A little Humber history lesson

[southsider2k5]

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/4/23/2968660/...kland-athletics

 

Philip Humber: Five Teams And A Perfect Game

 

By Marc Normandin - Contributor

 

Philip Humber threw an unexpected perfect game this weekend, especially surprising to the teams who have let him go.

 

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Apr 23, 2012 - Pitching a perfect game gets you into an exclusive club, but not everyone who performs the feat is an all-time great hurler. Philip Humber is the latest example of this, as he's certainly competent, but in the grand scheme of things, not the kind of pitcher you would predict to go 27 up, 27 down. In fact, he's been with multiple organizations who weren't convinced he could even stick in the majors before getting his first real shot with the White Sox in 2011.

 

After 30 starts, 177 innings, and a 121 ERA+ with the White Sox, Humber tossed a perfect game. You can't criticize his former teams for letting a pitcher who would throw a perfect game go -- as fun as it might be to tease your Mets-loving friends, it's just not something you can predict -- but you can scrutinize their decision to cut a capable pitcher loose, as Saturday afternoon's contest isn't the only example of how useful he's been over the past 12 months.

 

Humber was drafted third overall back in 2004 by the Mets, but didn't start his professional career until 2005. The 22-year-old spent his first year in the minors at High- and Double-A, where he missed bats and didn't walk many, but posted a 5.09 ERA over 74 innings and underwent Tommy John surgery. The very next year, Humber got a taste of the majors as a September call-up, but the Mets' intentions were to have him at Triple-A in 2007.

 

To that point, Humber moved through the minors quickly -- in two years' time, he had already debuted in the bigs, and in 2007, he threw 139 of his 146 innings at Triple-A. He was rated as the #50 prospect by Baseball America heading into 2005, before he ever threw a professional pitch, and he was #73 before the 2007 season. From BA:

 

Humber's curveball is one of the best in the minors. Thrown at 74-78 mph, it has tight rotation with a powerful downward action. His fastball sits at 90-94 mph. He also features a developing low-80s changeup with late sink. He throws strikes with all three pitches... He profiles as a No. 2 or 3 starter.

 

His 2007 was good, but not great, with Humber posting a 2.7 K/BB and 4.27 ERA. The Mets never got a chance to see if he was capable of improving on that with more time in the minors, as they dealt him along with Carlos Gomez and two others whose names will only ever be mentioned in conjunction with Johan Santana. The Mets can be excused for not waiting on Humber to develop, because Johan Santana.

 

The Twins stuck him in Triple-A once again, where he threw all but 11 of his innings. This was part of a common theme for Humber, where he would toil in Triple-A for most of the year, and be tossed a teasing taste of the majors. His minor-league performances never quite forced the issue, but he wasn't always with the strongest of clubs, either. Just one Twin made 30 starts in 2008, and Livan Hernandez was given 23 starts to post a 77 ERA+. The 2009 Twins gave 17 starts to Glen Perkins and 12 to Anthony Swarzak, while just three of their starters made at least 20 starts. Humber threw 20 innings combined in those two years, all in relief.

 

Relief wasn't a terrible place for him to be. His change never developed into enough of a third pitch to get by as a starter in the majors, but his curve and heater were good enough to keep him out of Triple-A. The Twins were at least competitive when they weren't testing Humber out, but the Royals, his next team, only have the excuse of not knowing what a useful pitcher looks like.

 

Humber threw 118 innings for Triple-A Omaha in 2010, while the Royals got this out of all of their non-Zack Greinke starters:

