Masset's Fastball

[joeynach]

Something I noticed about Massett's fastball is that it tends to run a lot, but it tends to run right into a right handed hitters swing place or hot zone. Im pretty sure its a two seamer with a lot of zip and movement, which I like, but I dont like it being thrown to RH hitters and being a pitch that runs to middle in to in. That is indeed the power spot for most RH hitters and so far it has seem to hurt him. I think a little location adjustment would fit him well starting the ball much further away and letting it run to be an outside fastball or throwing a strait 4 seamer to RH hitters when he wants to throw in. Anyone else notice the same.

[Milkman delivers]

I didn't actually get to see the game, but his line looks good. Did he look good?

[Jimbo's Drinker]

4.2, 1 run....um yes

[jackie hayes]

I didn't actually get to see the game, but his line looks good. Did he look good?

I think so. Good movement on his pitches, especially the two-seam and the change.

 

On the op, I dunno about that. It just depends on the situation. He has enough movement on it that it can be a nice pitch inside to righties when you want to get it in on their hands, you just don't want it to become predictable. Maybe he was overusing it today, but I really didn't notice that.

[BearSox]

Something I noticed about Massett's fastball is that it tends to run a lot, but it tends to run right into a right handed hitters swing place or hot zone. Im pretty sure its a two seamer with a lot of zip and movement, which I like, but I dont like it being thrown to RH hitters and being a pitch that runs to middle in to in. That is indeed the power spot for most RH hitters and so far it has seem to hurt him. I think a little location adjustment would fit him well starting the ball much further away and letting it run to be an outside fastball or throwing a strait 4 seamer to RH hitters when he wants to throw in. Anyone else notice the same.

Hmmm??? That makes absolute no sense, no offense of course. That homer he gave up to Michaels wasn't because it was in Michael's hot zone, it was because Michaels yanked his hands in, and got the barrell of the bat out and just hit a homer. That was actually perfect location, but like Hawk did say, Masset just got beat.

 

My question is where is this 97-98 mph fastball he supposedly has?

[Capn12]

He pitched pretty damn well, came in and did about the best we could hope for. His FB has nice movement, running in.

[RME JICO]

Hmmm??? That makes absolute no sense, no offense of course. That homer he gave up to Michaels wasn't because it was in Michael's hot zone, it was because Michaels yanked his hands in, and got the barrell of the bat out and just hit a homer. That was actually perfect location, but like Hawk did say, Masset just got beat.

 

My question is where is this 97-98 mph fastball he supposedly has?

No one is up to their normal speeds yet. Give it another week or two.

[BearSox]

No one is up to their normal speeds yet. Give it another week or two.

Well, I hope we see it soon enough, because I didn't see much of it in spring training.

 

I was looking at the gameday speeds, and I think they were much more accurate then the game's radar gun. It really didn't look to me that Masset was only topping out at 91, Thornton at 94, MacDougal at 90, and Jenks at 93.

 

According to gameday, Masset topped out at 94, Thornton at 97, MacDougal at 96, and Jenks at 97, and those are much more accurate, IMO. Thornton and MacDougal were at about their normal speeds according to gameday, but Masset and Jenks will hopefully be throwing 2-4 mph faster come next week or so.

[Balta1701]

I was just saying in the game thread that this seems like a common complaint early in the season and not just on the south side. The Padres/Giants announcers last night were saying that a bunch of scouts were complaining that none of the radar guns seemed to be matching up this year.

[RME JICO]

Well, I hope we see it soon enough, because I didn't see much of it in spring training.

 

I was looking at the gameday speeds, and I think they were much more accurate then the game's radar gun. It really didn't look to me that Masset was only topping out at 91, Thornton at 94, MacDougal at 90, and Jenks at 93.

 

According to gameday, Masset topped out at 94, Thornton at 97, MacDougal at 96, and Jenks at 97, and those are much more accurate, IMO. Thornton and MacDougal were at about their normal speeds according to gameday, but Masset and Jenks will hopefully be throwing 2-4 mph faster come next week or so.

Yeah, if they are throwing those numbers now, you can figure they will add a few on over the next few weeks. Which is awesome to think about, having that many guys hitting 95+ in the pen.

[caulfield12]

Yeah, if they are throwing those numbers now, you can figure they will add a few on over the next few weeks. Which is awesome to think about, having that many guys hitting 95+ in the pen.

 

 

I was at the Royals/Red Sox game today and Dice-K was 88-95 with his fastball on the stadium gun.

 

Greinke averaged 91-93 and threw a few in the mid 90's.

 

I think everyone will gain 1-3 MPH on their fastball as the weather heats up.

[WhiteSoxfan1986]

The WGN gun was way off.

 

I'm concerned having Masset as a long man. When he was a closer his stuff and #s were much better than when he was a starter.

[witesoxfan]

I've never heard 97-98 correlated with Masset. I've heard he has "Jenks-like stuff" which just means his stuff is similar - not a mirror image - and that his fastball was more in the 94-96 range. If he's at 94 today, I'd say that's quite encouraging.

 

I don't really know what radar figures to buy into yet, seeing as how MacDougal was clocked at like 89-90 yesterday, and 96 today? I'd guess he was around 92-94 if anything.

