like Chris Holt & Co. are really focused on getting pitchers to be comfortable throwing their third best pitch, even in key situations or counts.    And if that means the results for guys like Akin, Hanifee and Hall suffer for a while, so be it.    

[Luke-OH]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

It seems like Chris Holt & Co. are really focused on getting pitchers to be comfortable throwing their third best pitch, even in key situations or counts.    And if that means the results for guys like Akin, Hanifee and Hall suffer for a while, so be it.    

I don't think it's as much their third best pitch as the best non-fastball pitch for the handedness of the batter. The idea being that non-fastballs have better outcomes than fastballs and the main limiting factor as to how much you throw a non-fastball is your ability to locate it. More practice hopefully equaling better control of the pitch going forward at the cost of falling behind or walking guys in present day. 

[LookinUp]

17 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

I don't think it's as much their third best pitch as the best non-fastball pitch for the handedness of the batter. The idea being that non-fastballs have better outcomes than fastballs and the main limiting factor as to how much you throw a non-fastball is your ability to locate it. More practice hopefully equaling better control of the pitch going forward at the cost of falling behind or walking guys in present day. 

Luke, I think I learn something new with every one of your posts. There's so much to learn with how this new regime is handling things. It's awesome that you're able to understand what's happening in this organization right now. 

Here's what I think is a hard question. Do you have any idea if they're focusing on different things at different levels? I'm specifically wondering about the pitching differences between Delmarva and Frederick. I get the general sense that in Delmarva they might be establishing fastballs and changing eye levels, whereas in Frederick (and I assume above) you're seeing more of the work with secondaries.