Damn...and I thought Grant Balfour was good!

by Rays Rule on Jul 23, 2008 9:02 PM EDT

Check out this link.http://www.sbnation.com/users/Brad%20Ziegler/blog (I'm not sure if you have to join A's nation to view it) It has to be THE coolest I've seen on SB Nation. After blowing me (and the Rays) away, I decided to check out the A's blog for info on Ziegler. He actually blogs on the site! I found that very interesting reading his info. Would it not be cool if we had Longo blog on our site? Anyways, here are his #'s this season(including Triple A). Needless to say that this guy is lights out....even if it took him awhile to get it together.

2008 MLB Stats:1-0, 0 SV, 0.00 ERA, 21 G, 23.2 IP, 13 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 10 K, 6 BB

2008 AAA Stats: 2-0, 8 SV, 0.37 ERA, 19 G, 24.1 IP, 15 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 20 K, 4 BB

1 ER in 48 IP - Holy crap! Must've took him getting beened in the head for him to turn it around.

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.

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He's actually at

23.2 innings pitched in the major leagues right now without giving up a run. He set the AL record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career. Ridiculous stuff, considering he doesn’t throw all that hard, and the fact that he’s a sidearm/submarine right hander means he should get owned by lefties, but I guess not.

by hibachi7_7_7 on Jul 23, 2008 9:13 PM EDT reply actions

thanks..updated

by Rays Rule on Jul 23, 2008 9:35 PM EDT up reply actions

he is pretty solid.

by Dbullsfan on Jul 23, 2008 9:20 PM EDT reply actions

This brings up something I've been thinking about for a while...

It appears like there is a higher percentage of dominance by side-armers vs. normal pitchers. Why aren’t there more? Is there any research on the subject or success of side-arm pitchers? It seems like something that used to be a lot more popular than now.

by tallyray on Jul 23, 2008 9:37 PM EDT reply actions

That’s mostly because many are specialists, and will only face 1 batter or at most an inning.

by Charger567 on Jul 23, 2008 10:17 PM EDT up reply actions

That, and

if there were a lot of them, they wouldn’t be anything special. The only reason they’re hard to hit is that major leaguers aren’t used to seeing pitches come in from that angle, so it takes longer to pick up the ball.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Jul 23, 2008 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions

That's true..

And I never really thought about it that way…

But shouldn’t there be more until it becomes common place and hitters begin to hit them again?

by tallyray on Jul 24, 2008 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions

And most of them are specialists

Because they only tend to have action on their pitches in one direction, so they tend to live on one corner or the other. Once you pick up the motion (Assuming ‘you’ are a major league hitter) its pretty easy to hit.

by GomesSweetGomes on Jul 24, 2008 3:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Assie, Aussie, Aussie --- Oi, Oi, Oi

I’m all for the man from down under being closer. He’s been nothing less than dominating.

by John 63 on Jul 24, 2008 3:27 PM EDT reply actions

Same reason the Knuckle Ball is fading into obscurity....

A Little League Coaches can not teach a side arm motion, high school coaches cant really teach it either. Then you have college and minor leage coaches who might be able to teach it but dont want to spend time reteaching a player that they have that already has decent mechanics. I think the Japanese Leagues and coaches actually teach more side arm pitching with their youngsters over there. Either that or they just teach each person to vary their motions and wind ups somewhat. I can tell you. I have never seen two Japanes pitchers with the same motion ever.

by PewterPirate55 on Jul 24, 2008 5:21 PM EDT reply actions

A lot of pitchers who throw side-arm also have more elbow problems if they arent taught right.

I threw from about a 2/3 angle through a lot of my younger LL days and middle school and in high school I couldnt even play catch for more than 30 minutes. I probably could have gotten surgery or something but I wasnt good enough to pitch competitively after high school so I just stopped pitching.

A lot of kids have similar problems so they are taught to throw over handed to reduce some of the risk.

by Dbullsfan on Jul 24, 2008 5:32 PM EDT reply actions