What do you not like about David Price?

by loop on Mar 3, 2009 12:12 AM EST Comment 30 comments

I have been reading about Price and all his wonderful attributes for so long that it seems like so many on this site feel that it's a foregone conclusion that the guy is going to be the next Sandy Koufax or something. Let me first say that I own him in my main keeper league AL only, so I hope all you fanboys are right, but I still want to pose this question to everyone. What do you NOT like about David Price? What about him says to you that he will not be successful or what will cause his downfall? I'm not talking about injuries, injuries can happen to anyone. I mean from what you've seen so far, what do you not like. Discuss....

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by MJMars on Mar 3, 2009 12:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’ll start by saying he only has 3 pitches to my knowledge (FB, CU, Slider) and doesn’t throw the CU consistently enough.

I have Price in the only 2 leagues I play in anymore so love the kid but I’m not confident enough to say he is a generational talent or about to pull a Timmy Lincecum on us.

by jfish26101 on Mar 3, 2009 12:54 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not a big deal but

wasn’t blown away by his minor league strikeout rate. Sure he was effective, but from a guy with Price’s stuff and polish, I am surprised he didn’t put up bigger k numbers. He’s going to be a hell of a pitcher though, no doubt.

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by lemonjello on Mar 3, 2009 12:59 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Questionable Curveball means more slider

one of the worst for the arm, not saying he will get hurt. But I definitely like somebody who throws fastball-change-curve a lot more health wise.

by playingwithfire on Mar 3, 2009 2:53 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

By CU he meant change up

Price doesn’t throw a curve.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 3, 2009 1:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Correct. ;)

by jfish26101 on Mar 3, 2009 2:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

my point still stand, no?

by playingwithfire on Mar 3, 2009 6:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well yes he has to throw a lot of sliders but he will mostly throw FBs with slider as his out pitch. If he can improve his CU (which is basically fringe average at the moment despite showing flashes of eventually being above average), then that is even less sliders. I figure he will mostly use FB/CU in a couple of years once he is fully developed with the occasional slider.

by jfish26101 on Mar 3, 2009 6:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

well, the guy is asking for negatives

and plenty of guys with “flash of plus changeup” never harness the consistency to throw them due to so many reasons(control, arm angle, blisters…)

I’m just saying that if he stays a fastball/slider guy and somehow gets hurt because he throw his slider a bit too much. Lose like 1-2 mph on his fastball and a little bit of command, we are all of a sudden looking at a league average/below average SP(especially in the AL East) who’ll give people ideas about moving him into the pen because he “doesn’t have enough pitches to start” or “don’t have the endurance”

I love Price as much as the next guy. But since he’s looking for negatives, I’m giving it to the guy. And let’s not appoint Price as a perenial All-Star yet.

by playingwithfire on Mar 3, 2009 8:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

???

I’ll start by saying he only has 3 pitches to my knowledge (FB, CU, Slider) and doesn’t throw the CU consistently enough.

I have Price in the only 2 leagues I play in anymore so love the kid but I’m not confident enough to say he is a generational talent or about to pull a Timmy Lincecum on us.

by jfish26101 on Mar 3, 2009 12:54 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

About 8-10 posts above…I’m not appointing him as anything yet.

by jfish26101 on Mar 3, 2009 8:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

sorry, you sounded defensive above

my apologies

by playingwithfire on Mar 3, 2009 8:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's not at all out of the question that he won't have a year like Buchholz's 2008

Buchholz is a terrific pitcher and so is David Price, but so far everything has worked out perfectly which will simply not continue to happen. There will be mis-steps, problems, mistakes, etc. I’d make the same comment about Matt Wieters, but especially about Price because pitchers are necessarily less consistent. Frankly, if I have Price in a league, I’d deal him for Buchholz and Hughes while Price’s value is perfect.

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by OldProspects on Mar 3, 2009 7:49 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't

make that trade. The chance of Price’s value increasing / the amount it could increase at this point is just to big for those 2 question marks.

by slurve on Mar 3, 2009 8:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You might be right

Except as a rule with pitchers, and particularly with pitching prospects, I’d rather have more question marks than the one guy who everybody believes in. The reason is that the “perfect” pitching prospect is oftentimes the guy who hasn’t screwed up yet.

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by OldProspects on Mar 3, 2009 11:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Lemonjello – that is the ONE thing that I question about Price. I wanted to see that dominant performance in the minor leagues last year, at least one time. I wanted to see the game where he dropped 14 strikeouts in a 1 hitter or something. I know he was on a pitch count for most of the year and such, but that is one thing that kind of bothered me about Price last season. For a supposed big time strikeout pitcher, getting a k an inning is not something that makes you stop and take notice. I know of his polish and his ground ball rates, and I love the kid as a prospect, I’m not saying I don’t. I just think that EVERYONE sees him as a slam dunk and I wanted to hear others points of view to see if they had any of the same fears I did.

by loop on Mar 3, 2009 10:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

One of the best SP prospects I have seen

The thing I like over everything is his easy motion. Even though it would be nice if he had more than a FB/SL combo(ocassional CU), this can still be effective because he doesn’t change arm angles from FB to SL. That makes his slider better even though it doesn’t look devastating from behind. And since he throws it from 3/4 it is much less stressful on the arm.
His upside is so tremendous you can’t look for ditractions in his game right now.

My first mistake was assuming you knew what I was talking about.

by Shamus on Mar 3, 2009 11:49 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Control

He struggled with his control a bit at times, but that also comes with just about any young pitcher.

by guru4u on Mar 3, 2009 12:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

especially tall ones

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 3, 2009 1:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There's a pretty decent chance that Price only ends up being pretty good

But he can locate two plus pitches, which is a great start. The biggest issue is whether he can develop his change into a true third pitch. Still, his fastball and slider are good enough that he should still be a good MLB starter even if the change never develops. Randy Johnson was one of the better pitchers in the majors for years while almost exclusively throwing the same two pitches (although granted his FB/SL combo was better than Price’s, though his command of it was much worse at the same age).

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 3, 2009 1:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

All good points

My biggest issue is that he just doesnt have the electric stuff you expect from somebody who is supposed to be the best pitching prospect in the game.

He’s more smooth than electric. Still, I expect him to be a front of the rotation MLB pitcher…

by alskor on Mar 3, 2009 1:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

K rates

Not impressive last season. I know it’s a small sample size, but it’s enough to raise some questions. Certainly they were not indicative of the kind of “ZOMG best picther EVAR” hype that he has received.

I also felt his slider was kind of flat in the playoffs, but maybe it was just the camera angle.

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Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
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by PaulThomas on Mar 3, 2009 2:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Does he throw a Changeup?

If not that’s a problem.

by schmosterballs92 on Mar 3, 2009 3:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

He looks a little like Francisco Rodriguez… and I HATE that guy!

by dogdays on Mar 3, 2009 4:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

His biggest problem

Not only is he not Matt Wieters, but Matt Wieters is also in his division!

RIVER CATS: AAA CHAMPS!

by niallmack on Mar 3, 2009 7:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

He's not a Cub...

Nor is he on my fantasy team…

Other than that I think he is great

by tt68 on Mar 3, 2009 9:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

All the negatives will be moot

Unless he eventually goes down the path of Steve Avery…

by BBFan1 on Mar 4, 2009 12:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Hype.

I like him just fine, but I’m afraid the common fan is already developing an overblown sense of expectation from him. Worse, I’m afraid he’ll start believing it and not be able to overcome the inevitable rookie / young player struggles.

Fans are typically idiots.

by The Typical Idiot Fan on Mar 4, 2009 7:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs