DRaysBay - Series seven: Twins at RaysA Tampa Bay Rays Blog: Ball on a Budgethttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48753/drb-logo-fv.png2014-04-24T23:41:14-04:00http://www.draysbay.com/rss/stream/54066092014-04-24T23:41:14-04:002014-04-24T23:41:14-04:00Rays 7, Twins 9: When seven runs are not enough
<figure>
<img alt="Score more, Longo." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XeAFL-mxZFSw8Z5IoSgZcRPo1CU=/0x0:4000x2667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/32122887/20140424_ajl_sv7_234.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Score more, Longo. | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>(three out of every five days)</p> <p>For a day game that few people could actually watch, you deserve a proper recap. You deserve to come here and read a recap that explains the game, that makes you feel like you were sitting behind home plate rather than in your cubicle, and that allows you to fully participate in the story of this <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Rays</a>' season. I don't have it in me to write that recap. I already know what happened, and it's not good. I can't bring myself to take notes and to concentrate on the minutia. Instead, let me recommend the <a target="_blank" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_04_24_minmlb_tbamlb_1&mode=box#gid=2014_04_24_minmlb_tbamlb_1&mode=box">box score</a>, and the <a target="_blank" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_04_24_minmlb_tbamlb_1&mode=box#gid=2014_04_24_minmlb_tbamlb_1&mode=plays">play-by-play</a>.</p>
<p><span>Erik Bedard</span> and <span>Heath Bell</span> gave up a lot of runs (<span>Josh Lueke</span> wasn't great either, but he kept his slate clear). Every time they found themselves down big, the Rays offense battled back to the point that a fan might stay tuned into the game. They were about an inch away from winning the game in spite of the pitching when <span>Desmond Jennings</span> popped up a grooved cutter with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth, but they come up short. Sometimes seven runs aren't enough.</p>
<p>Some other notes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Erik Bedard simply must throw strikes. That's pretty much all there is to it.</li>
<li>No, there's actually a more to it. Bedard is at the end of his career. <span>Alex Cobb</span> will not teach him a new pitch. Jim Hickey will not "fix" him by teaching him a new way to use his already unique stuff. There will be no $4.5 million deal in 2015. He is not Roberto Hernandez. The best-case scenario is that Bedard continues to pitch for just a little bit longer at an acceptable level. And I want to make something very clear: he has the stuff to do that. He does not, however, appear to have the control. Five walks in four innings is not an acceptable level. Time after time, I saw Molina setting up on the edge of the plate and Bedard missing off that edge. That will not work. Bedard must not be afraid to fail. He must throw his pitches over the plate. Sometimes they will get hit, but sometimes they won't. If he isn't walking the bases full of batters, that will be good enough. What we saw today is not good enough.</li>
<li>(Bedard did settle in and throw strikes for a few good innings after starting out bad enough to ruin his day.)</li>
<li>In the top of the second, <span>Josmil Pinto</span> hit a pop fly foul and into the first row of fans near third base. Loney chased it down and got there in time, but a man in a purple shirt reached over from the second row and deflected the ball just enough for Loney to miss it. Loney ended up tangled with an older gentleman wearing Sunday blue, and somehow found a pair of glasses in his left hand (I think they came off the older gentleman's shirt). I want to set the record straight. Than man in Sunday blue did the right thing. He tried to back out of the way. He would have been out of the way, if not for the younger doofus in purple, who deflected the play back toward him. Come on, Rays fans. Here's an idea. If you have a chance to get a foul ball, but it might interfere with a Rays defensive play, don't do it. Abstain.<br>
</li>
<li>Loney, by the way, is super classy. He had reason to be upset, but all he did is try on the glasses, see that they didn't fit, and then leave them with the fans. Smooth.</li>
<li>In the bottom of the second inning, Longoria hit a sinking liner to left field. Sam Fuld was a bit over-eager, and tried to make an amazing grab. It was not a smart play, and it failed, giving Longoria a double rather than a single. It didn't end up mattering, though, as Loney brought Longo home with a double.</li>
<li>Also in the second, DDJ pulled his hands in on a 3-2 fastball that was the ninth pitch of the at bat for his first home run of the year. He may be heating up, and that would be a very good thing for the Rays.</li>
<li>I know he will probably slump eventually, but when <span>Matt Joyce</span> hits like this, it's tough to imagine it being any other way. In the third inning he read a backdoor breaking ball perfectly, reached for it, made easy contact, and pulled it over the second baseman's head. He's recognizing pitches extremely well right now.</li>
<li>I don't care if we're down on Heath Bell right now. I want a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Solowheel-White/dp/B00H2R2FG6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398391689&sr=8-1&keywords=solowheel&tag=sbnation-20" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener">solowheel</a>.</li>
<li>Is it just me or did Myers take a pretty bad angle to <span>Sam Fuld's</span> double in the fifth? Still, it was a fastball down the middle. plenty of blame to go on Bell also. As for the next mistake, a home run to <span>Aaron Hicks</span>, changeups at the top of the zone are generally bad news. Don't do that any more, please.<br>
</li>
<li>I'm not sure whether or not Heath Bell can still be a good pitcher. Yesterday, there were people saying that they thought he looked good. Today, there are people saying that he's trash. All that I'm certain of is that there's some results-based analysis going on. His process doesn't look like trash to me, but I may not GET baseball. Also, it's only been ten innings, so I'm not confident about anything I think concerning Bell.<br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The best reason to watch this game is to see <span>Juan Carlos Oviedo</span> pitch. He entered the game with two outs in the sixth after Bell got hit by a comebacker. His first three pitches to Sam Fuld were balls with his 89-90 mph fastball. He caught the plate with his next pitch, and then placed a fastball on the outer third of the plate near the bottom edge, but Sam, studly hitter that he is, pulled it for a line drive single.</p>
<p>The next batter was Aaron Hicks, and Ovideo apparently took him more seriously, as he broke out the weapon that might potentially make him an important member of this bullpen: three straight changeups, all strikes at the bottom of the zone, all whiffs.</p>
<p>In the seventh inning, Oviedo issued a couple walks, but he wasn't particularly wild, and he may have gotten squeezed on a few of the pitches. He pumped his fastball up to 93 mph, and his changeup continued to be filthy. I know that one thirty-year-old reliever doesn't have the power to replace three injured starting pitchers and turn around the season, but right now I'm pretty convinced that Oviedo will.</p>
<p>Once Oviedo finished, I stopped paying close attention, so back to bullets:</p>
<ul>
<li> <span>Jose Molina</span> gave an especially weak throw to second while <span>Brian Dozier</span> was stealing. Mauer at the plate had some words for Molina, and it seemed like both "catchers" were amused.</li>
<li> <span>Chris Herrmann</span> came on as a defensive replacement in the seventh, and then immediately failed to make a play on a fly ball to short right field, instead backing off and making Brian Dozier attempt a much more difficult play.</li>
<li>It doesn't get talked about because he's good at a lot of things (like hitting), and it's a relatively unimportant skill, but <span>Ben Zobrist</span> is a good bunter. He laid one down, just out of reach of the pitcher and where it was a tough play for the third baseman, to load the bases in the seventh.</li>
<li>With those bases loaded, Desmond Jennings hit the ball hard and on a line, but too close to the right fielder to be more than a sacrifice. Matt Joyce also hit the ball well (and against a lefty), but also only for a sac fly.</li>
<li>As I said before, Josh Lueke pitched a scoreless frame, but it wasn't all because he was so good. This happened:</li>
<iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=32350177&topic_id=6479266&width=400&height=224&property=mlb" frameborder="0" height="224" width="400">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>
<li>Also, <span>Wil Myers</span>, whose defense I questioned earlier in the game, got a very nice jump on what could have been a Sam Fuld fly ball double in the gap.</li>
<li>If I'm going to note when Lueke gets help from his defense, I should also note when <span>Jake McGee</span> gets help:</li>
