Jorge Alcala's Puzzling Start

IMO Alcala's success or failure will come not by 1 or 2 MPHs on his FB but on his development of his change up and his other pitches.

My guess on the multi-inning aspect is that they're looking at seeing if a longer outing will let him settle in and refine his command in a way that going out to get 3 outs won't? I don't know if that's going to work, but it's an interesting idea. 

I really think Alcala just needs innings and appearance to get on track. He basically didn't pitch at all last season, and I think what we're seeing from him is a lot of rust from a guy who wasn't a fully developed pitcher in the first place. With Jorge Lopez and Griffin Jax both looking good on the right side, there's room for him to stick to mostly lower-leverage outings and get the rust out.

The biggest problem Alcala is having right now is with his changeup, a pitch he was just starting to get a handle on to neutralize lefties when he got hurt. I don't think he's found a comfort level with it yet this season and he needs it to be effective against lefties. The slider and sinker both look good, even if his command isn't there yet and the velocity is down a little on the fastballs. We'll see where he is at the end of May.

Mostly taking your word for it on the velocity drop.  Lots of variables at play that might not be adjusted for and can truly influence a small sample size with correlated basic outcomes.  

I like the way they are bringing him along.....came in the 6th inning yesterday in high leverage (1-0) game.  He had a 1-2-3 inning.  I think you will continue to see him progress as the year goes on.  One thing is clear...he seems to really like his slider at this point more than his fastball.

Honestly wondering what the point of this article is? He threw hard, hurt his elbow. Came back throwing hard in Florida and now hasn’t thrown quite as hard in Minnesota? You don’t get how they’ve used him, so you’re attempting to create a narrative that most likely doesn’t exist despite that fact he hasn’t given up a run? Fascinating.

Geez, it's April 13.  Trevor Megill has proven that being able to throw 100 mph darts won't get big league hitters out without command and secondary pitches.  Alcala missed almost an entire year.  It should surprise no one that there are some command and velocity issues in the first two weeks.  I'm not a big fan of using him for multiple innings, but I'm more than willing to give him some mid-to-low leverage innings to let improve in both issues.  

23 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

IMO Alcala's success or failure will come not by 1 or 2 MPHs on his FB but on his development of his change up and his other pitches.

I think you are 100% correct with this statement.  I'd also add in command.  If he can throw wherever whenever then he will be hard to hit.  But to the OP, I mean if Jax, Lopez and Duran are on fire why would you replace them with Alcala?  I mean if one of those guys had a bad week or two I'm sure Alcala will get a shot then, there is no real reason to remove one of those guys from their high leverage spots if they are handling those spots.  Let Alcala pitch in the spots they put him in and hope he does well.

Lots of astute comments here, and I certainly have doubts that the Twins are doing no favors to Alcala as opined. As others have said, There can be a number of reasons we're reading the radar gun on 33 pitches and seeing a slight decrease in velo. Maybe they asked him to back off and focus on regaining command? Maybe it's part of a mutli-inning useage plan and they asked him to focus on refining his other critically important pitches. We just don't know, and On April 13th, it's premature to speculate.

He looked good enough in spring training to come north. Otherwise, might have left him behind to pitch in sunny Florida in basically rehab, to get back up to speed, so to speak.

Give him a litle more time. He has the stuff. You have to face real batters in real situations after a year on the injured list.