Garrett Richards Appreciation Thread

[Homebrewer]

Are we looking at the future ace of the staff here? He seems to have matured a lot since coming back into the rotation. He certainly seems ready to make the best of the opportunity he has been handed.

19 innings zero hrs, great movement on his pitches, limiting damage and re-focusing when he gets into trouble...looking confident.

He's just what this starting staff needed, to set the bar for the other young guys (and the old ones too).

Hope I'm not jinxing him, because he sure looks like the real deal right now.

 

Edited April 22, 2014 by Homebrewer

[Broad Street]

He'll have bumps in the road, but I'll be damned, he's pitching like an ace alright.

[arch stanton]

With an arm like that he was bound to break out eventually. I'd love to see him keep this up for 30 starts.

[Angelsjunky]

I see John Lackey potential - a consistent #2-3 type. So not quite an ace, but pretty damn good and good enough for me. Very pleased with his development.

[OregonLAA]

If the playoffs started today and we made it (VERY HYPOTHETICAL!! I KNOW WE ARE A LONG WAYS AWAY AND MIGHT NEVER SEE THE PLAYOFFS AGAIN!!!),

 

What would you want our rotation to be?

[Docwaukee]

he's got ace stuff.  I have seen a lot of baseball over the years and I see more confused looks with players walking out of the batters box after facing him than most I can recall.  Shields was like that.  Krod's slider when he first came up. 

 

But Richard's four pitch collection of filth is right up there with the best I've seen.  Weaver was pretty dominant in his prime, but it was guys walking away thinking 'why can't I hit that?'  When guys walk away from facing Richards, it's more like 'WTF was that?'

 

His big problem is that he still fights his mechanics.  Maybe he always will.  Maybe not.  I have a feeling that at age 28/29 thru age 32/33, he is going to be one of the dominant starters in the game.   For the time being, he will have games where he just can't get it together and he'll miss right down the middle.

 

I also think he has to believe in how good his stuff is. 

[Lhalo]

I get a chub when I see 98MPH on the corner of my TV screen.

[Chuck]

I get a chub when I see 98MPH on the corner of my TV screen.

Same here.

Like Doc said, he's got ace type stuff and right now is the most talked about young arm in the game nationally.

Glad to see him get a full time gig and his stuff/command improve.

[arch stanton]

Going back to the Bane podcast, this is why you pick a guy with a 6 ERA in college in the 1st round. Stuff like that cannot be taught.

[stevestevens]

There are not too many guys in baseball that throw a ball hard enough to make it bounce back to them off the backstop

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

I like the rotation. The hitting shows it will be fine when Cole and Hamilton come back.

Come July, we will be cooking with gas.

Edited April 22, 2014 by SOTO

[mp170.6]

I like him

[Tyler]

So did Scioscia handle him perfectly? Or could he have done this earlier if he was given the opportunity?

[Homebrewer]

Watching him pitch tonight changed my outlook on the season. Maybe there is some hope. We really need to stay afloat for a while until we get our guns back, but with Richards and Skaggs breaking out....good starting pitching will keep you in games long enough for a chance to win most nights, tonight being a prime example.

[Homebrewer]

So did Scioscia handle him perfectly? Or could he have done this earlier if he was given the opportunity?

Putting him in the rotation could have gone either way. It was on Garrett to perform, and he has.

[bloodbrother]

Watching Richards and Skaggs development is one of the more enjoyable things for me this season with the team. It also woukd mean a better future for this org since they'd have good and cheap young arms

Lookin forward to seeing Morin/Alvarez/Bedrosian this year to

Edited April 22, 2014 by bloodbrother

[krAbs]

i've always loved the guy. been my second favorite player on the team for the last couple years, and he has always seemed to me like he is just on the verge of breaking out. beyond psyched to finally see it happening. i think we are seeing amazing things from him now, and he has a lot of room to improve on his stuff. he doesn't trust himself yet, and it shows. it seems like he tries to fight his mechanics, and thats part of the reason why he starts off almost every batter with two balls. i can only imagine what he'd look like if he didn't start off every hitter with a handicap.

some richards porn i stumbled upon:
according to fangraphs, this year, among qualified starters, he is #1 in fastball velocity (96), #2 in 2-seamer velocity (95.8), #1 in cutter velocity (95.7). and, he has an average drop of 16.6 mph between his fastball and his curveball.

[gurn67]

A year or two ago, he would have become completely unraveled in the fourth inning and the team would have been down 4-0. It was amazing to watch that guy, on the road no less, come back in that inning and keep his team in the game. He obviously didn't have his best stuff tonight but I was extremely impressed that he didn't lose his composure out there. Tonight he became a veteran pitcher.

[Second Base]

Not only is Richards the hardest throwing SP in baseball, he probably has more movement than any other as well. When he starts using his 12-6 curve more, opposing hitters may think its unfair.

[Inside Pitch]

I'd like to welcome all of you who are new to the GRichards bandwagon.  Those of us that spent the off-season talking up his heavy FB, GB rates and movement/velocity are happy to see you come aboard.

[Chuck]

I'd like to welcome all of you who are new to the GRichards bandwagon. Those of us that spent the off-season talking up his heavy FB, GB rates and movement/velocity are happy to see you come aboard.

I gotta find a thread later where I gave him all kinds of praise and called him a future ace.

[Make Angels Great Again]

I think Scotty Allen was always Richards' biggest supporter.

 

Though 4 starts isn't exactly enough to shut everyone up just yet.

[Inside Pitch]

I gotta find a thread later where I gave him all kinds of praise and called him a future ace.

 

There were plenty that were high on him, but plenty more who wrote him off as a number 5...  

[Tyler]

From what I remember, people always thought he had the best stuff on the team, he just needed to work on his command.

[Inside Pitch]

From what I remember, people always thought he had the best stuff on the team, he just needed to work on his command.

 

I think it's fair to say people thought he had the best pure stuff.  Didn't keep many from classifying him as a number 4 or 5 pitcher.