Rk Pos Age ERA GS IP ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB

2 SP Kyle Davies 26 5.34 32 183.2 78 1.557 10.1 1.0 3.9 6.2 1.58

3 SP Bruce Chen* 33 4.17 23 140.1 101 1.375 8.7 1.1 3.7 6.3 1.72

4 SP Brian Bannister 29 6.34 23 127.2 66 1.629 11.1 1.6 3.5 5.4 1.54

5 SP Luke Hochevar 26 4.81 17 103.0 87 1.427 9.6 0.8 3.2 6.6 2.05

6 SP Sean O'Sullivan 22 6.11 13 70.2 69 1.557 10.6 1.8 3.4 4.7 1.37

12 Gil Meche 31 5.69 9 61.2 74 1.670 9.5 1.3 5.5 6.0 1.08

14 Bryan Bullington 29 6.12 5 42.2 69 1.594 10.8 1.3 3.6 6.1 1.71

16 Anthony Lerew 27 8.54 6 26.1 50 1.633 11.6 3.1 3.1 6.2 2.00

18 Philip Humber 27 4.15 1 21.2 102 1.338 9.1 0.4 2.9 6.6 2.29

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original TableGenerated 4/23/2012.

 

Now, maybe Humber wouldn't have succeeded. But when these are your options, and Humber is in his fourth-straight season at Triple-A, rolling the dice on him isn't a bad idea. Instead of doing just that (or letting Humber work out of the bullpen), the Royals put him on waivers, where he was selected by the Oakland A's. The Athletics kept him around for a month in the winter, before the White Sox picked him up off of waivers from Oakland.

 

Chicago placed Humber in the majors, but there was something different about him from the start. He never did get the hang of that change-up -- or perhaps he hung too many -- keeping him from an effective third pitch. His repertoire changed dramatically with his move to the White Sox, though:

Pre-White Sox

 

 

White Sox

 

Pitch Count Frequency

Pitch Count Frequency

Fourseam 526 55%

Fourseam 942 34%

Sinker 63 7%

Sinker 317 11%

Slider 1 0%

Slider 585 21%

Curveball 273 28%

Curveball 562 20%

Change 96 10%

Change 372 13%

 

Total 959

 

Total 2778

 

 

(Data courtesy of Brooks Baseball.)

 

Humber didn't throw a ton of innings before the White Sox made him a starter, but he threw enough to get a sense of what he liked to throw. Specifically, his four-seam fastball and his curve were his primary weapons, with a rare sinker and the occasional change-up getting play, too. With Chicago, he's reduced his fastball usage significantly, and replaced that with a slider.

 

The slider isn't phenomenal by any means, but it's Humber's most-effective offering when it comes to inducing swings-and-misses, and it's been the useful pitch against left-handers that his change-up never became. The slider has been good enough to allow him to start rather than sit in Triple-A, and 19 of them on Saturday helped him to his perfect game.

 

Credit the White Sox and pitching coach Don Cooper for giving Humber the weapon he's always needed in order to stick in the majors. It's odd that none of his other organizations did the same -- or even gave it a shot, in the case of Oakland. Humber might not be the kind of pitcher you expect a perfect game from, but since being given a real chance to succeed, that's just what he's done.

[Jake]

If Humber is a fixture in our rotation, it may be the best one for Coop yet. It seemed to this point that he could teach a cutter and he could help guys with poor control.

 

Humber when he was acquired:

-Satisfactory control

-Had a cutter

 

Coop teaches him a slider and (along with a myriad of other things I'm sure) he had a near All-Star caliber first half this year and looks great so far again this year.

[caulfield12]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/philip-humber...x-mariners.html

 

 

So far....you'd have to go with

 

 

1.Loaiza

2.Thornton

3.Humber

4.Contreras

5.Jenks or Santos

[Balta1701]

If Humber is a fixture in our rotation, it may be the best one for Coop yet. It seemed to this point that he could teach a cutter and he could help guys with poor control.

 

Humber when he was acquired:

-Satisfactory control

-Had a cutter

 

Coop teaches him a slider and (along with a myriad of other things I'm sure) he had a near All-Star caliber first half this year and looks great so far again this year.

Another thing Coop has done with Humber is getting him to stop using the cutter.

[Quin]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/philip-humber...x-mariners.html

 

 

So far....you'd have to go with

 

 

1.Loaiza

2.Thornton

3.Humber

4.Contreras

5.Jenks or Santos

 

Floyd in there too.

[caulfield12]

You probably have to give a little credit to Cooper with Danks too, at least the breakout season in 2008.

 

We're not there in the clubhouse or on the field with them and in ST, so it's hard to ascertain, other than the bits and pieces we hear in the press or in interviews.

