Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » K-Rod and Pitch Selection

K-Rod and Pitch Selection


By Mike Silva ~ June 3rd, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

The Mets lost yesterday’s game long before Adrian Gonzalez deposited a grand slam to left field in the 11th inning. Once David Eckstein tied the game with a 17 hopper up the middle it was a matter of when, not if, the Padres would complete the heartbreak. You could have played that game till next Tuesday and you sensed the Mets weren’t going to push any runs across the board. Credit the Padres who have a bullpen that holds opponents to a .210 batting average and less than three runs per nine innings. The popular talking points will be K-Rod choking, his diminished velocity, and what a bad investment his contract looks right now. I don’t believe K-Rod is hurt or can’t be effective, but I do think he needs to evaluate his pitch selection. There needs to be less machismo and more intellect during his appearances.

The two most damaging pitches yesterday were 0-2 hangers: one to Tony Gwynn Jr. (changeup) and another to Eckstein (curveball). Both situations screamed for K-Rod to waste a pitch or go to his fastball. Earlier in the season we saw him hang a changeup to John Bowker ahead in the count and he deposited it in the Pepsi Porch. There have been other times that I felt he got away with a hanger in situations that screamed dead red. It appears that K-Rod can’t execute his secondary pitches correctly or perhaps he needs to evaluate how often he uses his change and curveball. To get beat with two outs and two strikes by these punchless San Diego hitters is inexcusable. Especially since it was a game the team really needed to end the trip on a high note.

I am concerned that his fastball is down over a mile per hour this season. When it comes to injuries you never know what the deal is with the Mets, but K-Rod is not alone in that category. John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Johan Santana have also seen their radar guns drop. Even so K-Rod can still be an effective pitcher, but needs to be intelligent about his pitch selection and location. Is he capable of doing this? He did say after the sweaty save against the Yankees that “he knows what he is doing.” Perhaps he could listen to former big leaguer Fred Lynn who said on my show last spring he believes K-Rod uses his off-speed pitches too much. That was back when he was in Los Angeles and probably threw harder. Today it’s even more of an issue with the diminished velocity.

The Mets need K-Rod to figure this out because they can’t afford too many days like yesterday. These type of losses stick to a team and can lead to losing streaks. Unfortunately, I don’t see K-Rod has someone open to change or adjusting since “he knows what he is doing.”

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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6 Responses to K-Rod and Pitch Selection

  1. Matt
    June 3rd, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    Dude, thanks for writing this because I was wondering if anyone out there has half a brain anymore. Im not sure who to blame for the terrible pitch selection last night…Krod, Blanco, or maybe Manuel/Warthen. How come we both knew that the 0-2 changeup/curveball up in the zone was a bad idea but the team on the field didnt?
    He threw a couple of good secondary pitches last night but you’ve got to have them beat you with your fastball. At the very least, those pitches were too close to the plate on 0-2 counts.
    Matt

  2. Patrick
    June 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    I have more problem with the location than I do the selection. If he goes back to the well, that is fine, but it needs to be one of two things buried into the dirt or the most sick breaking pitch you have thrown all night The problem with the latter is, when you TRY to make it break is usually when it helicopters.

  3. Kiners Korner
    June 3rd, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    I thought he should and would throw the same dead red 93MPH fastball that Hairston just wiffed on. When I saw the high curve helicoptering in I was so disgusted. That was punch and Judy Eckstien up there. Maybe he fouls dead red off but that’s about it. Another thing got me, Eck always bangs it up the middle against the Mets (the only time I see him play), why weren’t Reyes and Cora pinched up the middle?

  4. Tom
    June 3rd, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    Its just dumb pitching what else can it be on 0-2 to a terrible hitter the first one then to a singles hitter the 2nd time

  5. sarge
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    You just knew that if Eckstein came up in the 9th with a single in need then he would find a way. This whole series was just unreal.
    Apart from the Padres pitching all you saw was a bunch of singles hitters, other than Adrian, washed up vets and yet Mets and Krod let an under .200 hitter with an 0-2 count hit a nice pitch for a hit and then you had Eck the same and you just serve up a nice floating curve that he can just tap up the middle. Unreal!
    When is someone going to tell Krod that you don’t have K everybody with a nasty off speed pitch,more often then not lately that pitch has been spanked.

  6. Docta Mark
    June 3rd, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Mike -

    I see a stubborn pattern with a lot of Met pitchers, both starters and relievers, in pressure situations, especially deep in ab’s on the road. Ronnie mentioned it during the FRI game with MIL and I saw it happen twice in WED’s game. What happens is this…

    A Met pitcher gets ahead in the count, even gets 2 strikes. They then get locked into throwing the same pitch that got them there.
    The hitter is no longer fooled and the result is a lot of 2 out and
    2 strike hits. To compound that, once that happens, Met pitchers
    will lose command after that and then we’ve seen it all go FUBAR from there; wild pitches, hitting batters or cookie HR’s. It’s ugly.

    Santana actually got away with it in the 7th…
    Adrian Gonzalez
    Ball, Strike (looking), Strike (looking), Foul, Ball, Ball, Foul, Foul, A Gonzalez flied out to right [and he hit a rope too]

    K-Rod almost lost the game in the 9th – same guy…
    Adrian Gonzalez
    Ball, A Gonzalez doubled to left, D Eckstein out at third

    Then Valdes loads the bases on a 2-1 single and HBP – again he gets behind the hitter trying to nibble away and it’s Larry #27…

    Adrian Gonzalez Ball, Strike (looking), A Gonzalez homered to left (370 feet), J Garland, J Hairston Jr. and D Eckstein scored

    It’s beyond bad pitch selection, location or dugout strategy now.
    All these late road losses seem to find their energy b/c the Met pitchers are reluctant to pitch to contact. They want called strike 3′s so they force feed themselves into robotic sequences and when they get hit they lose their nerve, nibble, & it’s cookie time.

    In CitiField they can throw more repetitive pitches and get away with it. To me this is what sets them up for disaster because their mistakes are caught and forgotten about. To correct this, the Mets need look at ALL 2 out scenarios as pitch to contact ab’s…Right now, only Pelfrey has enough confidence in his best pitch to do that. It’s a way to force batters to extend innings by earning it and not working counts either way. Once the staff can do that on the road in non-pressure situations with nobody on base, they will
    build confidence to do it when the game is on the line on the road.

    Less meetings on the mound, especially from Captain Obvious Dan Warthen, who seems to annoy the pitchers more than advise them. Just stop pitching scared and batters gets themselves out.

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