Justin Anderson

[rafibomb]

That fastball - slider combination.....

 

 

[Pheenom07]

Gotta give props to Scioscia for throwing him into the fire.  He’s been doing great and I have to imagine the success he’s seeing in these high leverage situations will only help him.  

[Chuck]

Yeah @rafibomb he has been amazing. To me, he's the clear cut choice for our closer going forward. He's got two swing and miss pitches and great command of both of them. 

I like Middleton, but he's not as good IMO. 

[rafibomb]

4 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah @rafibomb he has been amazing. To me, he's the clear cut choice for our closer going forward. He's got two swing and miss pitches and great command of both of them. 

I like Middleton, but he's not as good IMO. 

Was worried that he would be a pitcher that batters would just sit fastball due to a lack of secondary pitches but I gotta say that slider looks legit...

[Troll Daddy]

No way he’s taking Middleton’s job as closer just yet imo. Kid looks good but let’s wait and see. 

[Chuck]

3 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

No way he’s taking Middleton’s job as closer just yet imo. Kid looks good but let’s wait and see. 

Middleton isn't guaranteed anything and he just blew a save in which would have given us the first game in the series. 

Keynan is only the closer because Blake Parker shit the bed and we needed someone decent in the 9th.

Anderson looks the part of a shut down closer. 99 MPH fastball, wipeout slider. 

[Troll Daddy]

2 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Middleton isn't guaranteed anything and he just blew a save in which would have given us the first game in the series. 

Keynan is only the closer because Blake Parker shit the bed and we needed someone decent in the 9th.

Anderson looks the part of a shut down closer. 99 MPH fastball, wipeout slider. 

I beg to differ 

[Chuck]

15 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

I beg to differ 

That's fine. Either way, it's good to have two young guys at the backend of the bullpen to lock down the 8th or 9th. 

[Bull58]

The guy has good stuff but I would wait on the closer part until around June when we get a better glimpse of him over a two month period. Just too soon right now for a sure thing. Remember Perci didn't get the closer job until Lee Smith got injured in 96, but Perci had a full season under his belt and proved himself to be the guy to replace Smith and the rest is history.

[Stax]

Yes, but the current closers are not getting the job done. Let's see what Anderson can do in a closer roll.

[Bull58]

In a perfect world we'd have Alvarez-Anderson punch. Never thought I'd say that about Alvarez until this year.

[Bull58]

I'm just saying it's quick to put someone as a closer after only 4 games. If Alvarez and Anderson continue they should be set up and closer, respectively. Dump Parker somewhere else for minor league talent and get Krol up here as a left handed specialist to face certain batters. That way Alvarez can spend time focusing on setting up in the 8th. Krol is dealing in SLC right now as well.

[Vlad27Trout27]

don't forget about Bedrock, 4 straight scoreless appearance. velo getting back to 94-96 constant. if he can recover that 2016 form in the next week or two, he's the closer for me. Middleton in the 8th and johnson/ Anderson for the 7th.

[Bull58]

That's why I'm not counting out Bedrock just yet. Maybe he's worked on a few things.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

4 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah @rafibomb he has been amazing. To me, he's the clear cut choice for our closer going forward. He's got two swing and miss pitches and great command of both of them. 

I like Middleton, but he's not as good IMO. 

He could be our equivalent of Scot  Shields, and be a lock 8th inning bridge to our closer.

[Billy_Ball]

Percy and KRod had flat out dominant seasons as setup men before becoming closer.

I just worry for every Percy or KRod, there's a Walden and Frieri.

[Jeff Fletcher]

I thought Scioscia hates young players?

[stormngt]

9 hours ago, Stax said:

Yes, but the current closers are not getting the job done. Let's see what Anderson can do in a closer roll.

Middleton only has one blown save!

[Torridd]

4 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Middleton only has one blown save!

That seems to be forgotten here, storm.

[Dick B Back]

I’m happy with Alvarez, Johnson, Cam, Anderson and Middleton. The others not so much.

Since this issue appears to be solved, time to do something about the hitting and starting pitching which are the real problems.

[Torridd]

I agree. For the most part, we're not having trouble with holding leads, but getting them.

[Lou]

13 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

don't forget about Bedrock, 4 straight scoreless appearance. velo getting back to 94-96 constant. if he can recover that 2016 form in the next week or two, he's the closer for me. Middleton in the 8th and johnson/ Anderson for the 7th.

[Make Angels Great Again]

6 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I thought Scioscia hates young players?

 

I literally cannot remember Scioscia ever using a rookie the way he has used Justin Anderson.

Most of us had no damn clue who he was until he showed up with a slim lead in Houston and fires 99 for his first pitch. I mean, I can only ever remember him easing guys in. To throw him in the highest leverage situations we have is something way out of character.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Actually, I just remembered one.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

6 hours ago, Dick B Back said:

I’m happy with Alvarez, Johnson, Cam, Anderson and Middleton. The others not so much.

Since this issue appears to be solved, time to do something about the hitting and starting pitching which are the real problems.

Skaggs looked good in his last 3 starts, needs to improve efficiency. Heaney was good in last start although throwing too many pitches per out. Ohtani has looked very good for 3 of 4 starts (except with blister). Tropeano looked good for a couple of starts also. Richards has given up 2 or fewer runs in 4 of his 6 starts. Jaime Barria had a 1 good start before the 21 pitch AB to Brandon Belt. Shoemaker has started a throwing program so he may be back soon.

Our pitchers haven't terrible but their one common problem is they seem to throw too many pitches which keeps them from going deep into games, thus becoming a drain on our bullpen. Hopefully this will improve in the near future or this will be a long season.

The offense seems to be an even bigger problem over the last 2 weeks. even more than the pitching IMO.