 

For example, we know Mark Buehrle also had a pronounced effect on some of our starters, getting them to work more quickly or helping them with some of their secondary pitches, etc. Providing insight about how to pitch to certain batters, things like that.

 

Unfortunately, pitching advice seems to payoff with more immediate dividends than Gordon Beckham spending so much time around Paul Konerko picking his brain about hitting.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

If Humber is a fixture in our rotation, it may be the best one for Coop yet. It seemed to this point that he could teach a cutter and he could help guys with poor control.

 

Humber when he was acquired:

-Satisfactory control

-Had a cutter

 

Coop teaches him a slider and (along with a myriad of other things I'm sure) he had a near All-Star caliber first half this year and looks great so far again this year.

 

I'd have to go with

 

1. Contreras

2. Floyd

3. Thornton

4. Jenks

5. Humber

6. Loiaza

 

Loaiza could have been at the top, but he didn't sustain it past one year. Contreras was a long time contributor, and was a trainwreck before he got here. Same with Floyd.

[caulfield12]

I'd have to go with

 

1. Contreras

2. Floyd

3. Thornton

4. Jenks

5. Humber

6. Loiaza

 

Loaiza could have been at the top, but he didn't sustain it past one year. Contreras was a long time contributor, and was a trainwreck before he got here. Same with Floyd.

 

 

Really hard to do, when it comes down to it. I would argue the opposite, we took Esteban off the scrap heap, out of nowhere. I think he was a non-roster invite that year, along with Gil Heredia...not only does he look like the best pitcher in the American League for most of the 2003 season, you end up the next year turning him around for the one pitcher who puts you over the top to win the World Series in Contreras.

 

So the reverberating echo of that one 2003 season singlehandedly launched us into the Garcia/Contreras acquisitions and a title.

 

And then you have to look at the amount of time that Esteban spent here...compared to some of those other guys.

 

And Jenks, another guy off waivers who was having loads of personal problems but always had the arm/talent/stuff...so hard to put these guys in any kind of order.

 

One of the only and major criticisms of Cooper has been his ability to work with Hudson a couple of years ago...even then, you can understand a pitching coach in a "win now" mode again falling in love with Edwin Jackson's arm and saying he can work with that. And Jackson was nearly great for us for most of 2010, too.

 

But he's no miracle worker...he can't turn a Chris Marquez or Van Benschoten or Kip Wells or Mitch Mustain into Cy Young. You have to have the stuff, the talent and ability.

 

Same thing with Aardsma, Sisco, Masset, MacDougal, etc.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

Really hard to do, when it comes down to it. I would argue the opposite, we took Esteban off the scrap heap, out of nowhere. I think he was a non-roster invite that year, along with Gil Heredia...not only does he look like the best pitcher in the American League for most of the 2003 season, you end up the next year turning him around for the one pitcher who puts you over the top to win the World Series in Contreras.

 

So the reverberating echo of that one 2003 season singlehandedly launched us into the Garcia/Contreras acquisitions and a title.

 

And then you have to look at the amount of time that Esteban spent here...compared to some of those other guys.

 

And Jenks, another guy off waivers who was having loads of personal problems but always had the arm/talent/stuff...so hard to put these guys in any kind of order.

 

One of the only and major criticisms of Cooper has been his ability to work with Hudson a couple of years ago...even then, you can understand a pitching coach in a "win now" mode again falling in love with Edwin Jackson's arm and saying he can work with that. And Jackson was nearly great for us for most of 2010, too.

 

But he's no miracle worker...he can't turn a Chris Marquez or Van Benschoten or Kip Wells or Mitch Mustain into Cy Young. You have to have the stuff, the talent and ability.

 

Same thing with Aardsma, Sisco, Masset, MacDougal, etc.

 

Speaking of Mustain, what happened with him? I didn't hear his name at all in the spring.

 

[southsider2k5]

Speaking of Mustain, what happened with him? I didn't hear his name at all in the spring.

 

Nevermind, twitter and ye shall receive.

