John Wasdin had a no-no through 7 before Jason Motte came in to strike out 5 batters over the 8th and 9th inning. I took a look at the video to see what Motte was up to with his pitches.
8th Inning:
- Meyer — 1-FB(CS) 2-FB(B) 3-FB(CS) 4-FB(SS)
- Metcalf — 1-FB(SS) 2-FB(foul out to 1st)
- Gold — 1-SL(CS) 2-SL(SS) 3-SL(B) 4-FB(SS)
9th Inning:
- Richardson — 1-FB(CS) 2-FB(B)-96mph 3-FB(SS) 4-FB(B) 5-FB(F) 6-FB(F) 7-FB(SS)-97mph
- Ellison — 1-FB(CS) 2-FB(SS) 3-FB(SS)
- Duran — 1-FB(B) 2-FB(SS) 3-FB(F) 4-SL(B) 5-FB(SS)
By my count Motte threw 4 sliders out of 25 pitches. When I watched Motte in the past, I made the following comment on his slider:
The slider isn’t a myth but it is very much a work in progress. My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t break away from right-handers enough. It’s got some decent vertical movement (which almost made me think it was a curve the first time I saw it) but the lateral break leaves a lot to be desired. I’d almost question if he’s even putting the right/enough torque on the ball when it leaves his hand. The other problem is that it’s pretty easy to recognize when he’s throwing the slider. The arm action slows a little and the arm slot just isn’t quite the same.
Most of that holds true. The pitch still doesn’t break away from right handers. The third slider that he threw to Gold (the ball) was the only one with any serious horizontal break and it was well outside the strike zone. I will say that I wasn’t picking up on the pitch as much before hand, which is an improvement. I’m just not sure it’s really a viable breaking pitch in the majors. It still looks well below average to me.
Sometimes when you watch hitters face a pitcher, you’ll comment on batters not being able to square up on the pitch. That was certainly the case with Motte’s fastball. There were 3 foul tips caught for strikeouts. I’m not sure if Motte should be applauded for this because his fastball is still very, very straight. He’s got wicked velocity but he loves to throw the fastball up in the zone (albeit around the shoulders) and mistakes with a straight fastball, up in the zone in the bigs are going to fly a long way when those hitters connect. His fastball is still a good pitch but he wasn’t even attempting to throw it down in the zone tonight. It’s possible that he can get away with pitching like that (see Zumaya, Farnsworth) but he’s still something of a diamond in the rough. Heavy on velocity & light on pitches that move.
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Nice job, Az. I was just telling my Dad yesterday that I wish the Cardinals had paid Bruce Sutter to be a consultant and shadow Motte everywhere he goes, teaching him the finer points of a splitter. That would be a nice complement to his fastball.
Nice report. Given Motte’s affinity for the high strike, he’ll never mesh with papa Dunc. If Dunc is back next season, I think Motte makes solid trade bait. The numbers he’s putting up in AAA gotta garner some attention on the trade market.
Joe-
Duncan will love the high fastball in my opinion…. I think we need to stop the myth that Duncan hates the 4 seam fastball. There was a post game interview a couple weeks ago and Franklin was talking about how he was throwing is 4 seamer up in the zone in hopes of getting it by a batter.
I think Dunc like guys to work down in the zone when they are starters for obvious reasons. However Dunc is not against guys throwing high fastballs if they can actually throw high fastballs… Motte by the sounds of it has the stuff to get away with balls up in the zone, but guys like Izzy, Franklin, and Reyes are not good enough to live up in the zone.
Motte right now sounds like a guy who you would only bring in when you really need a K as you would hope he could just throw it by a guy. He does not sound to be MLB ready to get 3 outs in an inning.
Why would Dave Duncan totally “hate” a pitch? It doesn’t make any sense to even think that. Perhaps, Anthony Reyes just wasn’t as good as advertised….
I am excited to see Motte in the near future. One thing that really can’t be taught is velocity. It sounds like the Farnsworth comp is pretty good.
A side note: When I watched Fernando Salas in the Futures Game, I was not nearly as impressed as I thought I would be. His fastball is not electric and his secondary stuff is raw. When he ws dominating early in the season, my mouth watered with the idea of Salas/Perez in the 8th/9th in the not too distant future. Now, they have a long ways to go.
FYI – per the Birdhouse: Daryl Jones has been promoted to Double-A.
“Duncan will love the high fastball in my opinion…. I think we need to stop the myth that Duncan hates the 4 seam fastball.”
Go back and listen to the Dyar Miller radio interview from last year (sorry, don’t have the link). It’s clear this organization preaches down in the zone, pitch to contact. Does the same rule apply to relievers? Good point that D. Dunc may have different operating rules for relievers than starters; however, I am of the opinion those of you who think Dunc won’t big problems with the current pitching style of Motte are flat wrong. The high fast ball is not an out pitch for Motte, it’s his bread and butter. In years Dunc has been in STL, I can’t remember any pitcher we have had who has lived up in the zone. For example, Wellemeyer came to us as a 4 seamer up in the zone guy but Duncan has harped on him to pound the lower half of the zone. Correct me if I am wrong about Motte’s current approach.
BTW, congrats to D. Jones.
Wellemeyer came to STL after being released by the Royals…
Wellemeyer used to be a starter in the minors in the Cubs system. When he was shooting up the ladder the Cubs were stacked with starting pitching Big Z, Wood, Prior.. etc. They needed bull pen help so they moved Wellemeyer to the pen because they thought he could compliment Farnsworth as another guy in the pen who could hit 97-98 pretty consistently with his fastball. Wellemeyer did ok, but he began trying to overthrow and strike guys out and was not able to control his fastball. He found that problem in each place he pitched. When he came to Dunc, Dunc decided to have him sacrifice velocity for movement and location and it helped. It’s not like Welle had much of a choice as he was just released from the god awful Royals. He pitched well out of the pen in 2007 and instead of trying to throw 98 MPH he decided to throw 92-94 with movement and he was able to locate better. So that is why Dunc had him abandon the 4 seamer, It was not working at all as Welle always had a plus big league arm but he could not throw a strike.
also I can’t really think of any top flight pitchers who actually had good arms that pitched in STL. It seems like they always get Suppan type guys and Suppan type guys can’t live up in the zone as they do not throw hard enough….
Woody Williamas, Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, Darryl Kyle, Matt Morris (post arm surgery), Carpenter, Wainer…. Not really guys who are going to be throwing 98 MPH 4 seam fastballs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th inning like Beckett, Zambrano, Lincecum type guys.