Grayson Rodriguez 2023

[FlaO'sFan]

He reminded me of a better version of Kevin Gaussman.  Secondary pitches looked similiar to me but he was able to throw his high fastball by hitters, instead of getting it parked liked Gaussman did frequently.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, FlaO'sFan said:

He reminded me of a better version of Kevin Gaussman.  Secondary pitches looked similiar to me but he was able to throw his high fastball by hitters, instead of getting it parked liked Gaussman did frequently.

The team didn't care much for high fastballs.  They tried to get most everyone throwing down.

[FlaO'sFan]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

The team didn't care much for high fastballs.  They tried to get most everyone throwing down.

I have never seen Grayson pitch before turning the game on in the second inning this afternoon, so my observations were limited to what he threw today. After a few innings I said to myself..."he looks like Kevin to me, but better"...or what we all hoped Kevin would be.  Knowing how hyped he has been as a prospect, I was not disappointed at all in his performance, and actually feel very good about him going forward.

If the O's like to keep everything down, as you said, I think he will be able to get away with getting it up in the strike zone occasionally, it really looked tough to hit today.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Would have loved him to be able to get a little deeper into a game, but I would sign up for today's rate stats for remainder of year in a heartbeat if it were possible.

Mid-3's ERA
1.00 WHIP
9.0 K/9

[Gurgi]

4 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

6 man rotation 

Or piggy back two starters to keep innings down.  Let one go five innings and the other guy get four.  

[Aristotelian]

Or go with the best five guys and put the 6th in the bullpen. No need to reinvent the wheel here.

[Can_of_corn]

18 minutes ago, FlaO'sFan said:

I have never seen Grayson pitch before turning the game on in the second inning this afternoon, so my observations were limited to what he threw today. After a few innings I said to myself..."he looks like Kevin to me, but better"...or what we all hoped Kevin would be.  Knowing how hyped he has been as a prospect, I was not disappointed at all in his performance, and actually feel very good about him going forward.

If the O's like to keep everything down, as you said, I think he will be able to get away with getting it up in the strike zone occasionally, it really looked tough to hit today.

The old regime was all about the sinker.  Gausman used to throw a "one seam" fastball.

I was not a fan of the heavy sinker approach, I'd rather they throw more 4 seamers to increase the K rate.

 

[Billy F-Face3]

I think Grayson needs to become even more consistent on his secondary pitches, especially his slider. He's got a nasty slider that batters cannot handle when it's working. The problem is that he doesn't always have full control of it. To be truly great, he's got to stop spiking balls in the dirt and throwing other types of wild pitches. I've noticed when he loses control of his breaking ball, he has to fall back on his fast ball and that makes him much too predictable. Major League hitters will eat that up. It all comes down to mastering control of his secondary pitches and being able to mix it up.

But when he's on, he's a special kind of pitcher. 

[interloper]

Happy to have been pretty wrong about the decision to start Grayson. In the first inning, he looked like he did in ST - no command of the breaking pitches and spotty command of the fastball. But then he started to look like himself, especially re: fastball command. Vastly improved the rest of the outing. I still think his offspeed stuff needs some work, but he looked markedly better than both ST and his first AAA start.

[baltfan]

10 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

The team didn't care much for high fastballs.  They tried to get most everyone throwing down.

Except they allowed Tillman to pitch up in the zone, which was interesting.  Tillman was a bit ahead of the curve.  Maybe not consciously so, but still ahead of the curve pitching up in the zone.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, baltfan said:

Except they allowed Tillman to pitch up in the zone, which was interesting.  Tillman was a bit ahead of the curve.  Maybe not consciously so, but still ahead of the curve pitching up in the zone.

The high fastball has became more of a weapon as players adjusted their swing paths to more of an uppercut swing.

[btdart20]

19 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

The high fastball has became more of a weapon as players adjusted their swing paths to more of an uppercut swing.

Yep.  It's about the angle of approach coming into the hitting zone with the angle of the swing.  

[Jagwar]

11 hours ago, Gurgi said:

Or piggy back two starters to keep innings down.  Let one go five innings and the other guy get four.  

I've always wondered about that strategy though. What if both of them suck on a certain day. Say GRod gets knocked out in the 2nd and Wells does no better. Bullpen has to cover 5 innings and both starters are unavailable until the 5th day. 

I suppose you either need other bullpen arms who can provide length or good AAA shuttle options?

[Sports Guy]

Why are people so obsessed with the idea of piggy backing starters?

[spleen1015]

26 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Why are people so obsessed with the idea of piggy backing starters?

I asked the same question a few days ago.