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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    Hulk think line drives good. Higher ones go over fence. Science!
  2. jimbo92107
    Felix Jorge is a classic under-the-radar developmental prospect. Nothing flashy, no high-90's heat, but a rail-thin control pitcher since he was acquired in 2011 out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 17. Imagine how thin he was then if you consider that today Jorge is 6'2" tall and has bulked himself up to a whopping...170 pounds. How does a guy like that throw a baseball hard enough to get anybody out? Here's the neat part - he doesn't. Jorge learned from early on to be a pitcher, not a thrower. The results are sneaky good. With his excellent command and ability to eat innings, Jorge could become a very valuable back of the rotation starter. Meanwhile, he has matured physically to the point where he can indeed bring respectable heat, sometimes touching 95, with good command. But he's not a big K guy; he gets batters out by mixing it up and using his fielders. Considering the clunkers the Twins have plopped into the rotation this season, I'm beginning to wonder if they're looking to give Felix Jorge a cup of coffee sometime this year. He won't throw shutouts, but it looks like he won't cough up 5-run innings, either, and he can last into the 6th or 7th inning.
  3. jimbo92107
    If it happens, I'm okay with it. Not a "generational talent" as Nygaard says, but Kyle Wright probably will be a good major league starter within a couple years, just when the Twins will need it.
  4. jimbo92107
    I like Kepler for a number of reasons. His work ethic is a good as anybody's. He seems eminently coach-able, but what's better is that he appears to have a knack for incorporating the right things into his habits, the way Joe Mauer does. Also like Mauer, Kepler flashes very little ego about his accomplishments. He's a modest guy with great athletic talent. I expect Kepler to continue building upon his solid foundation of baseball knowledge. His career is shaping up to be a good example of how to do it right.
  5. jimbo92107
    Sort of an inverted W, but not quite. I'm hoping Twins coaches will smooth out that over-extension, tho it's not as extreme as what we see in Greene, whose throwing forearm is near vertical, not pointed sideways like Wright's. Plus, Wright's moment of acceleration starts with a pronounced leg drive, but smooth acceleration to more of a forward position of his elbow before the final rotation of the forearm, where it causes less stress on that elbow joint. Great photo!
  6. jimbo92107
    If "expert" knowledge is any guide, then yeah, Greene could be more vulnerable to tearing his elbow than some others. I can testify personally that proper form really, really matters. As a kid I got tennis elbow from hitting with too much wrist flip, too much forearm rotation, an aluminum racket, and even from Kevlar strings. That condition is a lesser form of the same injury that could tear completely for a guy trying to throw a ball with max effort, whether it's a fastball, a slider or some other pitch. Form counts a lot, which is why some people spot the "inverted W" as a sign of over-torquing the elbow, and a possible predictor of TJ trouble. Strassborg did it, and so does Greene. Wright does not, his form appears to be less punishing on the elbow. BTW, McKay does an inverted W, too, but not as severely as Greene does. This might explain why Greene's high school coach shut him down before the end of the season. Could be that one or more scouts spotted this problem and recommended that he simply stop pitching until professional coaches could work to give him better form. I hope that's what happened, and that Greene wasn't already feeling pain in the elbow.
  7. jimbo92107
    I just watched a Youtube video, "Hunter Greene 102mph Pitching Mechanics and Contralateral Tilt - Ep360." Scared me. Two guys that appear quite knowledgeable went through a fairly detailed analysis of why Hunter Greene could be in danger of popping his TJ ligament. Basically it boils down to not using his legs and lower body enough, trying to create speed with his upper body and torquing his forearm. Their solution was for whatever team drafts Greene to put him on a physical training program to add 30 pounds of muscle, then clean up his pitching mechanics to preserve his elbow. They practically predicted TJ surgery if this was not done. Whatever people have been saying about easy velocity, this sure didn't sound like it. Sounded more like an ambitious young kid throwing as hard as he can, with just enough knowledge and development to wreck his arm. If the Twins do draft Greene, I hope they seriously consider a year of building up this young man's physical strength, and then breaking down his mechanics from the ground up.
  8. jimbo92107
    Part of the problem is identifying buyers. As Christie says, teams right now are trying to assess their own chances at making a run. We can also assume the market will be limited to American League teams, as Santana probably hasn't swung a wooden bat in years. So, who in the American league is ready to make a playoff run, but needs another excellent starter so much that they'd be willing to sell big chunks of their farm system for one? I suppose the Twins would prefer to sell to the Astros, but does Houston need another starter? Who wouldn't want a pitcher with the lowest ERA since the second half of last season, and is capable of pitching complete game shutouts? When the Twins played Houston in Minnesota, it was clear the home team was over-matched. Houston's lineup chewed up that bullpen and spit it out like old tobacco. The Astros have to be considered the best team in baseball right now. A team like that might be willing to cough up a couple high A prospects and maybe a top AA prospect for Santana. We could use a good hitting catcher and maybe some young flame throwers.
  9. jimbo92107
    I like the look of Gonsalves's delivery. He appears to get efficient thrust out front, where it won't stress his shoulder so much. It's a smooth delivery without max effort. To me, that means he will be able to gain velocity by gradually refining his rhythm. Good to see. A pitcher with good rhythm can last a long time.
