Garrett Richards

[Tyler]

I'm pretty sure Richards would have a much higher K rate if he didn't deliberately "pitch to contact." He said so himself. He pitches to hit bats, not miss em. Even Skaggs recently said that he wants to pitch to contact.

 

I'm not sure what the coaches are teaching our pitchers...but strikeouts are good, not bad. 

 

The idea is to get ahead in the count and limit your pitch count to be able to go deeper into games.

 

This doesnt mean throwing meatballs up there.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Shane

[Angels]

The idea is to get ahead in the count and limit your pitch count to be able to go deeper into games.

 

I know what the idea is, but that won't necessarily make them better pitchers.

 

The idea should be to throw strikes, get ahead in the count and miss bats. Trying to avoid a K is terrible strategy. A strikeout = 0% chance for a hit.. Anytime you let that batter put the ball in play, you run the risk that baseball will find an opening somewhere.

[Tyler]

I know what the idea is, but that won't necessarily make them better pitchers.

 

The idea should be to throw strikes, get ahead in the count and miss bats. Trying to avoid a K is terrible strategy. A strikeout = 0% chance for a hit.. Anytime you let that batter put the ball in play, you run the risk that baseball will find an opening somewhere.

 

Yeah, if only it were that easy. You want to miss the barrel of the bat. Why make the game harder than it already is? Certainly you'll get your fair share of strikeouts, especially if you can get deeper into games.

[Season Over]

Skaggs and Richards so far

 

[QuinlansMinion]

Imagine if Weaver and Wilson both play at their career norms while Richards and Skaggs develop into ace like starters.

[Stradling]

I'm pretty sure Richards would have a much higher K rate if he didn't deliberately "pitch to contact." He said so himself. He pitches to hit bats, not miss em. Even Skaggs recently said that he wants to pitch to contact.

I'm not sure what the coaches are teaching our pitchers...but strikeouts are good, not bad.

Wow, this is exactly the opposite of what I would be telling my young pitchers, especially with this bullpen. The goal is to get early count outs. Getting strikeouts are nice, but more importantly getting as many outs on as few of pitches is the best case scenario.

[Angel Oracle]

Hopefully, DDLR can resume his 2013 success when he returns this weekend.

At least then the back end of the bullpen would be in great shape with Frieri, Smith, and DDLR. 

Now about that front end, that needs mucho re-alignment?

[SoWhat]

Richards said last night that he's actually going for more punch outs this year

 

So expect a jump in his K/9

Edited April 10, 2014 by SoWhat

[Angels]

Wow, this is exactly the opposite of what I would be telling my young pitchers, especially with this bullpen. The goal is to get early count outs. Getting strikeouts are nice, but more importantly getting as many outs on as few of pitches is the best case scenario.

 

But pitching to contact doesn't mean you will get more outs or get more favorable results. A lot of it depends on the skillset of the pitcher and also so many other factors, including ballpark, defense, luck, etc.  I mean, does a pitcher know where that ball is headed once it hits off the bat? At least with a strikeout, the batter has no chance for a hit.

 

It is possible to get quick outs and strikeouts at the same time. The pitchers who do that are usually the best pitchers in baseball. Richards and Skaggs should focus on just that. Richards and Skaggs should try to maximize their potentials.

[Angels]

Richards said last night that he's actually going for more punch outs this year

 

So expect a jump in his K/9

 

Richards said last night that he's actually going for more punch outs this year

 

So expect a jump in his K/9

 

I didn't see that. I know in the past he mentioned that he's focusing on pitching to contact. There was an article on mlb.com from a few days ago with quotes from Skaggs mentioning that very same thing.

 

Good news if he did say that, though. Someone in the org must have told him strikeouts are good and should not be avoided.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Angels

[SoWhat]

I didn't see that. I know in the past he mentioned that he's focusing on pitching to contact. There was an article on mlb.com from a few days ago with quotes from Skaggs mentioning that very same thing.

 

Good news if he did say that, though. Someone in the org must have told him strikeouts are good and should not be avoided.

 

 

http://m.mlb.com/video/v31965709/laasea-richards-on-excellent-outing-everyday-goals/?tcid=mm_ana_vid&c_id=ana

 

Towards the end 

[Stradling]

Strikeouts are good, but not as good as early count outs. If you work down in the zone like he has so far this year he will induce a ton of ground balls. Sure some of them will be hits, but hell we were victim of a strikeout that allowed a base runner. Go for the K when you need a K, but not every batter.