<iframe src="http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=32351591&topic_id=6479266&width=400&height=224&property=mlb" frameborder="0" height="224" width="400">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>
<li>Unlike Lueke, however, McGee was dominant during the rest of his inning, striking out Dozier and Herrmann.</li>
<li> <span>Logan Forsythe</span> pinch hit for Jose Molina against a tough righty in the eighth inning. He stayed with a fastball on the bottom outside corner, and while it was a little bit off the end of his bat, he muscled it over second for an RBI single. Good job. An infield hit from Ben Zobrist loaded the bases for Desmond Jennings.</li>
<li>This is the point where an inch matters. <span>Jared Burton</span> threw a cutter right over the heart of the plate. Desmond Jennings did the right thing and swung, hard. But the cutter movement carried Burton's pitch slightly away from where Jennings thought it was, and the result was a popup. Throw that pitch a second time, and I bet the result is a line drive. Baseball, though, does not require Burton to throw that pitch a second time. Goodnight, Rays.</li>
</ul>
<ul></ul>
https://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/24/5651344/rays-vs-twins-game-two-recap-when-seven-runs-are-not-enoughIan Malinowski2014-04-24T17:11:30-04:002014-04-24T17:11:30-04:00Rays 7, Twins 9: Your angry reaction here
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j_geyBays-LYyJodyi_HL63n9pY=/0x65:4000x2732/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/32112437/20140424_ajl_sv7_084.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That didn't seem like it was a whole lot of fun.</p>
<p><iframe style="border:1px solid black;" src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-04-24&team=Rays&dh=0" frameborder="0" height="450" scrolling="no" width="450"></iframe><br><span>Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2014-04-24&team=Rays&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span></p>
<p>But you know what will be a bundle of laughs? Going home from work in a few minutes, watching the game that I already know the answers to, and then recapping it. On the other hand, I'll get to see <span>Juan Carlos Oviedo</span>. There's always a silver leoning.</p>
https://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/24/5650702/rays-7-twins-9-your-angry-reaction-hereIan Malinowski2014-04-23T11:00:30-04:002014-04-23T11:00:30-04:00Pitcher preview: Mike Pelfrey
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cufQ4QgLBJOBZDsCwuLzgZhjFy4=/0x21:4000x2688/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/32030813/20140417_rnb_sk1_073.JPG.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another big groundball specialist.</p> <p>Yesterday, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Rays</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/23/5642136/rays-vs-twins-game-one-recap-rays-baseball-the-way-it-should-be">got to Kyle Gibson</a>, a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/22/5639814/pitcher-preview-kyle-gibson">big, young righty</a> who pumps sinkers, changeups, and breaking balls to the outside and bottom edge of the plate in an attempt to induce grounders. Today they'll face a more mature version of the same pitcher. Seriously, the two are incredibly similar. Start with the size: Gibson was listed at 6'6", Pelfrey is listed at 6'7".</p>
<p>Now consider the stuff.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2162099/4600592014040120140422AAAAAmovement.png"><img alt="4600592014040120140422aaaaamovement_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2162099/4600592014040120140422AAAAAmovement_medium.png"></a></p>
<p>via <a href="http://pitchfx.texasleaguers.com/charts/gen/4600592014040120140422AAAAAmovement.png">pitchfx.texasleaguers.com</a></p>
<p>Pelfrey also leans very heavily on a low-90s two-seam fastball with good sink. He backs it up with an offspeed pitch -- in his case a splitter -- that also drops, but he mostly uses his splitter against opposite-handed batters. Against righties, he features an 84 mph slider more, and mixes in a curve ball to batters on both sides of the plate. It's a common and predictable way to work, but one that if executed well can result in a lot of weekly hit ground balls. Pelfrey has produced a 47% groundball rate over his career.</p>
<p>Pelfrey doesn't have much of a platoon split. In around 500 plate appearances each, righties have hit him for a .331 wOBA and lefties for a .346 wOBA. Take a look at the areas where Pelfrey likes to locate his pitches. It's quite similar to what the Rays have already seen from Gibson.</p>
