How bad are the Mets hitting right now?
I heard this comment from a Mets announcer last night:
"The Reds are an impressive hitting ballclub"
How bad are the Mets hitting right now?
I heard this comment from a Mets announcer last night:
"The Reds are an impressive hitting ballclub"
"The players make the manager, it's never the other way." - Sparky Anderson
Agree with AK that Arroyo's stuff was much crisper than it has been recently. True, the Mets are a weak hitting team, but there are a couple tough outs still in that lineup.
You have to acknowledge the possibility that Arroyo will continue to bounce back strong, as he did last year in the 2nd half. The guy is just very tough to figure.
From an offensive standpoint last night was like watching two snails run the 50-yard dash.Originally Posted by NJReds
Even though facing the flaccid lineup that the Mets ran out last night, Arroyo managed swinging strikes on just 5% of his pitches......
"This isn’t stats vs scouts - this is stats and scouts working together, building an organization that blends the best of both worlds. This is the blueprint for how a baseball organization should be run. And, whether the baseball men of the 20th century like it or not, this is where baseball is going."---Dave Cameron, U.S.S. Mariner
True. But it seemed like he started every hitter with strike 1 (and the Mets hitters kept taking strike 1) ... and he used that to his advantage.
"The players make the manager, it's never the other way." - Sparky Anderson
So what?Even though facing the flaccid lineup that the Mets ran out last night, Arroyo managed swinging strikes on just 5% of his pitches......
So, they took a lot of pitches and/or grounded out weakly to someone. Sometimes stats are just stats.
He's done the same thing in virtually all of his starts; most success he's had this season has come via luck. And the fact that he faced a worse offense than the Reds' last night.
He's been terrible so far this season, and last night's performance didn't indicate in any way that he's turned any kind of corner.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
That's likely true, but I'd guess that if he keeps punding the strikezone like he did last night, the swinging strikes will increase by virtue of having hitters increase their strikezone later in the count. I think his stuff was 'workable' last night, at the very least, and that's something I was honestly thinking about since the 2nd inning, so I don't think that opinion is too influenced by the results against the Mets line-up.
It's no surprise to any of us who follow closely that Arroyo has had to evolve as a pitcher. He doesn't strike out as many as he did when he first came over from the AL. The league knows him better, he may have lost something off the fastball, and it sounds as if he hasn't been quite right physically due to the carpal tunnel. Last year, he innovated successfully with the two seam fastball and had a good 2nd half. We'll see if he's able to turn things around this year -- no one is denying it's been rocky, no one's saying last night's start means he's turned a corner. But it is definitely true he was sharper last night. Like AK, I could see it early on. Firmer fastball, better late break on the curve, a nice change (which I think is the new frontier for Arroyo). Most of all, very good command. It wasn't all about the weak hitting Mets.
Arroyo is not predictable start to start or month to month. Sitting back and proclaiming he stinks ignores what makes Arroyo Arroyo, what makes him interesting, and what makes games he pitches worth watching, in my opinion. If you believed he was wall to wall awful, why watch?
I didn't say Arroyo wasn't interesting or that he hasn't been good before; I said he's stunk this season. Pick a metric, go on anecdotal evidence: he's stunk.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
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