[whitesoxfan101]

I think he sucks because he struggled in his first outing and wasn't scouted by our scouts in Latin America.

 

*rolls eyes*

[ScottyDo]

Something I noticed about Massett's fastball is that it tends to run a lot, but it tends to run right into a right handed hitters swing place or hot zone. Im pretty sure its a two seamer with a lot of zip and movement, which I like, but I dont like it being thrown to RH hitters and being a pitch that runs to middle in to in. That is indeed the power spot for most RH hitters and so far it has seem to hurt him. I think a little location adjustment would fit him well starting the ball much further away and letting it run to be an outside fastball or throwing a strait 4 seamer to RH hitters when he wants to throw in. Anyone else notice the same.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. His pitch runs inside to righties, but it'll only run into their "power zone" if you throw it middle or outside. If you pound it inside, it'll run right into their fists and he'll get a lot of players out. Too much motion on a fastball is never a problem, you just have to locate according to the way it breaks. If what you're really saying is that he doesn't jam righties inside enough, I could agree with that, although his numbers don't really bear that hypothesis out.

[Jack Parkman]

Masset has great movement on his 4 seamer. it tails in on rightys and away on leftys. His non fastball stuff looks to be superb. His sinker and curve were awesome, changeup looked good, but his slider looked only ok. If his fastball is at 93-96 right now, then I expect some serious heat mid-season. I think he'll be a starter next year though, because Buehrle is going to walk, and I think Kenny is going to trade Jon during the offseason.

[gettysburg32]

Masset was the MVP yesterday. He finally ended the Indians' personal tee-ball game and saved our bullpen heading into this series.

[caulfield12]

Masset has great movement on his 4 seamer. it tails in on rightys and away on leftys. His non fastball stuff looks to be superb. His sinker and curve were awesome, changeup looked good, but his slider looked only ok. If his fastball is at 93-96 right now, then I expect some serious heat mid-season. I think he'll be a starter next year though, because Buehrle is going to walk, and I think Kenny is going to trade Jon during the offseason.

 

I think the only way he becomes a starter is if Floyd and Gonzalez really struggle and it appears neither of them can be 1-3 caliber starters.

 

Then you have to look at the arsenals of Thornton, Sisco and Masset and determine which of them is best suited for starting. Clearly, Masset has the most experience and would seem to have the advantage, at this point.

 

OTOH, if Sisco or Thornton could make it as a starter, you would effectively be replacing Buehrle with another lefty starter (the most valuable commodity in MLB) and you could bring up Logan (a move everyone wanted anyway) and you would still have two quality lefties on the big league team.

 

There's some thought that Adam Russell isn't far from being able to replace Aardsma/Masset/MacDougal, so that bears watching as well.

 

Finally, Gio Gonzalez could be put into that Buehrle 2000 role, grooming him as a starter, like the Sox at one point hoped to do with Neal Cotts and Brandon McCarthy.

[joeynach]

I'm not sure what you're getting at. His pitch runs inside to righties, but it'll only run into their "power zone" if you throw it middle or outside. If you pound it inside, it'll run right into their fists and he'll get a lot of players out. Too much motion on a fastball is never a problem, you just have to locate according to the way it breaks. If what you're really saying is that he doesn't jam righties inside enough, I could agree with that, although his numbers don't really bear that hypothesis out.

 

Yeah what Im saying is that I think his two seamer is great its got a ton of movement but he was throwing it inside to righties, as just an inside fastball. At that point the ball is running from outside or middle to middle in, which is into the hitters swing plane. IMO throwing that 2 seamer in should come after a few outside pitches; changes, slider, 4 seamer. That way he can throw a 2 seamer fastball in to righties and it wall start outside (which is what they just saw) and run in on their hands and they will jam themselves thinking they are seeing another outside pitch. My point is that I dont like throwing a "naked" inside 2 seam fastball, because a good hitter will just yank his hands and crush it, ala Micheals. I think the pitch, albeit a very good one, needs to be set up in a contingent of speeds and movements that Massett features.

Edited April 6, 2007 by joeynach

[Cerbaho-WG]

Masset has great movement on his 4 seamer. it tails in on rightys and away on leftys. His non fastball stuff looks to be superb. His sinker and curve were awesome, changeup looked good, but his slider looked only ok. If his fastball is at 93-96 right now, then I expect some serious heat mid-season. I think he'll be a starter next year though, because Buehrle is going to walk, and I think Kenny is going to trade Jon during the offseason.

 

That's his two-seamer, buddy.

 

Anyways, if Masset can throw around 92-94 as a starter, it brings up a compelling situation. His two seamer is very, very good, and would have been better if the zone wasn't so small yesterday. His curve is a 12-6 spike curve, and his changeup is very good. His slider is simply mediocre, but it seems to be a show me pitch.

[3E8]

Seems to me he hardly ever throws his change? I feel like I've only seen it a handful of times in his two outings. But yeah the two-seamer has crazy movement and curve bites a lot. No control with the slider, and control looks like his biggest challenge overall. Masset's thrown almost as many balls as strikes. If he can be consistently more precise, look out, because his arm is great. I wonder if the Rangers knew what they had when he was traded.