John Means 2021

[Aristotelian]

5 hours ago, wildcard said:

John Means one pitch better than HOFer Mike Mussina.

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/03/sports/baseball-mussina-misses-yankees-4th-perfect-game-by-one-pitch.html

One thing that I never expected is to see was Severino calling a no hit game.  But he did.  Means barely shook off Severino's calls all game.  Sevy is getting a lot of grief for not catching a catchable wild pitch but no one will ever take away that he called a no hitter.

He made some great calls too. The 3-2 changeups to get France in the 7th and Murphy in the 8th was nails! Great calls and execution. 

[yark14]

Means has allowed 3 or less hits in 9 of his last 12 starts going back to the end of last season...so he likely will be flirting with more no hitters if he stays this dominant.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, MurphDogg said:

Too bad they are going with a bullpen game on Saturday rather than keeping all the starters on regular rest.

Would love to see Means pitch on Monday at Camden Yards, but with the bullpen game he gets pushed to Tuesday at Citi Field.

So you don't think Sat will be a start by Lowther?

[rm5678]

2 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

Too bad they are going with a bullpen game on Saturday rather than keeping all the starters on regular rest.

Would love to see Means pitch on Monday at Camden Yards, but with the bullpen game he gets pushed to Tuesday at Citi Field.

Speaking of Citi Field, it will be fun to watch Matt Harvey pitch there next week.

[Il BuonO]

On 5/5/2021 at 5:52 PM, Frobby said:

So was the wild pitch a pitch that a good catcher would have blocked, or a truly wild pitch?

I re-played it a few times and Ben even commented it looked like Severino was surprised. I agree with that because PS was moving to his right, the opposite direction the ball was moving. Maybe he thought a CH was coming, but he looked crossed up. Either way, it’s a ball he could have caught or at least stopped and didn’t.

[Roll Tide]

Nice effort .... Hopefully Means has turned the corner for the final time.

[Il BuonO]

Maybe we should call him Business or Biz.

 

[BMann]

14 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

Too bad they are going with a bullpen game on Saturday rather than keeping all the starters on regular rest.

Would love to see Means pitch on Monday at Camden Yards, but with the bullpen game he gets pushed to Tuesday at Citi Field.

That stinks. I have tickets for Monday night and was really looking forward to being there when Means ties Vander Meer.

[JimGinSP]

16 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

It is one of the dumbest rules in sports.

You still get credit for a K but it’s not actually an out.  Stupid.

It has to do with what can happen once a batter reaches first base.  For example if Haggerty had been successful stealing second,  another wild pitch, passed ball or balk could have advanced him to third and a sac fly could then score him.  
You are basically saying Means should regain perfection because Haggerty was thrown out attempting to steal which in turn limited the number of plate appearances to 27.

Certainly as Orioles fans we have the right to say “haaayy, that should be perfect!”,  but a perfect game is like virginity,  a runner reaching first base is the equivalent of reaching home plate if you know what I mean. 

[Frobby]

21 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

John Means Tested the Limits of What a No-Hitter Could Be

 

Some other good stuff in this article:

In an era where Devin Williams is throwing changeups that move like a screwball and Trevor Bauer attempted to design a changeup to mirror the movement of his slider, Means’s straight changeup is a nice change of pace. He doesn’t get a ton of fade with the pitch and it doesn’t fall off the table either. He simply throws it with the same arm action as his fastball, only it comes in 10 miles per hour slower. “Honestly, I don’t get a whole lot of action on my changeup,” he told David Laurila in 2019. “Hitters just swing so far ahead of it that it doesn’t really matter.”

He struggled with his changeup last year, which was likely related to his velocity spike he saw across his arsenal in 2020. He had spent much of the spring lockdown working on his mechanics to generate additional velocity out of his fastball but that work had some other negative knock-on effects on his changeup; he added two ticks to his heater but four to his changeup. That diminished the elite velocity differential that had made his changeup so effective in 2019. The whiff rate on the pitch dropped to 23.4% and opposing batters produced a .349 wOBA off of it.

This year, his fastball velocity has taken a slight step back, averaging 92.5 mph but still harder than it was when he debuted in the majors. His changeup’s average velocity, meanwhile, has dropped back down to 82.8 mph, faster than it was in 2019, but regaining the velocity differential he had enjoyed that year. And with that differential intact again, the results have followed. He’s allowed just .167 wOBA off the pitch and it’s whiff rate is a career-high 37.4%.

* * *
 

Going back to mid-September of 2020, he’s put together a stretch of 11 starts where he’s allowed more than two runs just once. With his fastball and changeup playing well off of each other again, he’s elevated himself into a key member of the Orioles rebuilding efforts and the leader of their pitching staff. His performance on Wednesday was a master class in keeping batters off balance and a moment of brilliance for a pitcher coming into his own, perfect or not.

 

[Moose Milligan]

I've long had a theory that the start directly after a no-hitter/perfect game usually isn't good.  Don't know where to find information on that but I hope Means can buck that trend (if that trend is really real).  

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I've long had a theory that the start directly after a no-hitter/perfect game usually isn't good.  Don't know where to find information on that but I hope Means can buck that trend (if that trend is really real).  

Johnny Vander Meer says hi!

Heres a too-long article on how pitchers do in the game before an after their no hitters.   Or, I’ll save you the trouble of reading it: the average outcome of those games is pretty much the same as the average outcome of all games for those pitchers.   So, a pitcher isn’t likely to be particularly better or worse than their average performance the next time out.  

https://www.google.com/amp/s/prestonjg.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/looking-at-pitchers-performances-before-and-after-a-no-hitter/amp/
 

[NCRaven]

Jim Palmer had a great quote in a New York Times article about Means no-hitter.  To paraphrase:  From now on, every time John Means takes the mound, he knows he can go nine innings, he knows he can shut a team out, he knows he's capable of pitching a no-hitter.  Even if he never quite does it again, he can have confidence in his ability knowing that he's done it before.  

[Gurgi]

There is no monetary reasons to move Means but that does not mean in a rebuild he wont get moved.  If the plan is to milk the high draft picks by sucking for a few more years Means being a true ace and dominating every fifth day will act as a giant parachute behind the team pulling us up towards .500.  

What could we get for him now?  I am kind of curious if we could not move him and take some teams entire heart out of their minor league system.   Because on paper he has to be worth more than Bedard because he is cheaper and has more years left of control and has no mental issues like Bedard had.  Means also does not come with prior Tommy John issues.  If Means keeps up this pace of Ace pitching would you be tempted to do a mega deal if some team gave up the farm?

[LA2]

16 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Jim Palmer had a great quote in a New York Times article about Means no-hitter.  To paraphrase:  From now on, every time John Means takes the mound, he knows he can go nine innings, he knows he can shut a team out, he knows he's capable of pitching a no-hitter.  Even if he never quite does it again, he can have confidence in his ability knowing that he's done it before.  

Here's the link (a Mets fan sent it to me--he loves Means' pitching and background story):

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/sports/baseball/john-means-no-hitter.html