Free reports, with BP video on Yorman Rodriguez and Ryan LaMarre, from Kiley McDaniel at Scout.com.
http://sbb.scout.com/2/1346285.html
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Free reports, with BP video on Yorman Rodriguez and Ryan LaMarre, from Kiley McDaniel at Scout.com.
http://sbb.scout.com/2/1346285.html
What Lorenzen's dealing with now is completely different than Stephenson's slow start. Stephenson's numbers reflected bad luck more than bad pitching.
Lorenzen's getting pounded. He needs to take a step back and collect himself. He should be fine come springtime, when he can get back to whatever career path he theoretically should be on. In the meantime let the kid clear his head a bit. Go on safari in Tanzania, climb the steps at Macchu Picchu, give him a Groupon for the Bunny Ranch.
What? He was falling behind in the count and having to throw fastballs in hittable locations. He was using his two-seamer too much, which has a slightly different arm angle, and he was carrying that over to his arm angle on his four-seamer and that was cutting into his velocity. And his change was not as effective because he was not getting into favorable counts to use it, he wasn't throwing it consistently where he wanted it, and since the fastball velocity was down, the speed differential to the change up wasn't as much of a weapon as it became when he started throwing 100 again.
I'm not saying he wasn't making mistakes or that he didn't need to adjust. Yet he was pitching 4.50 bad, not 5.50 bad. It wasn't a crisis. And that's tangential to the main point, which is Lorenzen is pitching ∞.∞ bad. Stephenson was at a place where on-the-fly adjustments could be made. Lorenzen needs to be shut down and re-tuned. He doesn't need to take any more beatdowns this season.
https://twitter.com/Tucker_Barnhart
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LAST DAY OF THE SEASON!
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It has been such an honor to be blessed with so many wonderful opportunities this season. I would like to thank you all for the countless...
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Words of encouragement and good luck. I cannot wait for next season and the new opportunities that are in front of me...
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But now it's time to rest, relax and enjoy the holidays with the best family that I could ask for! Thank you everyone and GO @Reds !!
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/cin/...&vkey=news_cin
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"I was happy," Graupe said on Monday. "Generally it's a league where you send some guys where you hope they try to keep progressing or building on positives from the second half. I thought our guys played hard and played well. I thought they each made some progress."
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"I was very happy with Yorman," Graupe said. "Organizationally, we saw a lot of progress from him. He played well in both center field and right field. Offensively, he swung the bat with authority."
This year combined at Class A Advanced Bakersfield and Pensacola, the right-handed-hitting Rodriguez batted .259 with 13 homers and 66 RBIs. It was a nice turnaround from 2012, when his offensive struggles got him demoted from Bakersfield to Class A Dayton.
"Even with that, he is still 21 years old," Graupe said. "He's so young. Really, it's just going out there to keep on playing and seeing himself compete against such a high level of competition. We keep challenging him, and he keeps answering the bell."
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"Tuck continued to handle new challenges, defensively," Graupe said. "He threw out a lot of baserunners, blocked well and handled an entirely new pitching staff basically and did great with it. Offensively, he continued to take quality at-bats. As a switch-hitter, we have to keep getting him more at-bats so he is constantly challenging himself from both sides. It definitely happened with Tucker."
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The Reds were less interested in Lorenzen's results, compared to his continuing the transition from short-inning reliever and closer in college to professional starter.
"We kind of threw the results away on that," Graupe said. "We do expect guys to go out there and compete well, especially a guy like Michael. With the transition to being a starting pitcher, this is all about the routine and the process. I think if he had gone there and pitched the way he had in the past, he would have a little more success. In the long run, going there and finding his secondary pitches and continuing to work on all the things that will be required of him as a starting pitcher, I think it will pay off in the end."
Jeff makes good points on Lorenzen. He has never pitched on a five-day timetable where he is throwing a bullpen session between starts, kept on a standard running program, etc. He has not even really gone through the pre-game process of warming up since he went straight from center field to the mound in college and then pitched out of the bullpen after the draft this summer. He has also not gone into a start with the kind of game plan that a starter works through in terms of using one pitch to set up another and setting up a hitter. As a reliever, he has just come in and blown 97 mph cheese and mixed in the breaking ball. The thing the Reds wanted to get him to embrace (and he has) is an understanding that for the first time, he has to learn to think like a pitcher.
Plus, it's very likely that, in the interest of expanding his repertoire, he was throwing pitches he hasn't perfected and doesn't have a lot of confidence in. And, at the same time, trying to pace himself, which he has never done before. It was pretty much the first day of kindergarten. Of course, that said, the upshot is that, if he is to get it together and succeed as a starter, it will probably take longer than we wish it to.