[Angels]

You can pitch deep into games and pile up plenty of innings and still be one of the league leaders in strikeouts. Pitchers that can do that are usually the top guys in baseball.

Richards has the perfect skillset to pitch to contact...but he also has incredible stuff. He shouldn't be limiting himself if he can be so much more than he has shown so far.

I do like the fact that Skaggs and Richards are trying to pitch deep into games. I just hope they do that while understanding the value of a strikeout. And that they don't purposely avoid getting strikeouts in order to hit bats in hopes of that baseball finding a defender.

These guys have huge potential and it's going to be a lot of fun seeing if they can live up to it.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Angels

[Stradling]

Every pitcher in baseball understands the value of a strikeout, but they also understand the value of pitching deep into games. I'll take a six pitch inning over a 12 pitch inning all day every day.

[markb]

The year Weaver led the league in strikeouts, he was given grief over racking up his pitch counts and not going deeper into games.  The following 2 seasons his Ks dropped but he threw 7 CGs.  I think Richards and Skaggs have a pretty good mentor for what they're trying to achieve.

[Angels]

Weaver threw 224.1 innings the year he led the league in total strikeouts. He averaged 6.59 innings per start that year, the second highest mark of his career. He pitched deep into games that year and had plenty of strikeouts to go with it. Which is my point, you can pitch deep into games and still pile up the strikeouts.

 

And Weaver is a special case when it comes to getting results the unconventional way, anyway. He has been ace-quality despite not having the typical peripherals of an ace. Or the way he gets his results. Weaver is the exception, not the norm.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Angels

[markb]

Weaver threw 224.1 innings the year he led the league in total strikeouts. He averaged 6.59 innings per start that year, the second highest mark of his career. He pitched deep into games that year and had plenty of strikeouts to go with it. Which is my point, you can pitch deep into games and still pile up the strikeouts.

 

Weaver did not pitch deep into games in 2010.  He had 13 starts of 6 IP or less.  He never made it to the 8th inning until Aug 11th, and did it just 2 more times before the end of the season.  His innings per start was that high because he was so rarely pulled before the 6th inning due to being consistently dominant.  Part of being an ace is the ability to simply take over a game and give the team a high probability of winning regardless of what anyone else does that day.  Asking the bullpen to throw 3 innings to finish half your games is not the mark of an ace.  None of this is speculation on my part -- Weaver himself talked about it in 2011.  

[Jeff Fletcher]

Regarding Richards and strikeouts...

http://www.ocregister.com/angels/richards-609241-taken-garrett.html

[Angels]

Well, compared to almost every other starting pitcher, Weaver pitched a lot of innings that year and went deep into games. It depends on how you define what an ace is, anyway. Based on results as far as run prevention is concerned, one can argue Weaver had ace-type results in his heyday. But Weaver was never an elite ace in the mold of Roy Halladay or CC Sabathia or Felix Hernandez or Cliff Lee etc. Those guys were the best of the best and Weaver was never that.

[Tyler]

Regarding Richards and strikeouts...

http://www.ocregister.com/angels/richards-609241-taken-garrett.html

 

Well, I wanted to read it.. lol

[arch stanton]

We know what the starters can do for 5 innings and we know what the back end of the pen can do. The success of this season depends on innings 6 and 7 in close games. Would you prefer Richards or Skaggs with a little juice left in the arm or Jepsen and Kohn? If they get there by pitching to contact then so be it.

[eaterfan]

I think everyone would prefer a groundball out on the first 3 pitches to a strikeout. The problem is that it's really difficult to pitch in ways that result in that happening consistently. It will be especially difficult with this infield because the defense isn't spectacular.

[arch stanton]

Pitching for a strikeout means he has to come up in the zone more often. If he's not comfortable with that it defeats the purpose by putting runners on via walk and leading to more extra base hits allowed.

[EDinTUSTIN]

Thank you, Butcher?

To be fair, he deserves to be recognized for helping to develop Richards. Garrett looked real good, and he is more often showing the good stuff and talent to develop into a very good major league pitcher. We need a home grown pitcher to do this.

[Jeff Fletcher]

Well, I wanted to read it.. lol

Sorry, forgot to check the box to make it free. It is now.

 

http://www.ocregister.com/angels/richards-609241-taken-garrett.html

Edited April 11, 2014 by Jeff Fletcher