Warthen, Pelfrey Take Subtle Shots at Rick Peterson
By Mike Silva ~ February 20th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.
Last night’s SNY’s Mets Hot Stove featured Mike Pelfrey and pitching coach Dan Warthen. There were two key quotes from those interviews that were very telling. This, of course, is me paraphrasing, but you will understand the point:
Pelfrey - He (Wharthen) is everything you want in a pitching coach. He works from your strengths and doesn’t try to change you.
Warthen – We are going to get him (Pelfrey) back to the pitcher we drafted. He should have never been changed.
Sounds like an indictment on former pitching coach Rick Peterson. I am fascinated by Peterson’s theories on pitching and believe that there is validity to what he is saying. I am also a proponent of working off someone’s strengths versus trying to fit them into “your vision”. Perhaps Peterson could have brought the two worlds together versus force feeding his philosophies.
You can’t argue with the success Peterson had while he was here, but it’s clear that his time was up. It’s hard to envision Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez doing as well in the second half if Peterson was the pitching coach. Of course, we all know that Heath Bell was never a fan of his either.
Overall you have to like some of what your hearing from Dan Warthen and the key members of the pitching staff.
February 20th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Precisely what changes were made to Pelfrey?
February 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I think this article sums up the changes pretty well
Thanks for reading John!
http://www.metsprospectus.com/2008/08/dan-warthen-era.html