Comments on: Pitching to contact

By: vj

vj — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:20:28 +0000

Mike Marshall agrees with Mazzone.

By: kcw2

kcw2 — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:27:35 +0000

This sounds almost like the opposite of Leo Mazzone. The quote is taken from the February 6 comment at Sabernomics. Sabernomics February 6

Don’t give into the strike zone. This is about making pitches and trying to execute a good pitch. So forget about walks. And don’t throw one down the middle just because you walked a guy. I’d rather you be off the plate a little than give up a three-run bomb.

By: msb

msb — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:16:14 +0000

Baker blogs more about pitching to contact in the interteam game today

By: leetinsleyfanclub

leetinsleyfanclub — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:59:14 +0000

I think Baker got it wrong. Hargrove actually assembled Washburn, Weaver and Batista and told them to “pitch To CONTRACT”.

By: S-Mac

S-Mac — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:29:02 +0000

7: between him and Rizzs, I think this is shaping up to be the Year of Bizarro M’s Personalities. Of course the good news is that means we might actually win some games.

By: terrybenish

terrybenish — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:11:24 +0000

So where is Washburn? In the last group? No stuff, no command? Somewhere in the third inning of his outs, he seems to lose the ability to locate at all, fastballs up, slurve in the dirt. Like a normal starter might experience three or four innings later.

Do his numbers bear that out?

By: msb

msb — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:08:58 +0000

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By: msb

msb — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:58:07 +0000

They use words like “be aggressive,” “get ahead in the count,” and “trust your stuff.”

FWIW, these were the phrases that JJ & Feierabend were using when talking about what Chaves wants them to do …

By: Mat

Mat — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:54:20 +0000

I generally agree, and I think it’s weird that the Mariners insist on terming this “pitching to contact.” This is essentially the same advice that the Twins give many of their pitchers, but you won’t really ever hear them say they want their pitchers “pitching to contact.” They use words like “be aggressive,” “get ahead in the count,” and “trust your stuff.”

While I see Baker’s point about what the general philosophy behind “pitching to contact” is, I just find it to be a horrible term for the concept. Contact isn’t really the desired outcome–the desired outcome is to throw strikes and get ahead in the count. Increased contact is generally a side effect of this, but it’s not really what you want to happen.

By: DMZ

DMZ — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:53:36 +0000

Franklin’s a classic pitch to contact guy. Extremely low walk numbers.