Bautista 2023

[Frobby]

22 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The fastball command doesn’t have to be great if the splitter is working well.  

 

Right.  He needs one or the other, not necessarily both.  Friday he had great FB command, only threw one good sinker.  Saturday he had mediocre FB command (also a bit less velocity than normal) but threw several excellent sinkers.  Struck out the side both outings without his full arsenal, though he did allow a leadoff single last night.

I have seen him throw some sinkers at the top of the zone lately, including the one that drew a called strike three to end the game last night.  I’m not sure if he’s throwing them there on purpose, or just missing his spot by 3 feet.  They seem to work, though.  

Edited May 14, 2023 by Frobby

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Frobby said:

Right.  He needs on or the other, not necessarily both.  Friday he had great FB command, only threw one good sinker.  Saturday he had mediocre FB command (also a bit less velocity than normal) but threw several excellent sinkers.  Struck out the side both outings without his full arsenal, though he did allow a leadoff single last night.

I have seen him throw some sinkers at the top of the zone lately, including the one that drew a called strike three to end the game last night.  I’m not sure if he’s throwing them there on purpose, or just missing his spot by 3 feet.  

Well he’s going to work up in the zone with his fastball. His command was off some last night, no doubt but the stuff is so good that he can get away with it.

But the ump had a generous strike zone, so that helped.

He can’t always pitch like that but he will be able to get away with it often.

[Roll Tide]

On 5/10/2023 at 12:50 AM, sportsfan8703 said:

Cano is the more trusted reliever, but that allows us to bring him in during big spots and not wait for save situations in the 9th. 
 

Bautista is laboring through innings, but he’s hitting them out. 
 

Colonel Perez doesn’t look like he’s getting back to last season’s form. Hopefully, Tate or Givens, can give us another really reliable set up man. 

Honestly, Cano was as brutal last year as he is brilliant this season. But, this could turn at any moment. It’s now at the same amount of innings as his bad streak last year. With these bullpen guys they are streaky. I’m hoping Cano can do it this year all year. I expect Bautista to be better than he’s been.

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Honestly, Cano was as brutal last year as he is brilliant this season. But, this could turn at any moment. It’s now at the same amount of innings as his bad streak last year. With these bullpen guys they are streaky. I’m hoping Cano can do it this year all year. I expect Bautista to be better than he’s been.

The amazing thing about Bautista is, we all feel he’s not as good as last year, yet he has a 1.42 ERA, 17.1 K/9, and opposing hitters are hitting .162 against him.  All those figures are better than last year.  

[Roll Tide]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

The amazing thing about Bautista is, we all feel he’s not as good as last year, yet he has a 1.42 ERA, 17.1 K/9, and opposing hitters are hitting .162 against him.  All those figures are better than last year.  

Yes ….some of us have unrealistic expectations 

[Frobby]

20 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Yes ….some of us have unrealistic expectations 

I think it’s a few things:

1.  The walks.  13 in 19 outings, including two outings where he walked 3 batters.  
2.  Even when not throwing walks, not having good command of the splitter for several weeks, making life a lot easier for the batters.  
3.  Three blown saves in 13 opportunities.  That’s not a good percentage.   

[Fiver6565]

44 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think it’s a few things:

1.  The walks.  13 in 19 outings, including two outings where he walked 3 batters.  
2.  Even when not throwing walks, not having good command of the splitter for several weeks, making life a lot easier for the batters.  
3.  Three blown saves in 13 opportunities.  That’s not a good percentage.   

I’m assuming one of those three was the Sunday game in Atlanta. Seems unfair to get a blown save when you start an inning with a RISP. I can’t remember for sure but I don’t think he even gave up a hit in that outing. I guess that’s just the life of a closer though. 

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

I’m assuming one of those three was the Sunday game in Atlanta. Seems unfair to get a blown save when you start an inning with a RISP. I can’t remember for sure but I don’t think he even gave up a hit in that outing. I guess that’s just the life of a closer though. 

He did not allow a hit.  He did throw a wild pitch, walk a batter, and allow a runner to steal a base.   Not really a confidence-inspiring outing.  I agree that it’s harsh to get a blown save when you allow the ghost runner to score, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.  

[Pickles]

26 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He did not allow a hit.  He did throw a wild pitch, walk a batter, and allow a runner to steal a base.   Not really a confidence-inspiring outing.  I agree that it’s harsh to get a blown save when you allow the ghost runner to score, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.  

Another blown save was because McKenna dropped a routine fly ball.

Save percentage is a virtually useless stat.

[Orioles Jim]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I think it’s a few things:

1.  The walks.  13 in 19 outings, including two outings where he walked 3 batters.  
2.  Even when not throwing walks, not having good command of the splitter for several weeks, making life a lot easier for the batters.  
3.  Three blown saves in 13 opportunities.  That’s not a good percentage.   

Also, 0.929 WHIP in 2022 vs. 1.263 in 2023.

It seemed like a lot of times in 2022 he’d retire the side without putting a man on. This year, it seems like he always puts a guy on. 

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Orioles Jim said:

Also, 0.929 WHIP in 2022 vs. 1.263 in 2023.

It seemed like a lot of times in 2022 he’d retire the side without putting a man on. This year, it seems like he always puts a guy on. 

Well, the WHIP is the same as the walks, really.  The H/9 is actually slightly down. You’re right about the clean outings.   Last year he had 25 clean outings out of 65 appearances (38.%).   This year it’s 5 out of 19 (26%).

[Aristotelian]

Got some help from the ump or it could have been real interesting. Splitter looked great, by far the best we've seen this year. 

[Il BuonO]

3 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Got some help from the ump or it could have been real interesting. Splitter looked great, by far the best we've seen this year. 

You must been watching a different game because the splitter I saw was left up more than once including the last pitch which was called a strike. When they’re up they flatten out and get hit and yesterday he repeatedly got away with poor location again. Luckily, I think the hitters are often sitting FB, so the big differential in velocity fools them.

He hasn’t had a good splitter in four or five games now. 

[Aristotelian]

2 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

You must been watching a different game because the splitter I saw was left up more than once including the last pitch which was called a strike. When they’re up they flatten out and get hit and yesterday he repeatedly got away with poor location again. Luckily, I think the hitters are often sitting FB, so the big differential in velocity fools them.

He hasn’t had a good splitter in four or five games now. 

He left a couple up. For the most part they were down. When they were up they were in the zone and hitters were off balance they did not come close to a good swing. Looking at the pitch-by-pitch:

-All FB to Reynolds, all strikes;

-5 splitters to Joe, 1 was up at knees for a strike;

-1 splitter to Santana, up but in for a foul;

-3 splitters to Suwinski, 2 up for called strikes, one down.

So 3 out of 9 were up in the zone, and none of those were over the plate. I would agree not his best splitter ever but I will take that mix any day along with his FB. Not a bad pitch in the whole Conner Joe AB. 

[Sanfran327]

I hadn't been to a night game since Bautista took over as closer last year. Took the family to the game on Saturday night, and if you've seen it live, then you know: Bautista's entrance is freaking AWESOME. I don't often get fired up over shiny things, but the light show and the whole production when he enters the game is really, really cool. 

If you haven't seen it live, you gotta. 

Sorry for the old news post, but man... yeah.