He is leaving tomorrow...hopefully he has worked his magic with the young staff. He's a great guy heading to the US to work with the Reds pitchers each spring...said he'd be back next year in ST.
He is leaving tomorrow...hopefully he has worked his magic with the young staff. He's a great guy heading to the US to work with the Reds pitchers each spring...said he'd be back next year in ST.
He should be in the dugout as the pitching coach............
My favorite Reds pitcher of all time.
Personally, what I'd like to see is the Reds having Mario travel with each of the minor league affiliates for a month or two and work with all the young pitchers and teach them his circle change-up. Just seeing the effectiveness of it with both Cueto and Volquez is simply stunning. (not to mention how gorgeous it was coming out of his own hand). Mario working with the Dominican system is great, but a few months out of the season for a year or two would do wonders for our up and coming pitchers.
I'd love to see some extensive one-on-one work with Homer Bailey. A solid DECEPTIVE changeup would work wonders with his stuff. The command of the fastball will come much more easily if he can fool hitters with change of speed as well as the testosterone-laced heater. A changeup will give him the time to develop the command he needs to succeed while keeping his confidence high.
Good points. I saw Homer in the ST game against the Bosox that turned into a debacle (once Shearn came in), and although he left the game 3-2, he showed amazing stuff. His curve had great batters just conceding it to him. When he threw the heat, they were all so late that the Sox fans around me, not knowing Homer were asking me if he really threw as hard as the hitters were making it look. If he can just develop that 3rd pitch and throw consistent strikes..........Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_
Last I heard, Homer had lost velocity off his fastball and was only hitting 91 mph on the radar gun.
Soto seems to really get guys motivated to pitch during spring training, I wish there was some way to get him to stick around as a full-time Reds Coach.
He should either be Bullpen coach or AAA pitching coach
Soto should not be at any place. He should just have roam around teaching his change up. I'm not sure if teams do this, but why not hire specialty pitchers and have them teach or help out minor leaguers from dominican, rookie, and up to MLB level. Have a Sinker guy, a change up, slider, curve, splitfinger, etc. Obviously 1 pitcher can't learn every new pitch, but I would have some type of camp to begin with to try and introduce all these pitches. Then for those who do pick up the new pitch, or need help with one they already have, the specialty coaches could focus on them. I have no idea how minor leagues are taught, but I get the feeling it's mostly just playing with just a few tips every once in awhile. Get some coaches like Soto and spread them out everywhere. Even if 1 pitcher become an ace because of specialized attention, it's easily worth it from a financial point of view.
I agree. You don't teach all the pitchers all the pitches. But most young hurlers have one main pitch that they throw best. It's usually pretty easy to determine what OTHER pitch would compliment it best. Fastball needs a change. Curve needs a fastball. Etc. Another factor would be his arm angle on delivery. That would also lend itself to another pitch variety.
As for Mario being great at motivating guys...I think a good portion of that was the fact that he is Dominican like Cueto & Volquez. Lots of coaches are good motivators or teachers. My point was that his circle change was his trademark pitch and a solid deceptive changeup is a great compliment to nearly every other type of pitch. And a few months out of the year every year trying to pass that change on to our top pitching prospects would be a worthwhile investment. A full-time gig...I don't think so.
It also might be a nice idea to bring in a sinkerball hurler. There aren't many pitches that fit our park better than the sinker. Anybody remember any great sinkerballers in the Reds past? We've got some obvious ones in the majors right now in Webb, Zambrano, Carmona and numerous others...but I can't recall any Reds pitchers with a good one.
I guess you guys don't think Ted Powers is good enough for the AAA coaching job ?
Mario's good for the latin players - it looks good and they'll understand him better (both language and player / coach wise)
For Me:
1. Tom Seaver
2. Fred Norman
3. Mario Soto
(Sorry off topic....)
* Attended the 1990 and 2010 Reds Division clinchers *
Go 76ers, Go Steelers and Go Bucks
Yeah Ted Power is doing a great job, just see who he brought along since he has been there. I am trying to figure out who he has helped mature into a great pitcher. Help me a little bit, seriously. Who on the Reds staff benefitted greatly from being under his guidance. I hope he is helping Homer, because if Homer comes up and does well after being with him, then I will shut up. Cueto did not benefit from him (he passed AAA by real quick), neither did Harang, Arroyo, Volquez, or Cordero. He might be doing a good job with Tom Shearn and Ricky Stone, but those guys will not help this team that much. I love Ted Power, but I think he is a bullpen coach at best, not a pitching coach. He fits the Tom Hume mold well.
at the AAA level should a pitching coach still need to teach a kid how to pitch 100%, even 50% ?? i would hope not. i would think that a AAA pitching coach is there to correct some mistakes, more mental than mechanical - the mechanical ones being small ones at that.
you're right, Cueto didn't benefit from him cause he didn't spend much time there. besides, he was already "marked" by Soto. so, if Powers did help Cueto out at all during his stint in AAA last year, it was overshadowed by Soto's name that was already established - that make sense ?
harang / arroyo / volquez / cordero - how can you even throw them in there when they didn't even come up through the system or spend ANY time in AAA within the last few years ?? your comment there made no sense in relation to Ted Powers.
if you'd like to name drop at least use people like Burton / Coffey - perhaps two of the bigger 40 man names that spent some "rehab" time in AAA last year. i'm sure Powers worked to get them back to their form so they could get back to the major's. i at least thought that Coffey's performance was better once he returned and "got his mind right" or maybe had a small mechanical flaw fixed after his demotion last year.
I dropped those names to show my point. Which is our staff, is a staff that has not been benefitted by our AAA team that much. Lets look at our pitching staff. Harang, Arroyo, Cueto, Fogg, Volquez - out of these guys Cueto is the only one to come up through our system and he kind of skipped past AAA. Lets go to the pen. Weathers, Merker, Cordero, Affeldt, and Lincoln are not products of our minor league staff. Coffey pitched horrible last year so those rehab stints probably did not help him. I think if he does well this year it will be because of his own hard work this off season. Burton, if my memory serves me correctly, was a Rule 5 pick and pitched well for us last season (and those kudos go to Krivsky). I really don't want to run down Powers because it is not all his fault, but why isn't our staff full of guys that have had some experience from our AAA team. I think if guys are being helped by Soto, as Cueto and Volquez have, then why can't we bring him in to help in our organization.
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