Tanner Scott - breakout candidate?

[HowAboutThat]

3 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

His minor league strike-throwing numbers have steadily improved. 

His performance against AAA bats in 2019 points the finger more at fastball quality vs strikethrowing ability.

Of course, better command would help him a lot, but that's something he has never had.

A better fastball is something that he absolutely, provably had. 

I’m not disagreeing with any of that, and I’m on very thin ice with the subject because I don’t know what his problem is anyway, but the problem to me seems that regardless of his success(whatever caused it) in the minors, at the major-league level he remains so unsuccessful(whatever is causing it) that his entire career is in jeopardy.

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[Luke-OH]

11 minutes ago, Philip said:

I’m not disagreeing with any of that, and I’m on very thin ice with the subject because I don’t know what his problem is anyway, but the problem to me seems that regardless of his success(whatever caused it) in the minors, at the major-league level he remains so unsuccessful(whatever is causing it) that his entire career is in jeopardy.

 

You are raising perfectly reasonable points, but while MLB competition level is obviously tougher, there isn't a magic barrier between AAA success and MLB success, if it plays in one and not in another, there is a reason for it.

My thread was attempting to determine at least part of the reason for it. I know it's a results based game, but I think it's really premature to write off someone with an elite pitch (the slider) and good MLB peripherals going into their age 25 season, regardless of anything else. That said, the slider usage and the potential to regain the fastball movement from 2016-2017 (with a relatively simple adjustment) gives reasons to be even more optimistic than that. 

[sportsfan8703]

I’ve been down on Tanner Scott ever since Hyde pitched Stevie Wilkerson in a save situation over him. 

[sportsfan8703]

Just finished the 10 part thread. I didn’t realize he spent that much time in the minors. We were pitching starved to say the least. Did he fall out of favor with the coaching staff?  Was he working on things?  

@Luke-OH Could he have changed his fb just out of desperation to throw more strikes?  

[Luke-OH]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Just finished the 10 part thread. I didn’t realize he spent that much time in the minors. We were pitching starved to say the least. Did he fall out of favor with the coaching staff?  Was he working on things?  

@Luke-OH Could he have changed his fb just out of desperation to throw more strikes?  

When he came back up, he upped his slider usage, which got strong results.

It's possible that he changed the fastball to try and throw more strikes, but I doubt he intentionally cut it to do so. He does seem to have a lower effort delivery than back in 2016-2017, so perhaps by easing up on the intent, he also didn't pronate as forcefully, causing the cut. That could be fixed without increasing effort (assuming he can throw strikes high effort).

[sportsfan8703]

13 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

When he came back up, he upped his slider usage, which got strong results.

It's possible that he changed the fastball to try and throw more strikes, but I doubt he intentionally cut it to do so. He does seem to have a lower effort delivery than back in 2016-2017, so perhaps by easing up on the intent, he also didn't pronate as forcefully, causing the cut. That could be fixed without increasing effort (assuming he can throw strikes high effort).

What worries me is that it sounds like he was trying to guide the pitch for survival and he’s only got the one option left now. At this point he could try and change his fastball back and blow up and never collect MLB paychecks. 

[Frobby]

10 hours ago, Philip said:

Far be it from me to disagree, so please don’t think I am, just asking for clarification: Scott’s performance was against AAA bats, who are less likely to take advantage of a mistake pitch in the zone, and his MiLB numbers are pretty good overall which seems to indicate he hasn’t been able to succeed against good hitters.

I’m curious what Tony, Luke and others who watch a lot of minor league ball have to say about the bolded part.    It seems to me major league hitters could be better than minor league hitters because:

1.    They are more likely to mash mistake pitches.

2.   They are more likely to handle pitches that aren’t mistakes.    

3.    Both.

Obviously, to some degree, the answer has to be “both.”    But I’d venture a guess that by far the bigger factor of the first two is the ability to handle pitches that are not mistakes, and that there isn’t that much difference in the ability to mash mistakes.   
 

[Just Regular]

Learning about the increased Slider % on his return just makes me think of Lance McCullers saving Game 7 of the ALCS with nearly 100% curveballs.  I don't think we're anywhere close yet to how far teams are going to go with having pitchers park their bad fastballs, and Scott could be an interesting guy to watch in this respect.

[interloper]

I hope they give him a full year in the 'pen. No reason not to. But if Chris Holt and company can't fix the fastball over the course of this upcoming season, I'm not sure anyone can. We will see!

[Tony-OH]

One of thing to consider is that according to a source, Scott has a blood circulation problem in his hands that leaves them very cold and sometimes tingly like when your hand falls asleep. There are some that think this is the reason his command can be so bad at times.

So while the talent has always been there, the question has always be can he consistently command the baseball enough to be counted on in big moments. So far the answer has been a resounding no, despite the obvious talent he possesses including a slider that can be double plus at times.

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I’m curious what Tony, Luke and others who watch a lot of minor league ball have to say about the bolded part.    It seems to me major league hitters could be better than minor league hitters because:

1.    They are more likely to mash mistake pitches.

2.   They are more likely to handle pitches that aren’t mistakes.    

3.    Both.

Obviously, to some degree, the answer has to be “both.”    But I’d venture a guess that by far the bigger factor of the first two is the ability to handle pitches that are not mistakes, and that there isn’t that much difference in the ability to mash mistakes.   
 

I don't know that I would agree that there is a blanket answer to this question. I'd go with it depends on the hitter. There are lots of difference reasons why some hitters can only hit effectively up to the AAA level. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

One of thing to consider is that according to a source, Scott has a blood circulation problem in his hands that leaves them very cold and sometimes tingly like when your hand falls asleep. There are some that think this is the reason his command can be so bad at times.

So while the talent has always been there, the question has always be can he consistently command the baseball enough to be counted on in big moments. So far the answer has been a resounding no, despite the obvious talent he possesses including a slider that can be double plus at times.

That would explain a lot about Scott's inconsistency. 

[sportsfan8703]

18 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

That would explain a lot about Scott's inconsistency. 

A good nugget of info, that has to be tough on Scott. We all saw how Peyton Manning lost that tight spiral because of numbness in his fingers. 

Scott literally doesn’t have a feel for his pitches. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

A good nugget of info, that has to be tough on Scott. We all saw how Peyton Manning lost that tight spiral because of numbness in his fingers. 

Scott literally doesn’t have a feel for his pitches. 

I didn't see it, but I'll take your word for it.