Lowther shows signs of life

[Ruzious]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

 

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).

Pretty amazing - 12 inches of horizontal movement.  I imagine that degree of movement makes it a little more difficult to control.  I'm remembering thinking Miguel Castro was going to be a star - when I first saw him throwing upper 90's with what looked like a ton of horizontal movement.  Problem was it always seemed to move a couple inches out of the zone when he needed to hit it.  He would have been (and still could be) great if he could just command his fastball a little better.  But at some point, ya gotta do it, and he hasn't.          

[Tony-OH]

20 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

Pretty amazing - 12 inches of horizontal movement.  I imagine that degree of movement makes it a little more difficult to control.  I'm remembering thinking Miguel Castro was going to be a star - when I first saw him throwing upper 90's with what looked like a ton of horizontal movement.  Problem was it always seemed to move a couple inches out of the zone when he needed to hit it.  He would have been (and still could be) great if he could just command his fastball a little better.  But at some point, ya gotta do it, and he hasn't.          

They classify Castro's fastball as a sinker and it has an amazing 18 inches of horizontal movement.

BTW, that Castro for Kevin smith trade does not look good at all. Castro probably had more value than a potential left-handed reliever with a below average fastball.

Unfortunately, Sig's system has an aversion to sinkerballers so he gave him away like he did with Popp. 

[LA2]

15 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

They classify Castro's fastball as a sinker and it has an amazing 18 inches of horizontal movement.

BTW, that Castro for Kevin smith trade does not look good at all. Castro probably had more value than a potential left-handed reliever with a below average fastball.

Unfortunately, Sig's system has an aversion to sinkerballers so he gave him away like he did with Popp. 

What is the rationale for avoiding having sinkerball pitchers?

[Tony-OH]

18 hours ago, LA2 said:

What is the rationale for avoiding having sinkerball pitchers?

You'll have to ask Sig. The Orioles system seems to only looks for high spin rate fastballs that can be used in the upper portion of the zone. I'm sure they have data that shows that pitch can paired more effectively with other pitches, but they seem to have no interest in the groundballers who throw sinkers. 

Any organization that values Isaac Mattson over Zach Pop has an aversion to sinkerballers.

I don't see anything wrong with guys having good high spin rate 4-seamers, but there is a place for good sinkerballers, especially in the home run friendly combines of Camden Yards.

[LA2]

39 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

You'll have to ask Sig. The Orioles system seems to only looks for high spin rate fastballs that can be used in the upper portion of the zone. I'm sure they have data that shows that pitch can paired more effectively with other pitches, but they seem to have no interest in the groundballers who throw sinkers. 

Any organization that values Isaac Mattson over Zach Pop has an aversion to sinkerballers.

I don't see anything wrong with guys having good high spin rate 4-seamers, but there is a place for good sinkerballers, especially in the home run friendly combines of Camden Yards.

Yes, I was going to say! It's been a long-standing belief that groundball pitchers are the way to go at OPACY. Thus, the overperforming success of Zach Britton and Brad Bergesen (before injury), for example, and the criteria for judging possible free agents or trade targets in the past (e.g., Scott Feldman). So it's interesting if they've decided that that is no longer a good idea--possibly because we no longer have a stellar infield? or Britton's type of high-velocity sinker has become much more commonplace and thus familiar to hitters?

[Aristotelian]

19 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

They classify Castro's fastball as a sinker and it has an amazing 18 inches of horizontal movement.

BTW, that Castro for Kevin smith trade does not look good at all. Castro probably had more value than a potential left-handed reliever with a below average fastball.

Unfortunately, Sig's system has an aversion to sinkerballers so he gave him away like he did with Popp. 

Castro has put up 0.6 WAR since the trade. Maybe Smith doesn't turn into anything but I don't think we gave up much either. Too early to give up on him IMO. 

[Tony-OH]

6 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Castro has put up 0.6 WAR since the trade. Maybe Smith doesn't turn into anything but I don't think we gave up much either. Too early to give up on him IMO. 

WAR for relievers is not a good way to judge their worth. Nobody is giving up on anyone but he doesn't look like anything more than a potential reliever. Gotta get more for a controllable reliever like Castro. But Castro throws a sinker so they can't have that on the team.

[RZNJ]

On 9/25/2021 at 5:58 PM, Tony-OH said:

WAR for relievers is not a good way to judge their worth. Nobody is giving up on anyone but he doesn't look like anything more than a potential reliever. Gotta get more for a controllable reliever like Castro. But Castro throws a sinker so they can't have that on the team.

Doesn't Tate pretty much rely on a sinker for the most part?    

[Tony-OH]

31 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Doesn't Tate pretty much rely on a sinker for the most part?    

Your point being what, that one guy on the team uses a sinker so it proves otherwise?

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Your point being what, that one guy on the team uses a sinker so it proves otherwise?

Doesn't prove anything.  Maybe he's the next to go.   You said they hate sinkerballers or maybe the didn't want Pop because he was a sinkerballer.  I'm simply stating that Tate is a sinkerballer or at least I think he is.    It's not exactly a point.   Just, if they hate sinkerballers, they still have one on the team.