hi8is Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 i was at a local dive today when i ran into an old baseball friend of mine... we used to play high school ball together... turns out he is in the AA st. louis system and i asked him about mcarthy... he said, "average fastball, average curveball, average change, average everything except this.." and he pointed to his head... "the guy just studys the hell out of every player he will face, thats how he is a work horse. in my 3 years in the minors ive gotten one hit of him. he knows i will swing at a fastball out of the zone on the first pitch. he knows i will look at a curve ball on the second pitch for a strike. and he knows i will swing at a low and away curve to either ground out or stike out. the guy got a $500,000 contract for a reason." looks like my friend, timmy cantu... really has high thoughts of brandon and said that once he gets his time in the bigs, that he will do everything he can to suceed, and will. i put this in the pale hose fourm because i thought it needed the exposer it would get here, in contrast to the futures board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 That's cool but your friend is a pitcher and has one career innings pitched in the minors and zero at-bats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Tim Cantu is a second baseman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 03:40 AM) Tim Cantu is a second baseman. Here they have him as a pitcher. http://www.sports-wired.com/profiles/CA/tbc50919.asp Here is an article of him as a second baseman. Very odd that baseball cube would not have him. http://www.nypennleague.com/news/?cat=1&id=738 I see none of his stats anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 He pitched one inning in relief. http://www1.infinitydesign.net/virtual/njc...w/news/?id=1804 He was a pretty poor hitter from the stats I saw. He hit barely over the Mendoza line. http://njcards.com/statistics/?type=batting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 04:02 AM) He pitched one inning in relief. http://www1.infinitydesign.net/virtual/njc...w/news/?id=1804 He was a pretty poor hitter from the stats I saw. He hit barely over the Mendoza line. http://njcards.com/statistics/?type=batting Damn i was on that site and just clicked on his name. All i got was his profile, which has nothing in it, so i assumed he never did anything but that one inning of relief. I can definitely see why he cannot hit bmac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickman Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 I think its great that we have a smart pitcher and one who studies. The Big league is not average though and if he misses the strike zone by a half inch the ball is gone. I will wait to get excited about this guy. lets see how he does in spring training this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdhargo Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 McCarthy has to have plus stuff to be striking out as many batters as he does, doesn't he? I mean, Maddux is a smart pitcher, and although his K/BB ratio (in his prime) was sick, you still never saw the K/9 IP that McCarthy is putting up. So the synopsis of McCarthy is "just ok stuff" but the brains to strike out people? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babybearhater Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 McCarthy has to have plus stuff to be striking out as many batters as he does, doesn't he? I mean, Maddux is a smart pitcher, and although his K/BB ratio (in his prime) was sick, you still never saw the K/9 IP that McCarthy is putting up. So the synopsis of McCarthy is "just ok stuff" but the brains to strike out people? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> his fastball is supposed to have some late movement on it, and he can throw 3-4 other pitches with great accuracy. That alone is worth a look in the bigs. You have to remember how low his walks are, alot of pitchers with unreal curves cant hit the zone and walk everyone, he k's and doesnt walk everyone. That bodes real well for his future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdhargo Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 QUOTE(babybearhater @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 11:07 AM) his fastball is supposed to have some late movement on it, and he can throw 3-4 other pitches with great accuracy. That alone is worth a look in the bigs. You have to remember how low his walks are, alot of pitchers with unreal curves cant hit the zone and walk everyone, he k's and doesnt walk everyone. That bodes real well for his future I understand that we he is doing thus far in a short minor league career is great and bodes well if he sustains such performance at each level he climbs to. However, my question was: His strike out totals -- are they due to simply being "smart and accurate," or does he have some nasty stuff to go along w/ the previously-mentioned attributes? This minor leaguer who was spoken to, and who faced McCarthy, said that McCarthy had "average stuff." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 QUOTE(kdhargo @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 09:31 AM) I understand that we he is doing thus far in a short minor league career is great and bodes well if he sustains such performance at each level he climbs to. However, my question was: His strike out totals -- are they due to simply being "smart and accurate," or does he have some nasty stuff to go along w/ the previously-mentioned attributes? This minor leaguer who was spoken to, and who faced McCarthy, said that McCarthy had "average stuff." I haven't seen Brandon pitch personally, but those who have, and that includes his teammates on here, have never described his stuff as average. There are people on here who have seen him on almost a daily basis, and people who have seen him pitch once, and I have never heard that assessment FWIW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider17 Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Off topic: What is "FWIW"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 For what its worth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider17 Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 OK. