I'm in love with Zack Greinke
by pedrophile on Sep 20, 2007 7:33 PM EDT
19 comments
Man-love that is.
Quote from todays game:
"That is something I wouldn't have been able to do in the past," Greinke said. "Since I've moved to the bullpen, I've been striking out guys better. Ten is a real lot. I never would have imagined that when the season started, me striking out 10 in a game cause I just couldn't miss that many bats."
"Greinke has an electric fastball," White Sox catcher Toby Hall said. "It just jumped out of his hand, good slider, good curve."
His box score was:
IP hits runs bb k's pitch-strike era
8.0 2 0 0 10 101-75
It seems he is learning to be more efficient. Normally with a big k game that doesn't hold up. Very nice to see. On top of that he didn't walk anyone which also normally happens when effectively wild. A truly dominating game.
And if you look 10 outings he has given up 3 runs versus the Yankees, 1 earned against Cleveland, and that's it.
That's 35 1/3 IP with 4 earned runs.
Oh, and here are the month by month ERA's for him:
April 3.51
May 7.15
June 3.06
July 2.77
Aug 2.81
Sept 2.57
more numbers? ok, here you go:
month ip hits hr bb k h/9 bb/9 k/9
-----------------------------------------------
April 25.2 30 1 9 16 10.5 3.16 5.61
May 22 34 6 5 18 13.9 2.05 7.36
June 17.2 12 1 4 20 6.11 2.04 10.19
July 13 9 0 5 12 6.23 3.46 8.31
Aug 16 13 0 4 16 7.3 2.25 9.00
Sept 22 17 2 7 18 6.95 2.86 7.36
So it looks like the low ERA in April was a bit lucky because of the very high whip, and of course he got pummeled in May. His three months in the pen had a whip of about 1.00 showing the ERA was definitely earned. Even back in the rotation his K's are much higher than at any point in his career.
I think the only hurdle for him now is maintaining this. The ability to keep the pitch count decent, and keeping his hits,k's, bb ratios all similar to what he has done so far.
These numbers scream top of the rotation. Ace? I think he will be one.
thoughts?
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=425844
ps: Please feel free to create your own "i'm in love with ..." thread, pitcher or player.
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by pedrophile on Sep 20, 2007 7:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
damn you
yeah, I always get his wrong. Oops.
by pedrophile on Sep 20, 2007 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Zack Attack!
by daveh33 on Sep 20, 2007 10:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
02 draft
by joltin joe dimaggio on Sep 20, 2007 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Watched the game today
My man crush on Greinke returned the very first night I saw him throw 98 mph out of the pen. Needless to say, my love has only grown since he returned to the rotation.
After an offseason of conditioning to improve his arm strength (and give him the endurance to go deep into games while maintaining velocity), he is going to be an absolute force next year.
by ajohnst1 on Sep 20, 2007 11:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Doesn't bibigon
by Flynn Blake on Sep 21, 2007 3:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I like Zack
But...we've seen these flashes b/4 and I get my hopes up about him and the next outing he nibbles, has 4 foul balls per ab and can't get out of the 5th inning while throwing 98 pitches.
I wish he could sustain this. I wish he could be the pitcher that he truly is all the time.
Not just b/c I have him in a Strat league.
Or maybe it is b/c I have him in a Strat league.
by Shep on Sep 21, 2007 9:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Foul balls
Since his return to the rotation, he's been sitting at 94-95 most of the game, and can dial it up in the high 90s if he needs to. The games you refer to seem to describe his first five starts at the beginning of the year, when he was still very much a finesse pitcher. In particular, there was one start against the Tigers where he could not get a pitch by ANYONE. They just kept fouling off his pitches until they got something to hit, and hit it hard.
That Greinke is gone. These days, he can just blow guys away with his fastball or slider if he needs to, but he can still locate and change speeds like the Greinke of old. I think the change is for good. As long as he maintains his velocity, he's for real. Considering that he's done that for nearly four months now, I'd say that's a pretty good indication that the stuff is here to stay.
by ajohnst1 on Sep 21, 2007 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
LOL
He was rushed to the majors and had some well-documented personal issues. These challenges appear to be in the past, and he is now living up to the potential he had as the top pitching prospect in the minors during 03-04.
Mark it down: Greinke is going to have a Liriano-like breakout season next year.
by Bowser on Sep 21, 2007 11:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Bad
by FrozenTed9 on Sep 21, 2007 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Disagree slightly
But I think Zack is more than living up to the potential he had in 2003-2004, which is the scary thing. He's a better "prospect" now than he was even then. He had great success in the minors just by changing speeds and locating well. He can still do that today, but now, he can just flat-out blow guys away, too. There aren't many pitchers with that combination of control, power, and variation.
Example: Yesterday's game saw the return of Greinke's slow curve. Check out this pitch sequence to Andy Gonzalez:
87 mph slider low and away, swinging strike, 0-1.
96 (!) mph fastball, low and away, ball, 1-1.
95 mph fastball, outside corner, called strike, 1-2.
71 mph curveball, low and away, swinging strike, 1-3.
Three of his pitches weren't strikes, but it had to be intentional, because strike two was a 95 mph fastball on the black for a called strike. Incredible command and velocity there. And strike three was 24 mph slower than the previous pitch! Gonzalez had no chance. In one at-bat he saw pitches as fast as 96, as slow as 71, that broke as little as 1" (the called strike two), or as much as 13" (the slow curve). That's insane.
by ajohnst1 on Sep 21, 2007 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Zack
Also, kudos to Dayton Moore and others for shifting him to the pen. The ability to work on his mechanics in shorter, controlled outings seems to have helped him find some extra velocity while maintaining his command.
by Yakker on Sep 21, 2007 3:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
velocity
by pedrophile on Sep 21, 2007 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
McG
by KaoticKlown on Sep 21, 2007 8:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Greinke
Maybe in the pen he finally tried going all out and it is just working better for him. I imagine the extra velocity only makes his great off speed stuff that much more devastating.
by cajunrevenge on Sep 22, 2007 3:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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