Inside Pitch

Bobby Grich>>>their HOFer.

Yeah, he's not 6'5 and 225, so he's not going to add much to what he's doing but IMO doing enough. He's left handed, he's already working at 91-93 (which is better than average for a lefty), he can touch 94 pretty consistently and while he doesn't have a lot of cut or run on his FB, his change is so good that the FB remains a weapon. He has two curves (speed wise), that he seems capable of throwing anywhere in the count but it's his change that really sets everything up, it seems to drop like a rock and even when they do hit it.... they aren't doing much with it. He may have the best base mechanics in the Angels system among SPs -- pitch after pitch his legs are always behind him, his landing point is amazingly steady. He won't ever project as a 1 or a 2, but he stands a really good chance at being a 200 innings number three, much more so now that his velocity has inched up and settled where it has. I know the game has fluctuated towards pitching, so there may be less value in that than there used to be but I guess I'm one of those you can't ever have too much pitching types. I've always liked him. I think he may find himself susceptible to the HR when he leaves a CB up, but I really like how his skill set could play out in Anaheim. As far as trade value goes, saber inclined teams might be more willing to bite at what he is already than wait on someone else's potential upside. So, while I don't have any idea what his value might be, I do believe he's a guy that could be packaged for someone. Truth is, I wouldn't mind if he sticks around.

It works both ways ... They don't change a guy just to change them -- most of the time they are seeing something in their swing that they think will be exploited at higher levels so, they try to take them in a different direction or alter it. Taylor Lindsey is an example of a guy they didn't try to change and boom -- pitchers have been exploiting his hitch now for a couple years. Last I heard the Pads were trying to tinker with his mechanics in hopes of fixing the hole.

Nate Smith keeps doing Nate Smith things... He's now giving up 1 or less runs in 8 of his 15 starts and has put up an ERA of 0.85 in his 5 June starts.... On the season .. 88.2 IP, 73 H, 25 BB, 71 K. 1.11 WHIP and a 2.74 ERA. He's been a bit lucky, but I'd imagine the traditional stats are such that he is increasing his trade value.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/ANA/leaders_bat.shtml

For me -- off the top of my head... Edwin Encarnacion with a better batting average. Doesnt K a lot for a power hitter, doesn't really pile on the walks. Same body types. There isnt much of a sample size yet on him.

Yeah, I get that -- I just don't know how much stock to put into the stat. A guy that hits a HR to start an inning when down by 4 to start a rally gets less props than the guy who ties the game later in that inning, or a guy that puts the team ahead. Seems like it's a statistic that can be pretty heavily influence by things like spot in the lineup and opportunities. It's an interesting stat, just not sure of it's real merit. WPA was always the go to stat for Howie criticism. I really do need to give it a closer look.

Lone Angels' prospect http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2015/futures_roster.jsp

I like WPA -- I just don't know how good a statistic it really is.. and by that I simply mean I've never looked at it deeply enough to see if it favors guys in certain spots of the order or not. There are other questions for me too -- like, how much more credit does it give a guy getting a hit that drives in a run as opposed to a the guy that got on base to score? I just don't know how it works enough to take it over a larger sample size albeit less specialized stat. Mostly, Im just arguing that as a whole, HK was amazingly, boringly, consistent...

We better hope we find the 02 version of our offense soon....

Yeah -- the stats don't support the narrative.. the narrative is all that matters. Career OPS Bases Empty - .765 RISP - .750 Men On - .761 Tie game - .726 Within 1 run - .732 Within 2 run - .750 Ahead - .771 Behind - .748 High Lvrge - .739 Med Lvrge - .773 Low Lvrge - .749 .Vs SP - .760 .Vs RP - .744 1st Half - .744 2nd Half - .770 Home - .764 Away - .745 Like I said -- the most boringly consistent hitter the Angels have ever had. His greatest sin -- not having won a batting title like some schleb talked up. Now give me a break -- I've reached my quota of stupid for the day.

Lucky how? Are you saying guys have missed taking him deep or something because he seems to have pitched to his numbers. I've not seen a lot of his performance so, I'm asking what I may have missed and not questioning your choice of words. BTW, I've gone on and on about my irrational hate of Fernando Salas... I'll continue to say I don't trust the guy at all -- but he's pitched better than his ERA would have us believe. So, while I dislike the guy, I agree he isn't likely to get dumped. Having somewhat defended Salas.... I now hate myself.

FG has it very different... Kendrick 0.6, Giavotella 0.1.

Or 3B

Mighty fine diagnosticating.

Yeah... About that.... Career Inn 1-3 .282/.324/.410 Inn 4-6 .308/.342/.456 Inn 7-9 .284/.328/.402 Career .291/.332/.423 As always -- Kendrick was the most boringly consistent hitter the Angels may have ever had.

That little spin throw of his was a thing of beauty too.. He was an underrated defensively as he was at times overrated offensively.

Talk about bringing a name from the past back... Seth Etherton and his palm ball... Poor kid was doomed.

Today was an enjoyable win. But man, this offense is just so not fun.

12 more years!!!!!

Bingo.. The typical Angels week goes like this... M - squeaker win (Pujols and/or Trout do something) T - squeaker loss (Pujols and/or Trout do something but it's not enough) W - blowout loss (Pujols or Trout contained) T - off day F - squeaker win (Pujols and/or Trout do something) S - squeaker loss (Pujols and/or Trout do something but nobody else does) S - blowout win (Someone besides AP and Trout shows up) It's hard to get excited about mediocrity.

Well done, Sir.

It drops off pretty quickly... Here is one such look at it...http://viewfromthebleachers.com/blog/2012/08/23/success-rate-of-mlb-draft-picks-by-slot/

The success rate for players taken among the first ten picks of the first round (and in particular position players), is significantly higher than anywhere else. Yeah, guys like Pujols and Piazza happen but they are rarities.

This is about as spot on as a person could get .. GA would have been much more appreciated in any other era other than the steroid years. It didnt help any that the local fishwraps were really into red asses and made guys like Disar and Erstad into massive fan favorites. People would watch Erstad run into a wall in game 1 of a 162 game season and swoon... nevermind the results or if it impacted his performance... Then they's watch GA do his thing, pull up, play intelligently and BOOM.. he was lazy and lacked "passion".