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Well as for what BMac's teammates have said, his stuff is going to look a hell of a lot better when it's working like it was last year. From what I've read though most of his stuff improved a lot this year, especially his curve and change come to mind. I thought he worked on adding a change this season and his curve improved, but I could be wrong. Either way, BMac has awesome control so I would have to think that he would only need smarts and above average stuff to put up the numbers he did this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punch and Judy Garland Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Maybe by average stuff, he means the stuff of a #3-4 starter. While everyone in the bigs has a #1 starter on Opening Day, the BA definition leads to only about 15 or so. This definition excludes really good pitchers like Mark Buehrle and BRad Radke and favors guys like Beckett and Penny. Perhaps this is the sort of thing he meant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T R U Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 knows i will swing at a fastball out of the zone on the first pitch. he knows i will look at a curve ball on the second pitch for a strike. and he knows i will swing at a low and away curve to either ground out or stike out. If your friend KNOWS he does this why does he just not? haha.. seems funny to me, you would think that if you know you do that stuff you would be able to fix that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santo=dorf Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 QUOTE(Man Of Steel @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 03:43 PM) If your friend KNOWS he does this why does he just not? haha.. seems funny to me, you would think that if you know you do that stuff you would be able to fix that <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just when you think you have all of the answers, BMAC CHANGES THE QUESTIONS!!! MUWAHAHAHAHAH!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Good info Hi8. I do think Bmac has better then just average stuff, but in comparison he doesn't have one pitch that truly sticks out where you go WOW. What he does is have three good pitches that he can pinpoint. Thats the key. The guy flat out knows where he's throwing and does a nice job mixing pitches. Like Rex has mentioned he needs to learn to throw a few more intentional balls just to keep hitters honest, but in general what makes Bmac so good is his three good pitches (FB, CV, CH) mixed in with great control and a good downward plane he gots on the ball. He has also seen a nice increase in velocity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodAsGould Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 well our current number 1 starter doesnt have the best stuff either and is very succesful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USAF_11F4H Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Yes, Buehrle has been successful -- but do you see the dominance that McCarthy exhibits? Buehrle is very solid, don't get be wrong, but he gives up a lot more hits than IP and doesn't have the strikeout numbers that McCarthy does. I guess the question can be turned into this: We know McCarthy is progressing nicely thus far. What is it that made him dominant in '04? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aboz56 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Hopefully he'll be at Charlotte at some point this year so I can go out to the park here in Louisville and finally get a chance to see this guy throw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 03:42 PM) I haven't seen Brandon pitch personally, but those who have, and that includes his teammates on here, have never described his stuff as average. There are people on here who have seen him on almost a daily basis, and people who have seen him pitch once, and I have never heard that assessment FWIW. I've seen him pitch a few times. While I wouldn't call his stuff average, it isn't necessarily dominating either. He command and ability to pound the strike zone are dominating, however. The concerns I had were that I thought he pitched too much in a pattern, which some hitters picked up on. That is easy to fix and I have no doubt he would have fixed it with a longer stint in AA. His fastball can be hittable at times as well. He sits in the 89-91 range, getting up to 92-93 on occasion. When he spots it, it is very good. Sometimes he seemed to be content with just getting ahead, not locating the fastball as well early in the count. That could be a lack of concentration or just mistakes, I don't know. His changeup could also use some improvement, but there aren't many AA pitchers you wouldn't say that about. It wasn't bad, by any means and at times was very good. Either way, those "problems" are easily fixable. If Brandon can continue to locate and throw strikes, he'll be a succesful big league pitcher. I did find it funny that your friend knew his own tendencies. I know it is not as easy as just saying it, but if he knows his weaknesses, he better be able to change them or AA is as far as he will ever go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hi8is Posted January 21, 2005 Author Share Posted January 21, 2005 QUOTE(Man Of Steel @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 09:43 PM) If your friend KNOWS he does this why does he just not? haha.. seems funny to me, you would think that if you know you do that stuff you would be able to fix that that was just one example of an at bat... cantu was trying to tell me that bmac studys hitters relentlessly and uses his mind a lot for the battle.... so that was just an example of his first at bat in a game... so next at bat bmac would say something like, "ok, i threw him up and in for strike one on a fastball, so now ill give him a curve low and in since he grounded out on one out of the zone last at bat. i can get a fast out or strike one with that pitch of this guy." my friend seemed to empasise that he uses his mind a lot and prepares like crazy... that he has good stuff, just nothing like clemens or johnson amazing... just kind of average... and a 89 - 93 fastball is average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Can a AA hitter flirting with the Mendoza line differentiate between average stuff and dominating stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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