Lowther shows signs of life

[Frobby]

5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K’s.  Congrats to Lowther on his first major league win.  

[RZNJ]

Now we need Alex Wells to join the party.  Impressive showing by Lowther.  These guys needed some starts against lesser teams.

[wildcard]

Hey, Its the Rangers.  Or more importantly its not the Jays, Rays, Yankees or Red Sox.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

[waynebug]

Credited with 14 swings and misses.

Wonder when did the Pod People assume he and Hays body ?

[Camden_yardbird]

This organization has been terrible at preparing pitchers for that transition from the minors to the pros.  At the same time, we can't expect every player to come up and produce right away.

Its good to see Lowther have a good start and be in a position to succeed.

[emmett16]

The curve ball was a real weapon for him last night.  

[RZNJ]

8 hours ago, wildcard said:

Hey, Its the Rangers.  Or more importantly its not the Jays, Rays, Yankees or Red Sox.

Maybe getting some confidence against teams like the Rangers will help him against teams like the Yankees.

[Tony-OH]

As I said in another thread, Lowther needed to use his slider and curveball more instead of his change (which is below average) and sure enough, that's exactly what he did. 

In last night's start Lowther threw:

4-Seam Fastball    48    51%
Curveball                19    20%
Slider                      17    18%
Changeup               10    11%

This is the Lowther I've seen in year's past working the fastball up and the breaking balls down and in on righties and low and away from lefties. It's worth noting that his spin rates were up on fastball and curve last night.

Here's his curveball in action missing bats:
https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/curveball-swinging-miss-lowther-vs-texas

Here's his Fastball getting swings and misses: 
https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/lowther-swing-and-miss-fastball-vs-texas
 

The Slider didn't get any WHIFF but he threw it to all quadrants and didn't get any hard contact.

https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/lowther-s-slider-vs-texas

 

[Moose Milligan]

16 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

As I said in another thread, Lowther needed to use his slider and curveball more instead of his change (which is below average) and sure enough, that's exactly what he did. 

In last night's start Lowther threw:

4-Seam Fastball    48    51%
Curveball                19    20%
Slider                      17    18%
Changeup               10    11%

This is the Lowther I've seen in year's past working the fastball up and the breaking balls down and in on righties and low and away from lefties. It's worth noting that his spin rates were up on fastball and curve last night.

Here's his curveball in action missing bats:
https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/curveball-swinging-miss-lowther-vs-texas

Here's his Fastball getting swings and misses: 
https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/lowther-swing-and-miss-fastball-vs-texas
 

The Slider didn't get any WHIFF but he threw it to all quadrants and didn't get any hard contact.

https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/lowther-s-slider-vs-texas

 

Good diagnosis.  That's not an ML fastball from a velocity perspective.  I hope he's learned to attack more with the curve and the slider.  

[Ruzious]

15 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Good diagnosis.  That's not an ML fastball from a velocity perspective.  I hope he's learned to attack more with the curve and the slider.  

One surprising thing in the link Tony provided on the fastball swings and misses (and there were a lot), was Lowther hit 93 on one of them - though all the others were 90 or 91.  And I think the point Tony was making about his fastball is that it works within Lowther's arsenal - primarily with his high fastball complementing his low breaking balls.  And when he's got the spin rates going like he did, his fastball is effective.   It's certainly better than Alex Wells'.  Maybe it's the glasses.   

[Tony-OH]

57 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Good diagnosis.  That's not an ML fastball from a velocity perspective.  I hope he's learned to attack more with the curve and the slider.  

 

32 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

One surprising thing in the link Tony provided on the fastball swings and misses (and there were a lot), was Lowther hit 93 on one of them - though all the others were 90 or 91.  And I think the point Tony was making about his fastball is that it works within Lowther's arsenal - primarily with his high fastball complementing his low breaking balls.  And when he's got the spin rates going like he did, his fastball is effective.   It's certainly better than Alex Wells'.  Maybe it's the glasses.   

Two things to remember is that Lowther has 7.0 extension on his fastball and he gets 12 inches of horizontal movement on his 4-seamer which is 98% batter than major league average.

When he's locating it like he did last night, that fastball certainly plays even at the 89-92.5 (91 avg) MPH range.

IF, and it's a big if he can develop more feel for the changeup, he could really be something. Right now though, it's very inconsistent and he has not shown the ability to throw it for strikes low and away against RHB very often.

Here's all ten changeups from last night.

https://www.mlb.com/video/00u7jzgkdtP9kH55c356/reels/lowther-changeup-vs-texas

Notice the one good 81 MPH low and away changeup got the swing and miss. That's what he needs to find more often. If he ends up with a playable change his fastball will really play up even more. 

Of all the rookie pitchers that have come up this year, Lowther's stuff is the one that looks like it will play as a starter. Mark my words, he's the guy that will end up the best starter out of Akin, Wells, Zimmerman and Baumann (who I think is ending up in relief unless he can use that curveball more effectively because he lost his feel for his change this year).

[Just Regular]

I liked the framing I heard once that for a growing number of pitchers the fastball now is the offspeed pitch.   

Lowther and a few of his Orioles colleagues maybe resemble that remark.

I remember in the 80's the conventional wisdom the NL was the fastball league, but suspect all pitchers from those days frowning on all these curves.

[Just Regular]

One of the milestones I look for if/when Orioles pitching grows is PitcherList toning down the snark.   I can't dispute that most of the evidence favors snark.   Today's roundup:

https://www.pitcherlist.com/woe-logan/

Zac Lowther vs TEX (W) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 94 pitches.

 

Hey, the man celebrated a Birthday Party and didn’t allow us to save the date. To be fair, I’m sure he’s surprised he earned 8/19 CSW on his curveball and 8/48 whiffs on his four-seamer. Some days, that’s just how it goes.

Birthday Party their slang for a scrub having a night being a fun thing that happens about once a year.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, OrioleDog said:

One of the milestones I look for if/when Orioles pitching grows is PitcherList toning down the snark.   I can't dispute that most of the evidence favors snark.   Today's roundup:

https://www.pitcherlist.com/woe-logan/

Zac Lowther vs TEX (W) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 94 pitches.

 

Hey, the man celebrated a Birthday Party and didn’t allow us to save the date. To be fair, I’m sure he’s surprised he earned 8/19 CSW on his curveball and 8/48 whiffs on his four-seamer. Some days, that’s just how it goes.

Birthday Party their slang for a scrub having a night being a fun thing that happens about once a year.

I would give that site zero credibility when they call Lowther a scrub. Apparently they have not looked at his stuff in baseball savant or know of his minor league dominance prior to this year before he was handled awfully by the Orioles this year.