 

Mitch Mustain ‏ @MitchMustain

@BaghdadJIMWADE I'm in extended training for the Sox

[southsider2k5]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/stark_j...fection-edition

 

Philip Humber pulled off unlikely perfecto

April, 23, 2012

 

As loyal reader Ed Burmila once reminded us, only 21 men have walked on the moon. So that means, thanks to Philip Humber, we've seen as many perfect games in history as moonwalks. And it's been, like, three decades since we could say THAT.

 

But Humber's perfecto wasn't the only memorable event of the weekend. So Three Strikes looks back at the craziness that was.

 

Strike One: Mr. Perfect Dept.

 

• How unlikely was Philip Humber's perfect game? Not only had this man never thrown a shutout in the major leagues before he went 27-up, 27-down in Seattle on Saturday, he'd only thrown one shutout in seven seasons in the MINOR leagues.

 

• How unlikely was Philip Humber's perfect game? There are 14 active Cy Young Award winners hanging out on pitchers' mounds from coast to coast. Of those 14, 13 (i.e., everybody but Roy Halladay) have never thrown a perfecto -- but Philip Humber has.

 

• And of the last 50 Cy Young Award winners, only three (Halladay, Randy Johnson and David Cone) have thrown a perfect game -- but Philip Humber has.

 

• How unlikely was Philip Humber's perfect game? As ESPN's awesome Stats & Info department has told us, his 11 career wins before this game were the second-fewest in modern history by a pitcher who threw a perfect game -- behind only Charlie Robertson, who owned exactly one win when he tossed his perfect game in 1922.

 

• But then again, Robertson was in only his second big league season. Humber had 11 wins in SEVEN big league seasons before this start. The next-fewest wins by a perfect-game author who had been in the major leagues for parts of seven seasons or more? That would be 110, by David Wells (in 12 seasons).

 

• On the other hand … Humber was once taken with the third pick in the entire 2004 draft. And that's the highest any perfect-game pitcher was ever drafted. The previous highest was No. 17 overall, by Halladay -- who was, ohbytheway, the only perfect-game twirler besides Humber in history to be a first-round draft pick.

 

• Speaking of Halladay … the last two American League pitchers to throw perfect games were the long- hot tag team of Humber (with 11 career wins) and Dallas Braden (with 17 career wins). On the other hand, the last two National League pitchers to toss perfect games were slightly more accomplished: Halladay (154) and Johnson (233). We probably ought to mention that those two owned a combined six Cy Young trophies at the time, too.

 

• How rare is it to rip through a perfect game in only 96 pitches? We have pitch-count data, luckily, for the last 18 perfect games, and only six pitchers threw fewer pitches in their perfectos than Humber. But Humber threw the fewest since Cone needed only 88 to rip through the Expos in 1999.

 

• Loyal reader Trent McCotter has pitch-by-pitch info on all but one perfect game in the last 48 seasons. And he reports Humber was just the second pitcher to run a full count on the final hitter in his gem. The other: Catfish Hunter, against Rich Reese on May 8, 1968. Reese also struck out.

 

• More from McCotter: The only pitcher in that span to throw more balls in the ninth inning of his perfect game than Humber (six) was his former teammate Mark Buehrle (seven). And the only other pitcher to run a three-ball count on the final hitter was Braden.

 

• I know this is the goofiest Humber nugget you'll run across, but I can't help myself. Thanks to Humber's nine strikeouts, this was the first Palindrome Perfecto in history (9-0-0-0-0-9).

 

• Finally, it's mandatory at times like this to do the regularly scheduled ex-Met no-hitter note, so here goes. Humber was the seventh man to throw a no-hitter AFTER leaving a Mets team that still has never thrown any no-hitters. The other six ex-Mets: Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Cone, Mike Scott and (lest we forget) Hideo Nomo. As loyal tweeter @rcandy observed Saturday as he tried to digest this note, "Who's next -- Oliver Perez?"

