Scott Feldman
by pedrophile on Mar 1, 2010 8:07 PM EST
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Fastball
- Throws it in the low to mid 90s. Typically 92-94
- Tails down and in on RH hitters.
- Consistent break
- Solid command
Cutter
- Throws it similar velocity to his fastball, maybe a touch less
- Excellent late movement
- Fangraphs had it as the 3rd best pitch in baseball, many scouts love it
- Very consistent with it.
- Combining the two pitches both with velocity and excellent movement and look identical until one breaks right the other left - this is a huge weapon for him
Slider
- Hard downward movement
- Very good chase pitch
Change
- Much improved pitch
- Nice movement, very similar to his fastball
- Good separation velocity, around 12mph difference
Curve
- I sometimes have trouble separating the curve and slider because of the downward movement
- Good pitch, needs to use it more
History
- Feldman was a decent reliever but I doubt too many saw him as a starter
- He had an almost sidearm delivery
- Breaking pitches were not that good but very good fastball
- Two years ago his arm angle was raised a little and he worked on the cutter
- Last year his arm angle raised even more. The cutter became a dominant pitch. The curve and slider gained a lot more depth. Even the change improved.
Future
- Its hard to say how much he will improve. For those looking for a regression I dont see it
- His tailing fastball and cutter combo is deadly. But its his change, curve, and slider that will determine how good he becomes.
- I remember watching a game late in the season. He was dominant but too many pitches. The announcers mentioned if he used the fastball more he might go deep into the game. Inwardly I was crying. And the catcher called what they asked for and he got crushed for a 5spot. 2 games in a row this happened. For a guy throwing 70% fastball you cant up the usage. I hope he learned the lesson that as dominant as they can be he still needs to mix it up.
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haven't looked it up
But Feldman must throw the hardest cutter in baseball. He can get both the cutter and FB at the same speed which makes it tough on hitters. I like him a lot.
looking it up probably wont help
it seems fangraphs are using Texas guns for his velocity and are about 2mph low.
gameday's gun was 1-2 mph low in texas
Plus it was off at various points in other parks last year as well. This speed difference also screwed up the pitch f/x numbers and therefore the pitch types it spit out.
Hmm maybe you're right
I just did a quick search with a pitch f/x tool. Feldman’s average 4 seam fastball in Texas was 90.5, outside of Texas it was 92.2.
Yep
I’ve read some reports that Arlington has the slowest gun.
The Cutter is becoming a very popular pitch in TX. Besides Feldman, Tommy Hunter also added it last year, Colby Lewis added it in Japan, and now Harden and McCarthy are toying with it. Apparently, Maddux and the Rangers feel the pitch will help neutralize lefties and slugging, both bugaboos when pitching in Arlington.
Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische dein Heiligtum.
I noticed the slow gun when I was watching Feliz's velocity
Consistently lower at home.. so I started watching everyone elses and almost every pitcher was a couple mph slower at home.. definitely a slow gun, good to see real data like pitch fx confirms it to some degree.
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It's about 2 MPH slower in Arlington than anywhere else...
nt…
"When Justin Upton faces Lincecum, I think Christ might appear in the heavens, and the world will end." -JakeFree
Great writeup pedrophile
Feldman was a nice surprise last year, he helped me win a fantasy league or two. The cutter certainly seems to be the latest “it” pitch huh? Man if Harden can master a cutter to go with everything else and he stays healthy…wow.
http://bullpenbanter.com
why
did it take so long
After all Texas gave up Danks who excelled after learning the cutter in Chicago. And they have an awesome HR park there as well. The white sox went exclusively cutter to counteract the power effect of their park. Why did it take Texas so long, and why is Coors waiting.
btw -for Harden it isnt just health. his stuff deteriorates a lot as he tires. he cant even throw bullpens in between games. his velocity gets into high 80s late in the season. is that really going to work in texas. at least he can warm up quick. but i really think he makes a huge splash before …
interesting write-up
honestly, Feldman hadn’t been on my radar much at all, and i would have viewed his moderate success this past year as a fluke.
i realize you already say, “hard to say how much he will improve,” but do you see room for projection? what’s a good “best-case comp” down the road for him?