  10. jimbo92107
    After reading more about Wright, I'm starting to lean in that direction. He's already a fine pitcher with all the tools to become a major league starter, where Greene is completely raw and McKay looks like he'd fit better in the National League. With Wright, there would be no argument where he should play: pitcher. He's really good at pitching, everybody says so. Do the Twins need a good starting pitcher? Within a couple years? YES.
  11. jimbo92107
    Why isn't Derrick Rodriguez listed as a prospect? And how does a guy tagging up on second base score on a sac fly? Oh, I bet I know, somebody pegged a wild throw past the cutoff man...
  12. jimbo92107
    Gibson and Hughes to the pen. Duffey and Kintzler stay put. Belisle and Breslow go away, replaced by Busenitz and Hildenberger. And that kid, the one with the wild hair and herky-jerk delivery. Covfefe. I want him in there, too. Where's he from, Argentina? Throws like a soccer player!
  13. jimbo92107
    Wow, Polanco got a little lucky. I thought that was a tie.
  14. jimbo92107
    Let's all be honest: Who here really expected a pitching duel?
  15. jimbo92107
    I'm actually glad to see Alex Meyer pitching well. He was snake-bit for such a long time. Maybe this time he'll finally catch on. Good luck to him.
  16. jimbo92107
    I haven't seen a Twins triple play in a long, long time. I think it was when Al Newman was playing 2nd. You almost have to have a third baseman with a rocket arm, like Sano's, or back then it was Gaetti.
  17. jimbo92107
    A brand new Triumph Tiger 800 XCA. Extremely expensive, now even more so. Sigh.
  18. jimbo92107
    Embarrassing and I'm guessing a couple grand in new plastic. I always figure plastic costs thousands of dollars...
  19. jimbo92107
    I was going to watch this game live, but I had a little accident on the I5 going north to LA. Learning to lane-split is going to be expensive.
  20. jimbo92107
    How do we expect to colonize Mars, when we've barely visited Uranus?
  21. jimbo92107
    Baseball is a constant process of compensation. Pressly's early dominance depended on batters whiffing on his curve ball...until replays revealed that Pressly's curve usually isn't a strike. Then hitting coaches started telling players to hold up on anything Pressly threw that curved. That's when Pressly started falling behind in counts, which forced him to throw his fast, but relatively straight heater. There's a couple of things Pressly should work on in AAA. First, he should work on perfecting his stride and release point for his curve and his slider, so he can throw both of them for consistent strikes. Second, he should stop throwing his four seam fastball so much, going instead with two-seamers and cutters. Pressly needs to create lateral movement to get his heater off the sweet spot. Right now hitters are laying off his curve, and barreling up his heater. He can't be a big league pitcher if that keeps happening.
  22. jimbo92107
    This right here. ^^ Sure, Pressly's curve bends a lot, and it's well-nigh unhittable. But if he can't get it in the strike zone, what good is it? Meanwhile, Tyler Duffey's mind-bending curves zoom and slice through the air just as much, yet at some point in their crazy aerodynamic journey they usually cross the zone of strikeness. Same can be said for curves from Santana, Berrios, Santiago and Mejia. Their curves cross the zone, often just nicking an inside or outside corner, or drifting outside or beneath the zone just before a batter swings. If the curve is Pressly's best pitch, but he can't throw it for strikes, then Pressly doesn't really have a best pitch, does he? Unless he can learn to dominate with his curve, Pressly maybe doesn't belong in the major leagues.
  23. jimbo92107
    That's exactly what people assumed about David McCarty. Pavin Smith's swing looks almost exactly like McCarty's swing did, all wrist. That's because artificial bats have unnaturally large active sweet spots. All you need do is flip your wrists to spray balls into the outfield. It takes about twice as much muscle power to get the same results with wood, and about twice the precision to hit balls consistently on the smaller sweet spot. That's why guys like Sano and Mauer are so rare. This is not to say a wrist flip is bad. Barry Bonds did a pronounced wrist flip. On the other hand, Bonds built up his forearms like a blacksmith, and pumped up his whole body with steroids to back up that wrist flip with massive muscle power. He also had great precision meeting the ball on the sweet spot. Too bad is was a chemically enhanced illusion. Smith's production is an illusion. It will go away the minute he tries to hit minor league pitching with a wood bat. That is my prediction. If he makes it at all, it will be as a light hitting 1B/RF. How's his defense?
  24. jimbo92107
    Nope, nope, nope. Don't you guys recognize a wrist-flip swing when you see one? This guy's "power" is all in that fake bat, in that artificially huge sweet spot spread a foot wide along its length. When he goes to wood, HE. WILL. FLOP. Remember David McCarty from 1991? Meet David McCarty 2.0. This year, his name is Pavin Smith. The team that drafts this guy is going to have a light-hitting first baseman whose power disappears the minute he puts down his artificial bat, just like McCarty's did. When Smith faces professional pitchers with a wood bat and that tiny sweet spot, you can cut all his offensive numbers IN HALF, including his average exit velocity.
  25. jimbo92107
    I wonder how Fernando Romero would look in a Twins uniform... next week.
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