Arrieta vs Matusz

[allstar1579]

The curveball is nasty, he throws it harder now than he did in the MiL. He throws all 3 of those pitches normally in games and then the changeup is from what I have seen, he has the least amount of confidence in. But, every once in a blue moon, he will throw a very good changeup. I recall him getting Carlos Pena swinging on a very nice changeup a handful of games ago that had about 9 MPH difference from his FB. I actually see him throw the curveball more than the slider recently(except for last night's game which I didn't pay much attention to). Curveball comes in in the mid 70's, slider in the low 80's.

His slider seems to be most inconsistent of all his pitches. This is directly related to his magically changing release point. Sometimes it looks like a cutter almost and has more east to west movement, but when it is at its best and what most people were considering to be "plus" is when it has both horizontal and vertical movement and has good late bite. But, I definitely see both the slider and curve thrown in every game and both pitches are of similar quality IMO....

I've heard from more than one person that his curve is no where near his slider. I haven't seen it live so I don't know for sure, but I heard the slider was very good, and the curve was a work in progress not bad, but not good either and had no consistency. The slider the big negative was that he had trouble throwing it for strikes.

Tony, have you seen him live lately? What's your take on the two?

[ledzepp8]

You have criticized other pitchers in the past for what you call "Little League Syndrome" - that is their inability to pitch beyond the 7th inning. Yeet Arrieta is only averaging 5.5 innings per start... :scratchchinhmm:

Clearly he can't keep up with all of the asinine arguments that he makes.

[Arthur_Bryant]

I've heard from more than one person that his curve is no where near his slider. I haven't seen it live so I don't know for sure, but I heard the slider was very good, and the curve was a work in progress not bad, but not good either and had no consistency. The slider the big negative was that he had trouble throwing it for strikes.

Tony, have you seen him live lately? What's your take on the two?

I haven't seen him live, just video, but the curve seems pretty effective to me, and when he pitches I find myself wanting him to throw it more often.

Maybe it seems effective just because he throws it so seldom. More exposure might put a dent in it.

Regardless, he definitely needs a CU.

[Say O!]

To me, Jake seems like a prime candidate to learn a splitter/forkball type pitch. Yeah, it might be considered another "hard" offering, but it could see the necessary speed separation between his fastball to make all his stuff more effective. Jake reminds me of the drop and drive power guys from the 80's/90's who traditionally incorporated the splitter into their arsenal. Perhaps it would be tough on the arm, but might be something worth exploring for Jake.

[BRob51]

To me, Jake seems like a prime candidate to learn a splitter/forkball type pitch. Yeah, it might be considered another "hard" offering, but it could see the necessary speed separation between his fastball to make all his stuff more effective. Jake reminds me of the drop and drive power guys from the 80's/90's who traditionally incorporated the splitter into their arsenal. Perhaps it would be tough on the arm, but might be something worth exploring for Jake.

This is pretty interesting, I never thought about it but I like this idea. Often times you can throw a split as a CH, Koji does this to some extent. Steve Trachsel did this (yeah, we all know he sucked for us, but he did have a pretty solid career). If he can't work on and improve his CH over his final 4 or so starts (don't remember exactly how many he has left), I think a split should absolutely be at least considered in the offseason/ST.

[VTmook213]

Read this today:

Bub (DC)

Matusz started off great, then terrible, now he looks great again. Can he be a legitimate top of the rotation starter as soon as next season?

Klaw (2:18 PM)

I might still vote for him as AL ROY if I had that ballot. I certainly believe in his long-term value far more than I believe in Austin Jackson's, and the AL East is a brutal place to pitch, especially if you don't get to face the division's worst lineup. I'll say he's an ace in 2012 or 2013, with modest improvements next year.

edit: Klaw = Keith Law

[Tony-OH]

I've heard from more than one person that his curve is no where near his slider. I haven't seen it live so I don't know for sure, but I heard the slider was very good, and the curve was a work in progress not bad, but not good either and had no consistency. The slider the big negative was that he had trouble throwing it for strikes.

Tony, have you seen him live lately? What's your take on the two?

The slider for me is a better pitch than the curveball. The curveball has improved a bit since I saw him in the minors, but he doesn't get a ton of swing and misses with the pitch and he has trouble throwing it for strikes. It also still rolls up there too often for my liking. The slider is a mid-80s offering that has good downward bite, almost like a power curveball. Again, command is the issue here but it can be a plus pitch at times. He doesn't command either pitch good enough yet, but if I had to pick a pitch for him to focus on it would be the slider.

[Tony-OH]

To me, Jake seems like a prime candidate to learn a splitter/forkball type pitch. Yeah, it might be considered another "hard" offering, but it could see the necessary speed separation between his fastball to make all his stuff more effective. Jake reminds me of the drop and drive power guys from the 80's/90's who traditionally incorporated the splitter into their arsenal. Perhaps it would be tough on the arm, but might be something worth exploring for Jake.

Yep, he certainly has the delivery and arm slot for a good split-finger pitch. The concern with this pitch is it strains the elbow and it's tough for starters to use the pitch due to that strain. If he went to the bullpen though it certainly would be a good pitch for him to pick up.