Texas is tough
but I do see improvement this year. He is known as a very hard worker. And Maddux is an awesome pitching coach.
I wouldnt call it moderate success. His ERA was around 3 before the last month. Maybe it was tiring. I really think it was bad play calling.
Pudge was horrible when hitters had a chance to steal. This is a common flaw. Varitek is the worst pitch caller in baseball now. But at least Pudge really called a good game when he wasnt worried about throwing out a runner. They will miss him.
If you are in a counting league with Ks he wont be too valuable. But in a sim he is much more so. I love the controlled movement on his pitches. Tighten up his offspeed and he could be an ace. It just wont be with regular ace numbers.
interesting
i too kind of figured on Feldman as a fluke last year…had no idea the cutter was that good.
this
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by The Congo Hammer on Mar 10, 2010 2:59 AM EST up reply actions
Agreed nice write up pedrophile
I like this guy as quite underrated fantasy wise. It’ll be interesting in spring training games to see his other pitches. Hopefully he’s spent some time With M. Maddux refining at least one of them during the offseason. He’s got a pretty potent lineup behind him so if he improves even moderately he could be in for an impressive season.
"Six of my best friends just walked into the booth . . .and they're all named Bud" -Harry Caray
I thought Feldman had zero mlb future going into 2009
but he definitely won me over.. it was that 11K game vs the rays and listening to the away team announcers talk about how great his stuff was that night that finally convinced me.
Nice writeup.
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When looking at Feldmans overall numbers from last year
Just keep in mind he started out in the bullpen (thank you Kris Benson :puke:) and was rocked pretty good. His ERA as a starter was still sub 4 for the entire season and spiked toward the end of the year after a really bad outing
Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.
I can see the regression just because of the huge step forward he took.
That’s the reason I think it’s logical. I doubt it was a fluke, but there’s a justified historical cause for skepticism.
I personally expect a similar true performance, if a bit of regression in actual ERA.
FWIW
Scott Feldman’s SIERA was 4.59 last year—good for 89th among pitchers with at least 110 IP (an arbitrary amount to be sure). That ranks him right in between Mike Pelfrey and Zach Duke. As for starter vs. reliever, he logged 183 of his 189 2/3 innings as a starter.
He is a very interesting pitcher with some very good stuff, but he may have been a bit lucky last year by the looks of it. That said, there are time when a pitcher breaks out for a season and his components indicate that it was luck, but instead of a regression the following season, the components catch up to support the surface stats.
Texas sure has a stable of interesting arms for the next decade or so.
by nobodyinparticular on Mar 4, 2010 12:28 PM EST reply actions
I'll take a 4.50
in Arlington for about 190 innings, thank you very much. I think Feldman’s ERA might go up, but I see him still being a guy with about a 4.40-4.50 FIP.
Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
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The home ballpark should have little to do with SIERA
The whole point of the statistic is to try to place pitchers on equal footing for better predictive results. Thus, Feldman as the 89th best pitcher should be considered as the 89th best pitcher, not anything better or anything worse because he plays in this ballpark or that ballpark.
by nobodyinparticular on Mar 4, 2010 3:07 PM EST up reply actions
I realize what you were saying
I’m not ready to just use SIERA and call it a day, and I get the idea behind equal footing and all that. His FIP as a starter was 4.14 last year, 4.47 xFIP. I expect him to be around 4.50 for ERA in 2010. He’s only been a starter for two seasons, after changing his arm slot, and just added the cutter last year. I don’t see any reason to expect him to get worse, though I don’t expect him to get much better either. And he just turned 27.
His career BaBIP is .284 and his strand rate was reasonable. He was a little bit lucky, but it wasn’t a huge factor in his success. I think among those with qualifying innings he’ll look like a #2-#3 starter, and maybe more like a top 60-70 guy with your 110 innings cutoff.
Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische dein Heiligtum.
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