<p>Against left-handed hitters:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/plot_profile.php?s_type=2&gFilt=&pFilt=FA%7CSI%7CFC%7CCU%7CSL%7CCS%7CKN%7CCH%7CFS%7CSB&time=month&player=460059&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=04/23/2014&minmax=ci&var=count&balls=-1&strikes=-1&b_hand=L" height="600" width="600"></p>
<p>And against right-handed hitters:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/plot_profile.php?s_type=2&gFilt=&pFilt=FA%7CSI%7CFC%7CCU%7CSL%7CCS%7CKN%7CCH%7CFS%7CSB&time=month&player=460059&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=04/23/2014&minmax=ci&var=count&balls=-1&strikes=-1&b_hand=R" height="600" width="600"></p>
<p>Down and away, down and away. The Rays hitters' approach at the plate yesterday was fantastic. They took almost everything down and outside, and when Gibson was forced to give them something to hit, they did, pulling anything middle in, and going the other way with anything on the outside. It will be interesting to see if they can replicate that success against the wily veteran Pelfrey.</p>
https://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/23/5643070/pitcher-preview-mike-pelfrey-scouting-reportIan Malinowski2014-04-23T00:50:12-04:002014-04-23T00:50:12-04:00Rays 7, Twins 3: TB baseball the way it should be
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gp3zanrjZlosF7_n-lWnjTmPX-s=/0x87:4000x2754/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/32021761/486161133.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Brian Blanco</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>David Price pitched a gem, and the Rays bats worked over the young ground-baller.</p> <p>Of course credit goes to the players on the field, but there are games where we should also give a nod to the coaches and players in the meeting rooms, and at the video-study monitors. We all <a target="_blank" href="http://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/22/5639814/pitcher-preview-kyle-gibson">knew going in to the game</a> that <span>Kyle Gibson</span> was going to work the bottom and the outside of the zone, and that the trick would be to force him to come in over the plate rather than staying off it. But it's one thing to know that and quite another to work your plan on the diamond. Today, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Rays</a> lineup worked their plan to perfection.</p>
<p><b>Bottom of the First</b></p>
<p>In the first inning, <span>Ben Zobrist</span> took a sinker at the bottom of the zone (where he wouldn't have been able to do anything with it) for a strike, but then jumped on a hanging changeup that stayed up and in the zone, pulling it for a line drive base hit. <span>Desmond Jennings</span> reached for a sinker on the outer third of the plate and chopped it on the ground to make the first out.</p>
<p>Now here's the point where luck came into play, as it so often does in any baseball rally. <span>Matt Joyce</span> attacked a fastball and popped it up high into the dome, where the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Twins</a> infield lost sight of it. It fell for an undeserved base hit, and brought <span>Evan Longoria</span> up to bat with two men on.</p>
<p>Longoria whiffed at a slider away off the plate. It was a good pitch. Then he grounded a sinker foul. Also a good pitch. He fouled off another low sinker on the inside corner, before taking a slider a bit off the plate for a ball. At this point I couldn't help but think that Gibson had shown the slider too early. After that first ugly whiff, Longo had the measure of it. The next pitch was a sinker just off the plate that Longoria took, and then he spat on a slider in the dirt to bring the count full. After fouling another fastball off, Longoria would accept his walk by taking another outside slider to load the bases.</p>
<p>What are batters supposed to do with pitchers who pound the outside of the zone? Hit a line drive the other way. What does <span>James Loney</span> do all the time? Hit line drives the other way. Predictable input, predictable result. Line drive to left field, two runs score.</p>
<p><span>Wil Myers</span>'s eyes did their job and he won a walk, loading the bases once more, for David DeJesus. Someone pointed out here within the past week that DeJesus almost never swings when he's ahead in the count. He actually did here. The first elevated pitch he saw was a 3-1 fastball on the inner third of the plate, and he let it rip, but pulled the ball foul. Two pitches later, he got an even tastier fastball, though, and this time he didn't miss. DDJ knocked it off the bottom of the wall, and it was only some poor reads on the bases that kept more than one run from scoring.</p>