[Dick Allen]

I think the only think more rare than a perfect game is losing a perfect game with 2 out in the ninth inning. Its only happened 10 times and the last time was because of a brutal call. Dave Steib lost a perfect game and 2 other no hitters with 2 out in the ninth. He did eventually get a no hitter. Basically if they called Ryan's swing a non swing or he didn't argue and beat it out, we would have seen something more rare.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Dick Allen

[southsider2k5]

http://blogs.suntimes.com/whitesox/

 

"Thoughts in Philip Humber's Mind During His Perfect Game"

By Daryl Van Schouwen on April 24, 2012 12:05 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

 

From the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska...

 

THE "LATE SHOW" TOP TEN

 

"Thoughts That Went Through Philip Humber's Mind During His Perfect Game"

 

[As presented by Chicago White Sox star Philip Humber, who pitched a perfect game for the team on Saturday, on the Monday, April 23 broadcast of the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, seen weeknights (11:35 PM 12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.]

 

10. "Don't jinx it by thinking about it, don't jinx it by thinking about it - I'm thinking about it."

 

9. "Thank goodness for my catcher, AJ Pierzanky...Piernoftski...Pierzonski...whatever."

 

8. "Go sit in the truck!"

 

7. "Thank goodness I drafted myself for my fantasy team."

 

6. "The only thing better than pitching a perfect game is making a perfect meatloaf every time with my new perfect meatloaf pan."

 

5. "Can Broadway's 'End of the Rainbow' really be like seeing Judy Garland in person?"

 

4. "Grab some pine, ducklips!"

 

3. "I see the Red Sox are up 9-0 on the Yanks - that's an easy win."

 

2. "I wish I could get me one of those dancing horses."

(videotape rolls of an equestrian rider on a prancing horse)

 

1. "Humber? How about Humbest!"

[Balta1701]

#3

[southsider2k5]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writ...d=si_topstories

 

After seven years, five teams, how Philip Humber found his way

Tom Verducci>INSIDE BASEBALL

 

The Chicago White Sox hit the jackpot with Philip Humber. He is every general manager's dream: find a legitimate major league starting pitcher off the waiver wire, having waited for other organizations to live through the pains of the expense of signing him (the Mets coughed up $3.7 million) and the inevitable arm trouble (Tommy John surgery in 2005) without getting the payoff.

 

Humber gave the White Sox 26 solid starts last season (3.75 ERA) for just $500,000. This season, after earning just a $30,000 raise, he has allowed one run in two starts, the last one the 21st perfect game in baseball history, a 3-0 win against the Mariners on Saturday in Seattle.

 

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper deserves credit for bringing out the best in Humber by tweaking his mechanics and scrapping his cutter and replacing it with a slider. Like former Cardinals pitching guru Dave Duncan, Cooper has a long track record of reviving careers.

 

"It's awful nice to get a guy back on track and have the kind of career he was looking for," Cooper said. "I'm sure with other organizations it's not like they weren't trying. Sometimes a guy just isn't ready to give what you ask."

 

A manager once told me a long time ago that coaching on the big league level is as much about timing as it is intellect. Most coaches carry and pass on the same knowledge. It's the coach who gets the player when he's ready to learn who will wind up getting credit for that player's success. Humber is a great example.

 

In 2005, Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson tried to change Humber's mechanics. Peterson was concerned that Humber collapsed his back leg during his delivery, causing him to tilt his shoulders and push the ball uphill rather than driving it downhill. Peterson also wanted Humber not to take the ball over his head at the start of his windup. Peterson advised Humber to adopt a long toss program, but Humber wasn't sold on any of those suggestions.

 

Frustrated, Humber told GM Omar Minaya and assistant GM Tony Bernazard he wasn't comfortable with the changes. The front office told Humber to throw the way he wanted to throw. After all, Humber had been a major talent in college at Rice and was drafted third overall by the Mets in 2004, ahead of Jered Weaver. In other words, he had been a success with those mechanics, so why change?

 

Shortly thereafter, Humber blew out his elbow and needed surgery. The medical professionals told the Mets that Humber had the elbow of a 40-year-old man. It was the equivalent of running down the tread of a tire to the point of a blowout. Humber threw an average of 118 innings a year at Rice -- and that's just the spring season, not including summers spent pitching in international competitions and the Cape Cod League.

