Liz hits 102MPH!

[gallden]

I remember a couple years ago Bedard was on a rehab assignment in Delmarva and he was throwing 96 and I asked a scout he said it was about 3 mph off. So takes that for what its worth.

[oriole_way]

I can't believe that I'm reading posts that claim that Guidry threw 102 mph or even close to it. I guess people can truly say anything they want on a message board.

If that's the case, then I guess Nolan Ryan threw comfortably in the 105 mph range and JR Richard routinely hit 110 mph.

(Anyone who cannot detect the sarcasm in the above statement can pm me about a terrific pyramid scheme that I'm familiar with. You just need to wire transfer a small fee to me and I will send you the materials to get started.)

Back to the topic of Liz. It's great that he's developing and throws hard.

But why would anyone get so excited about Liz registering 102 on a radar gun? People should know that radar guns can be inexact. Even if he did legitimately hit 102 mph, so what? Unless he is regularly touching 99-100 mph, it doesn't really mean squat, besides the fact that he throws hard. And we already knew that he throws hard.

I hope people aren't expecting Liz to just come up to the show and routinely reach back to blow 100 mph fastballs by batters in key situations.

[Gurgi]

I can remember since I was a little kid and reading Baseball Digest that Ron Guidry had been clocked at over 101. I can't remember the exact decimal point but was near 102 at some point in his career.

I don't ever remember anyone saying Ryan threw 105 either. I think in his best year it was around 100 also.

[Mackus]

(Anyone who cannot detect the sarcasm in the above statement can pm me about a terrific pyramid scheme that I'm familiar with. You just need to wire transfer a small fee to me and I will send you the materials to get started.)

I don't ever remember anyone saying Ryan threw 105 either. I think in his best year it was around 100 also.

I can't believe these are two consecutive posts. Hysterical.

[DrungoHazewood]

The Neyer-James Guide to Pitchers has an article entitled "The Best Fastballs of Each Half Decade."

Here's the 1975-79 entry:

1. Nolan Ryan

2. Goose Gossage

3. Frank Tanana

4. Ron Guidry

5. JR Richard

It's Guidry's only appearance in these lists.

In his entry in the individual player section later on it's noted that he was a fastball/slider pitcher. There's a few sentences saying he had one of the best sliders in the game, but no description of his fastball at all. Seems odd that a near-record velocity fastball would go unnoticed.

[Lucky Jim]

also, he was struck by lightning.

At thirty he married an English girl, daughter of Jerome Dunn, the alpinist, and granddaughter of two Dorset parsons, experts in obscure subjects--paleopedology and Aeolian harps, respectively. My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three, and, save for a pocket of warmth in the darkest past, nothing of her subsists within the hollows and dells of memory, over which, if you can still stand my style (I am writing under observation), the sun of my infancy had set: surely, you all know those redolent remnants of day suspended, with the midges, about some hedge in bloom or suddenly entered and traversed by the rambler, at the bottom of a hill, in the summer dusk; a furry warmth, golden midges.

What a great book. http://www.randomhouse.com/features/nabokov/lo_excerpt.html

[Lucky Jim]

The Neyer-James Guide to Pitchers has an article entitled "The Best Fastballs of Each Half Decade."

Here's the 1975-79 entry:

1. Nolan Ryan

2. Goose Gossage

3. Frank Tanana

4. Ron Guidry

5. JR Richard

It's Guidry's only appearance in these lists.

In his entry in the individual player section later on it's noted that he was a fastball/slider pitcher. There's a few sentences saying he had one of the best sliders in the game, but no description of his fastball at all. Seems odd that a near-record velocity fastball would go unnoticed.

Guidry had a GREAT fastball - but great in the 95-97 mph range from what I've read (and barely recall). I always thought he was known for the slider, too.

Is Guidry a decent comp for Bedard? I hope not - he was actually slighter. And that slider had to take a toll. I much prefer Bedard's curve (and think he'll age better because of it.)

[melinmd]

I spoke to two scouts that were doing the game yesterday and they said that the 102 MPH Liz fastball was actually 98 MPH on the scouts' guns. Liz seemed to max out last night at 98 on the STALKER SPORT radar guns.

[Lucky Jim]

I spoke to two scouts that were doing the game yesterday and they said that the 102 MPH Liz fastball was actually 98 MPH on the scouts' guns. Liz seemed to max out last night at 98 on the STALKER SPORT radar guns.

I'll take 98 from a starter.

Or reliever.

[BowieMike]

I spoke to two scouts that were doing the game yesterday and they said that the 102 MPH Liz fastball was actually 98 MPH on the scouts' guns. Liz seemed to max out last night at 98 on the STALKER SPORT radar guns.

Radhames said that while he hit 100 in Altoona earlier this season the PG Stadium gun is a little inconsistent with the scouts' guns. Still an impressive feat to hit the upper 90's as often as he does.

[Sports Guy]

Why did Liz only go 3 innings tonight?

[Mackus]

Why did Liz only go 3 innings tonight?

Game only went 3 before being suspended. He struck out 6 of the 10 he faced. And it was last night.

[justD]

Back to the topic of Liz. It's great that he's developing and throws hard. But why would anyone get so excited about Liz registering 102 on a radar gun?

The post in the tracker was that the pitch was clocked at 102, immediately followed by a breaking ball/changeup at 85. This, I think, was what I personally was excited about. Still, it was impressive to see the 102.

But if we're talking about 98 (as pointed out by BowieMike when he asked the scouts about their readings), then we're also talking about 81 - which is still a sweet 17 mph differential. He also threw the fastball, changeup, and a slider effectively Monday night. Good signs, I think, of the progress he's making.

[Ruzious]

Maybe, but Guidry wasn't ever anywhere near the strikeout pitcher Bedrad has been this year, and its not like EB is getting by with much better location than Guidry.

There are a lot more factors to pitching than the speed of a fastball and location. This comparison discussion has really gone south.

[Baltimoron]

There are a lot more factors to pitching than the speed of a fastball and location. This comparison discussion has really gone south.

I'm not sure why you are responding to me, but I know. As you said in the post I replied to:

Guidry had probably the nastiest stuff I've ever seen - along with Vida Blue, Dwight Gooden, and Randy Johnson. It's not a knock on Bedard at all, but Guidry's stuff (in his prime) was in a class far above Bedard's.

Guidry definitely walked fewer batters, so presumably he had better control. Maybe Guidry had better stuff too, perhaps even "in a class far above Bedard's" and there is something more than stuff + control that is more important than the two, but Guidry never had a season where he came close to striking out batters like EB has this year (3 K/9 less), although K rates in general were down in 1978 so its closer than it first looks when you think about where they are vis-a-vie the league - but EB still shines.