<p><b>Bottom of the Third</b></p>
<p>The first pitch was a fastball up, which was just what Longoria was looking for (if it had been down, I'm sure he'd have been taking). He grounded it back up the middle for a single. That brought James Loney up to the plate once more, and Loney showed very definitively that he was looking for a ball on the outside third of the plate and looking to go the other way. Three pitches in, Gibson threw him an elevated changeup on the far edge, but Loney stayed back on it and lined it into the gap for a double.</p>
<p>Next, Wil Myers -- who had showed such good plate discipline in his first at bat -- expanded his zone and struck out, but DeJesus was able to repeat his earlier heroics. He too was presented with an elevated changeup on the outer third, which he lined into right field to score both runners.</p>
<p><b>Top of the Fourth</b></p>
<p>It can be tempting to think, in games like this, that <span>David Price</span> is invincible. He's not. He pounds the zone and that means that sometimes he gets hurt. <span>Brian Dozier</span> connected with a fastball on the outer edge and managed to hook it for a home run. The next batter, <span>Joe Mauer</span>, lined the ball back at Price, and appeared to come quite close to damaging Price's reproductive capabilities. Price was shaken up enough that he didn't make a play, and Mauer had himself a single. Price turned out to be fine and laughed it off to a concerned gathering of his teammates on the infield.</p>
<p>After striking out <span>Trevor Plouffe</span>, though, Price leaked a backdoor cutter way too far back over the plate to <span>Chris Colabello</span>, to give up his second home run of the inning. Those three runs were the only ones he would cede all game.</p>
<p><b>Bottom of the Fourth</b></p>
<p>With the lead narrowed to two runs, Zobrist got on base again in the bottom of the fourth inning, which made the Minnesota bullpen start warming. It was clear that Gardenhire didn't want Gibson to face the heart of the Rays order, who seemed to have him quite measured by this point, for the third time with men on base. Gibson checked on Zobrist incessantly to delay and give <span>Samuel Deduno</span> some time to prepare himself. Eventually, after trying unsuccessfully to bunt, Jennings took a hanging frontdoor slider into center field for a single.</p>
<p>That brought in the reliever Deduno against Matt Joyce, which has to be some kind of special occasion. How often this season has a right-handed reliever been brought in to face Joyce? The result on the box score was predictable (Joyce wins the matchup), but the way he did it was not. Deduno fed him a steady diet of cutters, but the 3-1 pitch leaked back over the plate much the way Price's cutter to Colabello had. Rather than pull the ball, which was still on the outer third, Joyce lined it the other way into the gap. If you think that adopting more of an opposite-field approach will make Joyce a better player, then I'm sure that at bat made you happy.</p>
<p><b>David Price</b></p>
<p>While I've focused so far on the three runs he gave up, make no mistake, Price was sublime. He owned both sides of the plate against this Minnesota offense. He worked efficiently, throwing a strike nearly 70% of the time, and finishing out the game on only his 104th pitch. The final statline rested at nine innings, six hits, one walk, and twelve strikeouts. It is performances like this from the top of the rotation that will give Joe Maddon an opportunity to piece together a competitive game on the <span>Cesar Ramos</span>/<span>Erik Bedard</span> nights.</p>
<p>When I see Price give up home runs and hard hit balls off his cutter, I sometimes wonder if he shouldn't throw that pitch less. Well, yes, Dozier's homer was on a poorly executed cutter, but I think Price, <span>Jose Molina</span>, and Jim Hickey know what they're doing. Outside of that one pitch, Price's cutter was dominant. He threw it 23 times (his most common pitch after his two-seam fastball), and it counted as a strike 21 of those times. Seven times it was a swinging strike. The movement on the pitch appeared bigger than usual today, but I'll have to check the data before I can say for sure. Whatever he did, though, it was working.</p>
