Thielbar Highlights From Tuesday

[Tom Froemming]

Frustrating finish to this afternoon's game, but in the middle I had so much fun watching Caleb Thielbar work his magic for a couple innings against the Tigers. Here are some highlights from today's game, including every pitch of Thielbar's outing.

 

[jimbo92107]

Oddly, it would not surprise me to see Thielbar's upper velocity increase a bit more, if he continues working with Johnson on his power mechanics. He's synchronizing his lower half pretty well, but I think he could refine it a bit more. The cool thing about Johnson's system is that not only does it increase velocity, it also increases accuracy, while decreasing physical strain. Optimizing that motion has a ton of benefits.

[puckstopper1]

The second coming of Thielbar has been a true blessing for the Twins.  

 

While he won't be a dominant in every appearance as he was yesterday, he provides a critical, reliable lefthanded option out of the pen.

[Dman]

With his slight injury this spring and watching him get hit pretty hard there I was thinking his time might be up.  Like you Tom, I was very impressed by what I saw in the Tigers game.  The hitters just seemed baffled by what he was throwing and they looked really uncomfortable against him with mainly weak hacks.  I know they finally got some solid contact at the end but it was hard earned.  

 

I also was surprised to see him throw a fastball at 94mph.  I honestly didn't think he had that kind of velocity in him coupled with that slow curve that he was dumping in for strikes and that had to tough for the hitters.  If he pitches like this the rest of the year the Twins will have found another great reclamation arm for penny's on the dollar.

[tony&rodney]

Agree. Thielbar was really fun to watch yesterday. The key for him will be to keep his pitches away from the middle of the zone. While that may seem obvious and true for all pitchers, there are hurlers who get away with more than a few in the zone because of velocity and movement. Berrios can drop a curveball and whisk a heater into the middle of the plate and get away with it on a slew of hitters. Thielbar looked in command yesterday with the changing speeds and location totally befuddling the Detroit hitters. 

Excellent read and video - thank you.