Matusz start, Bowie vs. Akron Game 1, 7/2/09

[QBsILLEST1]

He had a hell of a lot of strikeouts at Delmarva his first year. The reports at the time had him throwing mid 90's. Were they false? Maybe. However, it seems to me that his decreased velocity might be from the smoothing out of his mechanics that began at Frederick. Since then I've seen reports of him sitting solidly in the low 90's and maybe touching mid 90's. The Delmarva stuff could be myth. I don't really know but that's what I remember reading at the time.

As recent as this year, in one of the last games he was able to pitch hin he was said to be touching 97. I dont remember if that was either a report I had read or it was someone on here who was at the game, but it was a pretty solid source. The only thing about not using a stadium gun is that most fans dont go to baseball games with radar guns, so the stadium gun is all that we have to work off of.....I used to have that bucket that had a radar gun built into it....it was cheap...

[Frobby]

Matusz has better stuff than Palmer ever did.

No, really.

Palmer won 15 games and pitched a shutout in the World Series at age 20. After battling injuries the next two years, he won 16 at age 23 and then rattled off 8 20-win seasons in the next 9 years. When Matusz accomplishes something comparable, we can talk about who had better stuff. Meanwhile, he's 22 and pitching in AA.

[QBsILLEST1]

Palmer won 15 games and pitched a shutout in the World Series at age 20. After battling injuries the next two years, he won 16 at age 23 and then rattled off 8 20-win seasons in the next 9 years. When Matusz accomplishes something comparable, we can talk about who had better stuff. Meanwhile, he's 22 and pitching in AA.

What type of injury was it that sidelines Palmer? Was it known? I was under the assumption that it was in his shoulder....

[allstar1579]

He had a hell of a lot of strikeouts at Delmarva his first year. The reports at the time had him throwing mid 90's. Were they false? Maybe. However, it seems to me that his decreased velocity might be from the smoothing out of his mechanics that began at Frederick. Since then I've seen reports of him sitting solidly in the low 90's and maybe touching mid 90's. The Delmarva stuff could be myth. I don't really know but that's what I remember reading at the time.

As recent as this year, in one of the last games he was able to pitch hin he was said to be touching 97. I dont remember if that was either a report I had read or it was someone on here who was at the game, but it was a pretty solid source. The only thing about not using a stadium gun is that most fans dont go to baseball games with radar guns, so the stadium gun is all that we have to work off of.....I used to have that bucket that had a radar gun built into it....it was cheap...

I think that is it though, that the reports of him hitting high 90's were just reports, he said, she said. I know when I saw him in HS he was throwing pretty much the same as he is now (when healthy) so to think that he spiked up and then for no reason came right back to where he was before is kind of fishy to me.

Tony said it too, that he saw the low 90's stuff, but he didn't see that 97mph stuff people kept whispering about. I just don't think it's there. Probably a case of one guy talking him up to some scout who happened to be a contact for some writer out there somewhere who took it and ran with it. We'll see. In any case, if he doesn't find 2 other good pitches to go along with that fastball he's going to be in trouble anyway.