<p><b>One other note:</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Something bizarre happened in the fifth inning. Yunel Escobar was batting with a 2-1 count, when Kurt Suzuki had a high pitch flip out of his glove. Admittedly, the play looked weird, and I understand why it was confusing. I thought, at the time, that the pitch was a check swing foul ball. The umpires got it right, though, and called it a ball. The count was 3-1. One called strike later, the count was 3-2. The next pitch was a ball high, and upon Escobar's inquiry as to what was up, the umpires went to a video review, and New York decided to make it a full count, rather than a walk. Completely incorrect. Escobar struck out on the next pitch in a 4-2 count.</li>
<li>Two times this game, Rays hitters (Longoria and Zobrist) hit ground balls up the middle for singles that would have been outs against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a>. Joe Girardi placed his shortstop over second with those two at the plate. I'm curious what Twins fans think, but I wonder if Ron Gardenhire should perhaps be a little bit more new-school with his defensive positioning.</li>
<li>Here's <a target="_blank" href="http://statlas.co/?article=Twins-Rays_2014-04-22">an interesting win probability visualization</a> that @statlasco tweeted at me during the game. I can't quite decide if it's useful or not, yet, but it is pretty.</li>
</ul>
https://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/23/5642136/rays-vs-twins-game-one-recap-rays-baseball-the-way-it-should-beIan Malinowski2014-04-22T13:00:04-04:002014-04-22T13:00:04-04:00Pitcher preview: Kyle Gibson
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8m6YkbkXWOinz9-oGNugtI783f8=/0x220:2845x2117/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/31984383/485348089.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Hannah Foslien</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A groundball machine.</p> <p>This isn't actually the first time the Rays have faced Kyle Gibson (they got to him for four runs off four hits and four walks last July), but the 26 year old is till new to the league. Gibson, a college pitcher out of the University of Missouri, missed much of the 2012 season with Tommy John Surgery, but has recovered well and pitched himself into the Twins rotation this Spring. He has yet to accumulate strikeoutsat the major league level, but given his minor league record and the quality of his stuff, it would be wishful thinking to decide that a 12% strikeout rate was his true talent.</p>
<p>What we do know about Gibson, though, is that he will force ground balls. Check out his pitches, and imagine them coming in on a downward plane from his long, 6' 6" frame.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2160789/5020432014040120140421AAAAAmovement.png"><img alt="5020432014040120140421aaaaamovement_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2160789/5020432014040120140421AAAAAmovement_medium.png"></a></p>
<p>via <a href="http://pitchfx.texasleaguers.com/charts/gen/5020432014040120140421AAAAAmovement.png">pitchfx.texasleaguers.com</a></p>
<p>The fastballs average in the low 90s, while the changeup and slider are in the low 80s. He's fairly traditional in that his changeup is there just to face lefties. With two strikes against batters on both of the plate, Gibson goes to his slider looking for the strikeout (40% of the time against righties, 22% of the time against lefties according to Brooks Baseball).</p>
<p>The main event here, though, is Gibson's two-seam fastball that has good sink. Both it and his changeup have produced a ground ball 60% of the time that they've been put in play, which gives him a career groundball rate over 50%.</p>
<p>Gibson works like the archetypal groundball pitcher. He gives hitters a steady diet of pitches down and away, often off the outside of the plate or below the knees.</p>
<p>Against lefties:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/plot_profile.php?s_type=2&gFilt=&pFilt=FA%7CSI%7CFC%7CCU%7CSL%7CCS%7CKN%7CCH%7CFS%7CSB&time=month&player=502043&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=04/22/2014&minmax=ci&var=count&balls=-1&strikes=-1&b_hand=L"></p>
<p>Against righties:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/plot_profile.php?s_type=2&gFilt=&pFilt=FA%7CSI%7CFC%7CCU%7CSL%7CCS%7CKN%7CCH%7CFS%7CSB&time=month&player=502043&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=04/22/2014&minmax=ci&var=count&balls=-1&strikes=-1&b_hand=R"></p>
<p>I'm not usually a proponent of the "don't be greedy and evil and try to pull the ball philosophy" that is so often repeated in baseball circles, but truly, this is going to be one of the days where the maxim applies. Take pitches when they're away and force Gibson to come into the zone. When he does, hit the ball where it's pitched. Also, hope you find the holes in the infield.</p>
https://www.draysbay.com/2014/4/22/5639814/pitcher-preview-kyle-gibsonIan Malinowski