Quote from 3fingersplit on May 13, 2021, 12:25 pm

So many things to unpack....Grisham broke a cardinal rule in baseball.....never make the third out at 3rd base when you could have scored from 2nd base on a base hit....bonehead move

Re: Snell....I've been watching this guy and a couple of things jumped out at me.....one is he seems to aim the ball more when he is out of balance on his delivery which changes his arm slot and he tends to lean which causes him to either speed up or be behind...the other thing is when he lands on his front foot....when he is about a full foot length in front of his push foot he seems to have a better arm angle even though he tends to throw more across his body....when he gets more straight on his plant foot he seems to yank more pitches to his glove side.

I'm sure the pitching coaches are seeing the same thing so it's actually a couple of  minor tweeks and I think Snell will be fine if he can find that happy spot on a consistent basis and trust his arm...he has good stuff but when he gets out of balance he burns pitches and like I used to tell my own pitchers...."the less you throw ...the longer you go....don't nibble and trust your stuff and trust your defense "

Quote from Brian Connelly on May 13, 2021, 1:54 pm

Quote from 3fingersplit on May 13, 2021, 12:25 pm

So many things to unpack....Grisham broke a cardinal rule in baseball.....never make the third out at 3rd base when you could have scored from 2nd base on a base hit....bonehead move

Re: Snell....I've been watching this guy and a couple of things jumped out at me.....one is he seems to aim the ball more when he is out of balance on his delivery which changes his arm slot and he tends to lean which causes him to either speed up or be behind...the other thing is when he lands on his front foot....when he is about a full foot length in front of his push foot he seems to have a better arm angle even though he tends to throw more across his body....when he gets more straight on his plant foot he seems to yank more pitches to his glove side.

I'm sure the pitching coaches are seeing the same thing so it's actually a couple of  minor tweeks and I think Snell will be fine if he can find that happy spot on a consistent basis and trust his arm...he has good stuff but when he gets out of balance he burns pitches and like I used to tell my own pitchers...."the less you throw ...the longer you go....don't nibble and trust your stuff and trust your defense "

3finger, I wish you WERE his pitching coach!  The thing that concerns me is Snell's utter inability to make adjustments mentally or physically in game when he's not landing a pitch where he wants; particularly since he's going into the game having had similar issues, talked about it, analyzed it etc from game(s) before.  Shouldn't he have SOME kind of plan in place mentally for "if I can't land pitch "x" vs RH hitters, I'll do this instead?"  Seems like he just keeps doing what he's doing.  I can't even recognize every pitch thrown like you or Mark Grant or whoever, but I have DEFINITELY seen Snell throw the exact same pitch to the exact same missed location 3 times in a row.

I get command of "stuff" can vary from game to game, but he's 25% of the way into the season, and it's basically been the same thing game in game out.  At this point it is pretty clear he literally does not know what the issue is, let alone have an idea how to fix it.

In your experience, at what point in a season would you recommend a way more dramatic course of action?  Isn't it  getting very close?   At some point it's like, "go with your 2 best pitches all game right down the middle (you're probably not going to hit that spot;,b/c haven't landed anything else, but ) & live with the consequences".  Given his track record, guys will be "taking" for awhile before they figure out what he's doing.

Quote from fenn68 on May 13, 2021, 2:53 pm

I am beginning to by into the Snell you see is the Snell forever ... and just figure out how to the make the best with those limits.

Even in his Cy Young season (2018) he was only about 5 2/3 innings a near 17 pitches per inning. Not as good before and since 2018 has his pitch count per inning is rising and his innings per start has been below 5 and dropping each season. TB is good with pitchers and could not turn him around in 2019 ... apparently got smart and dealt him to SD. As Kenny Rodgers philosophized, know when to hold them and know when to fold them!

Now there is a new theory (don’t buy it) that Snell is still uncomfortable in SD. He really liked pitching in TB (pitching coach and catcher) and is still in an adjustment period. I know most will not like that theory ... but not without merit (see Darvish - Caratini) and a lot of cases where the change in pitching coaches (and philosophy / communication skills) throw the pitcher out of sync. I will go back to Sonny Gray’s comments on Larry Rothschild and the unfortunate situation in NY. Getting the sense that Snell does not adapt to change quickly.

Anyone’s guess.

Quote from Brian Connelly on May 14, 2021, 8:15 am

I'm starting to get the distinct "10 cent head" feeling.  He's not "a little" lacking in command.  His P/IP is one of the highest in MLB.  At that rate, you CAN'T get > 5 IP much less longer.  If he had lesser stuff, talking out of MLB territory.  How did he win 20+ games only averaging 5.2 IP in 2018?

Snell DID have to live with Campusano the first 4-5 starts, which DEFINITELY didn't help.  But he's had 3-4 with the other 2 guys now.  Still settling in with Nola just back is true, but don't think that's the issue; Nola's "ERA caught" last year was fantastic.  Musgrove threw a no-hitter his 2nd start ever with Caratini.  Campusano was hurting him, but Nola & Vic are plusses.