 

The Mets later traded him to the Twins to get Johan Santana. Minnesota gave up on him after only two years. They designated him for assignment, upon which Kansas City claimed him on waivers. The Royals gave up on him after one year. The Athletics claimed him on waivers. The Athletics put him on waivers one month later to make room on the roster for free agent reliever Grant Balfour. That's when the White Sox became the fifth team to take a chance on a player who had become a most unremarkable pitcher.

 

"I saw him with Minnesota," Cooper said. "My thought was that he was not over the ball. He was collapsing on the back side. He was getting underneath the baseball. I saw him in Kansas City in a couple of good outings. I thought he was over the ball a little bit better. Then we picked him up.

 

"What we tried to do was tap into his best asset: his stuff. When you get a guy like that, usually one of two things is happening: it's either that he is so talented that nobody is saying anything out of fear they might screw him up, or they're trying to help and the computer gets overloaded."

 

Cooper didn't know the back story: that the Mets and Humber, believing in his talent and track record, didn't buy into Peterson's changes. And so this is what Cooper did with Humber: he stressed standing taller in his delivery with a firmer back leg, creating more power behind the baseball and a better downward angle. Sound familiar?

 

"The first thing we did with him was to have him drive all of his stuff," Cooper said. "We got him taller and using his back leg: tall and stay back. That's the only thing we did mechanically. That kind of happened quick."

 

It was the same thing Peterson advised. This time, at age 28, with his fifth organization and a scar on his pitching elbow, Humber bought in. Cooper made one other significant change. He began working with Humber on a cutter, the unofficial life preserver of choice for all foundering pitchers.

 

"We played with a cutter," Cooper said. "We did that with two or three starts and three sidelines. Say he threw 10 cutters. Only two of them would do what they're supposed to do. It was just spinning. It wasn't showing enough promise."

 

So Cooper went to Plan B. Encouraged by Humber's natural ability to spin a curveball, he told Humber to try a slider. Humber threw a very good slider immediately. The pitch elevated his game, giving him an out pitch at a speed in between his fastball and curveball. The slider spins so tightly it disguises itself as a fastball two-thirds of the way to the plate before breaking sharply.

 

"I do like cases like that," Cooper said of rebuilding a career. "I think [GM] Kenny Williams and [assistant GM] Rick Hahn always try to get us some."

 

There are no shortages of teams trying to find the next Philip Humber. It's the baseball equivalent of bringing a metal detector to the beach and looking for a diamond ring underneath all those grains of sand. The Red Sox found one in 2003 with Bronson Arroyo, a former third-round pick waived by the Pirates. Among the waiver-claim pitching projects this year are John Gaub (Tampa Bay), Alfredo Simon (Cincinnati), Jeremy Hefner (New York Mets), Rick Vandenhurk (Cleveland), Jeff Gray (Minnesota) and Lucas Harrell (Houston).

 

None of them have the pedigree of Humber, the college phenom who needed five organizations and seven years to find his way. It's a credit to Humber's tenacity and hard work. It's a credit to Williams' eye for talent. It's a credit to Cooper's teaching skills. But it's also a story about the mysterious craft of pitching. Every year teams take dozens upon dozens of chances on castaway pitchers, believing each one is just one pitch or one tweak away from breaking out.

 

The rest of Humber's career begins Thursday with a start against Boston. He has entered select company, but his task is only beginning.

 

"Another strong season," Cooper said, "puts him on the path he always wanted to be. He wants to be real good. He doesn't want to be just a fifth starter."

 

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writ...l#ixzz1syYACqaa

[Iwritecode]

Humber wasn't the only pitcher to throw a perfect game on Saturday.

 

Chiaradio's "perfect" perfect game came just hours before White Sox pitcher Philip Humber tossed the 21st perfect game in MLB history, making Saturday one heck of a day for shutdown pitching.

[southsider2k5]

And the most perfect game of all...

 

Mark Gonzales ‏ @MDGonzales

 

Kristan Humber gave birth to a boy last night, all in good spirits