saw his first two starts and might i say impressive. almost 14 innings and 18ks but more impressive to me is zero walks. the reds announcer did a side by side video of cueto and bob gibson and their follow-thrus are identical. the wind-ups not so much because gibson was taller and lankier but nice company to be in if hes half as good. in his first outing he was hammering the strike zone against possibly the best hitting team in the dbacks and he made them look foolish. struck out 8 of the first 13 and 18 first pitch strikes of 22 batters he faced. then the reds studied tape and even his minor league starts yet it didnt help much. hes given up 3er total hitting 96-97 consistently. he threw a 3-2 changeup to ryan braun and struck him out swinging showing hes not afraid to throw any pitch at any time. that usually takes most pitchers many years to have the confidence to do that. he seems to have the presence of another dominican named pedro. either way, fun to watch. mark grace the slumpbuster is the dbacks color man. [MEDIA]http://youtube.com/watch?v=tVG7m0fDkNU[/MEDIA]
I've been following him for a while now. I had high hopes for him, but he's certainly done better than expected. I don't believe he'll continue to be quite this dominant, but very good nonetheless. Although he had a fantastic spring, some were worried that he'd struggle with his control. So far he's showing those worries were unfounded. In fact, if you go back and look at his 2007 season in the minors he had 170 k's as compared to only 34 walks. Not bad at all. It will be interesting to see next week when the Brewer hitters get to face him for the 2nd time.
i was hoping you'd chime in since i knew you were following him. regarding his control, his numbers actually improved across the board each level of minor league ball which tells me he has the ability to dial it up a notch when under pressure. Most young pitchers collapse. JC will certainly have rough outings because hes only 22 plus his pitches often end up high in the zone which will result in homeruns. But he already knows how to pitch and is not afraid to throw inside. something andy pettitte still hasnt learned. does jc's delivery remind you of krod any? pretty violent but not as unbalanced.
Now that you mention it, it is a little K-Rodish--the outward swing after releasing the ball (if only he could develope a K-Rod slider). If you want to talk about a violent delivery, wait until the Dbacks call up Max Scherzer. Pretty good prospect, but he'll be out of the majors before he's 30 if he doesn't tone it down a little.
borbon, jr? whats striking to me about the graph to righties you showed was all the fouls on middle-out pitches. ive never seen him, but must have some nasty movement.
its quite nasty. his biggest problem will be playing in The Great American Smallpark where popups find the outfield bleachers. Him knowing how to pitch has been most impressive. he mixes it up so well with three plus pitches already when the 97 mph heat comes up and in, hitters have been left shaking their head. more scouting and 2nd time thru league will be a big test though. yes, pedro borbon. :grin:
