From Josh Kalk’s Pitch F/X cards.
Kalk also runs similarity scores on his site for each pitcher and interestingly enough, Motte’s most comparable pitcher from 2008 was Grant Balfour. Balfour happened to lead the majors in K/9 with 12.65. Jason Motte led all of the minors in K/9 with 14.85. Both throw fastballs 90% of the time. So you tell me – can he get by with one pitch?
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Anytime I open this website and I see your name under a post, my heart leaps with joy.
Balfour was solid last year, and Motte throws harder. I loved what I saw from Motte today, blowing people away with the fastball, and even mixing in some sliders to keep the hitters honest. If he continues to develop the slider, while mixing in a change every now and again, he has a chance to be really good.
Motte’s “changeup” was faster than Mark Buerhle, Mike Mussina and Barry Zito’s average fastball.
Seriously…His secondary pitches don’t even have to be that good. To be effective he needs to lose a little speed off one of his secondary pitches. The thing that concerns me currently is that that slider is still in the 90s. If he hangs that thing it is an awful pitch. If he throws it around 85 and hangs it–it is still a tough pitch to hit because of the change in speed.
Wow. Love that red.
Can he get by with one pitch? Don’t know. But if anyone can, it’s going to be someone who pitches like Balfour.
If anyone could get by with one pitch I think Motte would be able to. With a fatball that comfortably sits in the 96-98 range he can get away with an 88-90 mph change.
My thinking is that he can get by with one pitch for the short-term but, long-term, he needs better secondary stuff. Over time the hitter will adjust to the gas. If Motte had been a pitcher his entire career and arrived in the majors with little or not secondary stuff, then I would be concerned. But Jason is learning quickly since converting from catcher. I very much like what I see progressing from Mr. Motte. I say let’s start looking around the league for washed out catchers with cannons!
I’m not exactly sure how the similarity scores work but remember that Balfour has not been particularly good until last year. Motte does not appear to have the control problems that Balfour had earlier in his career but I think it needs to be noted that it took Balfour a few years to become the pitcher he was last year.
Also, I just wanted to share some blurbs on a number of prospects, courtesy of John Maracek at his blog:
http://www.johnmarecek.blogspot.com/
Short writeups on Reifer, David Carpenter, Additon, Lynn, Kulik, Kozma and De La Cruz.
motte can do it with 1 pitch, he doesnt even need to work on the other pitches.his FB is electric, he can hit triple digits..forget the other pitches …just throw 97-100 for 1 inning..he will succeed 99% of the time..there arent many guys that can throw 100mph & the biggest difference of all is motte can do it & he can throw strikes doing it..if motte struggles this year it will be because he is throwing other pitches & missing with them getting behind in the count then throwing 92-95 & the hitter has the advantage. can the other pitches jason , just throw the gas….
Thats whats great about these pitchers with raw ability. They can get by with there normal stuff, but give them time and then can incorporate offspeed pitches as well. He is going to be the real deal.
http://buschshouseofcards.blogspot.com
Is that a 92 MPH change?
It looks like the job is his now that Perez has gone down.