I think Rothschild is a plus too.  He's commented very clearly about NOT messing with Darvish pitching "backward"; resisting the urge to push for more 97 FB.  He's pushed Paddack to trust & use his FB more right now.  And I feel like he's dead on in his comments about Snell, which have basically expressed the sense of urgency I feel:  That it's "GO" time right now.  Can't wait till mid-Summer or next LAD series to "get rolling".  Has said "Blake's got some work to do", which reading between the lines might be: 'we know what the mechanical/pitch sequencing issues are; he has to work to iron them out.'  If it's not mechanical, which Snell has said over & over, this is sports psychologist stuff.  If he hasn't gone that route yet..... 10 cent head.

Quote from fenn68 on May 14, 2021, 12:04 pm

"Mechanical" could be the symptom of "Mental" and/or "Physical".

 

Quote from 3fingersplit on May 14, 2021, 5:49 pm

Re: Snell...part 2

so I went and watched more of his games and then watched Yu Darvish and the balance thing was amazing....Snell falls toward the plate coming out of his gather and if I told him to stop mid windup he would fall forward....Darvish....if I told him to stop he would be standing there on one leg like a flamingo.....that makes a big difference in getting your arm slot / release point dialed in. I did this for years with my pitchers and it helped from a control standpoint and also arm health because everything is in sync.

Snell is more like a scatter gun because his release point gets screwed up depending on how out of balance he is while Darvish is like a sniper because when he goes forward he is in total control and he is more like a "one shot, one kill" deadly kind of guy.

The other thing is move Snell over on the rubber about 4-5 inches toward third base and maybe it would help him be in a more straight fall line down the mound to the plate. I always had bullpen mound set up with a chalk line from the rubber straight toward the plate and it was always very telling about where we would put pitchers on the rubber to see if we could get him right. That does a couple of things, it lets him bore in to left handed hitters and makes his breaking ball better because it will tail away and right handed hitters would be the same,,,,fastball away, breaking ball down and in, pitch the four corners up and down, in and out and stay away from the middle middle....the one thing that has always been a constant is that baseball starts at your feet and if you aren't "plugged" in to mother earth you never get comfortable.....touch and feel location pens are the ticket to get this right......5 pitches down and in, 5 pitches down and away, 5 pitches up and in, 5 pitches up and away....two seam or four seam fastballs then the same sequence with breaking balls ( curve, slider, split, sinker, whatever your breaking ball is ) and then finish up with 5 that flat out cut the heart of the plate because sometimes you just have to blow a guy away ala mano y mano. Makes for a nice 45 pitch pen day and the 5 pitch repetition develops some muscle memory and lets the pitcher see his efforts.

Those days are behind me now but the game hasn't changed....just the players have and everybody can be fixed.

Somebody asked me why "3 fingersplit" ?....that was a pitch I use to teach as a change up / sinker that put zero stress on the arm and depending where you placed your thumb on the bottom of the ball you could make it break/fade away, straight down or in and it didn't matter if the batter was right or left handed....came out looking like a fastball but was it deadly because of the grip used...middle finger on the seams like a two seamer then slide the first and third fingers down on both sides and then the thumb works the bottom seams...left, center, right.....as a coach I would lmao watching good hitters swing over the top and blink and have that look of...what was that ?.......needless to say my guys loved throwing it when needed 🙂

Quote from LynchMob on May 17, 2021, 11:21 am

Here we go again with Rox ... and we've got our Big 3 lined up to start ...

OPPONENT	PROJ STARTER	OPP PROJ STARTER
Mon 5/17 COL	Yu Darvish	Jon Gray
Tue 5/18 COL	Blake Snell	Austin Gomber
Wed 5/19 COL	Joe Musgrove	Chi Chi González

Quote from Brian Connelly on May 17, 2021, 10:42 pm

So THIS is what it's like to have an Ace!   Amazing.   Great team win.  Guys coming back, maybe Hos tomorrow.

Quote from 3fingersplit on May 17, 2021, 11:32 pm

If you watched Darvish tonight he is what I said he was....a sniper "One Shot, One Kill" kind of guy....great balance from his windup and when from the stretch he sits so well with perfect balance that when he goes to the plate...he goes. He worked the box perfect tonight....in,out,up and down and very efficient....7 innings / 81 pitches....I always knew he was very good but getting the chance to watch him now on a regular basis is something special and Brian is right....this is what it's like to have an ACE.

Next up is Blake Snell tomorrow...hopefully he has a few things worked out ( Balance and Arm Slot ) and goes after hitters instead of nibbling...he is due to just bust out

I know it's still early in the season but this team is starting to remind me of another Padre team in history....the 1984 Padres......Machado / Nettles, Tatis/Templeton, Cronenworth/Wiggins, Hosmer/Garvey.....infield..... Gwynn, McReynolds and Martinez....Grisham, Meyers, Pham...outfield ,...

.Kennedy and Bochy....Nola,Caratini....bench....Flannery,Bevaqua,Salazar....Profar,Mateo,Kim ....I think this pitching staff is better than the 1984 staff