Here’s a two part interview between (what I believe is) a Palm Beach staffer and top pitching prospect Shelby Miller.
They’re brief but I’m actually surprised by how blunt he is in answering what could be construed as critical questions. He also seems much older than I perceived him to be last year. Not quite the same fresh faced, wide-eyed look we got from the Texan right out of high school.
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I liked the response to the 6 man rotation
Interesting interview and a little concerning. He doesn’t seem to realize why there is a 6 man rotation. Yes he wants to win but everything the system is doing is for his development, having him in a 6 man rotation working on other pitches, not trying to strike everyone out. All those things are more important than wins or stats in High A. As long as they aren’t trying to fundamentally change him as a pitcher he should be more than happy to work on small things.
He acknowledged that the 6 man rotation gives him more time with Dennis. However, he thinks he learns as much or more while on the mound pitching to professional hitters. He also admitted to wanting to get back on the mound after having a good outing. I don’t think we could want any more out of a young professional than that.
I don’t find his comments disconcerting at all. I find them consistent with a winner.
We all know that the minors is for learning. There are multiple schools of thought for how much you learn on the practice field vs how much you learn during the game. Clearly, Shelby feels more of the latter and less of the former works for him. Kudos.
Well the BP sessions you learn alot and on the mound against hitters you put into effect what you learn i.e. more secondard pitches and whatnot.
…and during the game you develop the confidence to put those secondary pitches into play. There is no wrong answer here.
I don’t like how he answered well I mainly just throw my fastball. Pitchers should work off there fastball but if that pitch is just too good for the league you should focus more on doing other things. Vuch said Shelby still has an issue with going too deep in counts to often. I don’t know if that means hes getting 2 strikes and then trying to get the third one with a breaking pitch? or if hes missing on alot of balls or what is going on. I haven’t listened to him or watched him much this year so I really dont know whats going on at all with his development. I just know when the player development head mentions he’s not ready yet because hes going to deep in counts he still needs work.
So let me get this straight. You argue night and day for Matt Adams being a top prospect despite physical shortcomings and a complete lack of walks, ignoring some very large red flags, but you want to make a big deal of the fact one of the best pitchers in all the minor leagues doesn’t like waiting an extra day or two to get back on the mound and apparently really likes his fastball? I must admit I’m having a tough time understanding your criteria for what is and what is not a big deal.
At the very least, I would hope your concern for his fastball-heavy ways would be ameliorated by your own logic regarding Adams. If Adams doesn’t have to take a walk, then there’s no reason for him to, right? Well, if Shelby doesn’t need to throw anything but a fastball, then what reason is there for him to do so.
Of course, neither of those statements make any sense, but I would hope you could at least see the problem with the logic inherent in each of them.
Well we know that the pitching coaches are working with Miller about throwing his secondardy pitches. We don’t know that the coaching staff has told Adams to take more walks. If they have and he’s not doing it thats one think but if hes not getting walks because hes rakign them thats another. I also didn’t like Miller saying well I mainly just work with my fastball on the outside corner but sometimes in and out.
Add intelligent, poised, and humble to disgustingly talented and young. Can’t wait to follow his career.
thanks for posting – interesting stuff.
he seems excited about going out there and pitching every 5 days. don’t think it’s that he doesn’t understand the 6-man. he just wants to pitch more often. he does seem poised in answering the questions although that doesn’t really amount to much admittedly. looking forward to seeing him jump a level. as excited as i am about this guy, it’s hard to imagine a Future Redbird having more success in the majors than Garcia’s having right now. if he’s a right-power guy with Garcia moxie, we’ll be in good shape!
What could have been construed as a critical question in there?
Yeah they seemed pretty innocuous, and definitely meatier/less cliche than most sport interviews.
The nice thing that he mentioned that I think people need to realize when scouting is that in QC there are 2-3 good hitters in the line-up. PB might have 4-5 solid hitters. You need to scout players against competition that is perceived to have a high ceiling or potentially major league level. So at QC you might only have 5-6 at bats where you can really see what a pitcher is capable of. He understands that the real test is AA where there are very few holes in a line-up.
Typically the same goes for hitters. In a sense statistics at these lower levels are worthless because the sample size against actual talent becomes small. So as much as I think Tavares has the tools, I am not going to get too excited until he is at AA.
I agree, AA seems to be where they separate the men from the boys.