484 replies to this topic

[SportsGuy]

I just hope they aren't trying to speed him up to help his TTP.

[JeffLong]

Love it Gary. The analysis, not the results necessarily.

 

Anyway, Carson Cistulli wrote this on Jimenez which is a nice pairing to your piece:

http://www.fangraphs...ent-velocities/

[bnickle]

When a guy with no control and not a lot of movement begins to lose MPH things can go sour quick.

The control will never be that good. We have to deal with that. The hope as pointed out in the article is that some conditioning and mechanical improvements will get some velocity and or movement back for him.


If not, it's gonna be a long summer. A long 4 years.

[BaltBird 24]

Hopefully it's mechanical because, if not, this may be the worst contract ever given out by the O's. He simply can't survive throwing 88 mph FBs.

[Mackus]

The command isn't a concern, he always fluctuates in and out there, it'l come back, and go away again, frequently over the life of his deal.

 

The diminished velocity is concerning.  Fastball down from 92-92.5 to 90.6 so far this year.  That's problematic, and if he can't bump it back up, I think there is reason to be nervous about the deal.  I wish we could see a breakdown of what his velocity looks like when he's pitching well and pitching poorly.  I don't know if the velocity dip is a symptom that shows up when his mechanics get out of whack, like they have been so far this year (at least the last two starts, he was quite good in his first start aside from the meatball to Napoli on 0-2), or if he usually has the velocity even if he doesn't know where it's going.

 

I'm hoping (and I suspect) that they go hand in hand, then it's just a question of how long will it be before he finds the groove again.  But if the velocity dip is independent of the mechanics and command issues he's dealing with right now, it could be troublesome.

[miwayjo]

I'm not a Pitching Coach (nor do I play one on TV), but it appears Jimenez can get more extension from his back leg. This will not only help him finish his pitches, but can also increase velocity...

 

 

I posted this during Ubaldo's last start, and after watching other Pitchers, he is not getting the most out of the use of his back leg. Ubaldo pretty much drags his back leg when pitching from the wind-up, but uses more extension from his back leg when pitching from the stretch...

 

Think of a basketball player short-arming a free-throw, or a quarterback short-arming a pass, control and velocity are not going to be maximized. If you have the opportunity, take a look at Ubaldo's last start, and compare his back leg extension to other Pitchers. Dave Wallace is probably trying to improve Ubaldo's TTP, but his mechanics are not in sync...Go O's!!! 

 

[BSLChrisStoner]

Baltimore Sun: Jimenez working on more aggressive mechanics
http://www.baltimore...0,4765548.story

[BSLChrisStoner]

5th start for Jimenez tonight. Looking to see a strong start which gets him going.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Coming off his great start in Minnesota (May 2nd... 7.1 ip, 3 hits, 0 er, 1 bb, 10 k's, 12 grounders...) Jimenez takes the ball tomorrow in Tampa Bay with the O's having an opportunity to sweep.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Now 1 er in his last 18.2 ip... era down to 4.02.

[NewMarketSean]

Shame he couldn't get the W last night. Pitched one hell of a game.

 

He's been turning it on against his former division rivals.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Season: 2-6, 4.39 era, 67.2 ip, 65 hits, 7 hr's, 35 bb's, 64 k's, OPS against .715...

 

Would be huge for him to have a 2 month stretch where he catches fire... 

[BSLChrisStoner]

Nice outing for Jimenez tonight....

 

8ip, 4 hits, 0 er, 1 bb, 7 k's...

 

This comes after a positive outing last Wednesday vs. the White Sox.  Some positive signs here.

I was pretty fed-up with Jimenez after he had 16 walks in his 3 outings 6/8 - 6/20; so I'm very pleased by these last two outings. Mechanics looked much improved.

[Pedro Cerrano]

When he gets ahead of hitters he's a completely different pitcher -- you can say that about a lot of guys, but when he is ahead in the count he can throw all that nasty K stuff and it's harder for hitters to lay off of it.

 

This falling behind 2-0, 3-1, 3-0 is for the birds -- hopefully he's past it.

[BSLChrisStoner]

MLB.com: O's set to send Ubaldo on two-start rehab stint

http://mlb.mlb.com/n...ok_bal&c_id=bal

[BSLChrisStoner]

MLB.com: Ubaldo turns in successful first rehab outing

http://mlb.mlb.com/n...ok_bal&c_id=bal

[BSLChrisStoner]

Baltimore Sun: Jimenez pitches for Norfolk, will join O's in DC

http://www.baltimore...,0,523865.story

[You Play to Win the Game]

What is Buck going to do with Jimenez?

[Mackus]

I think either idea has merit, bullpen or rotation, so I won't argue either way.

 

I'd put him in the rotation, and likely send Gonzalez to the pen for the time being.  Or perhaps send him down for 10ish days, time to get Ubaldo 2 or maybe even 3 starts and see if he can avoid walking 5 guys a night.

 

Ubaldo's upside is why I give him a shot to see if he's figured it out.  We don't need him to go deep now that the pen is so deep, and his stuff has been really good since early May, he's just had no idea where it's going at times.  He's had 8.33 K/9 since May 1, but a really bad 5.55 BB/9.  If he can maintain or increase the Ks and drop the BB down to even just 3.5-4 / 9, then he should be one of our best 5 starters. 

 

I think he's capable of that and perhaps a whole lot more which is why I give him another shot.  But he won't have much rope. If after 2-3 more starts he hasn't shown a lot of improvement in his command and BB-rate, then I send him to the bullpen and get Gonzo back in the rotation.

 

I won't argue at all with those who say they'd send him to the pen now as the long man, and only if he shows some control out there would they give him another shot in the rotation.  I think that's certainly the option with the least disruption to the team's current state, and that state is quite good.  I just think doing some things to try and get Ubaldo to find it and be the dominant guy he's capable of being for some stretch of time would be the best for our chances in the postseason, at the potential expense of some regular season games.

[FlavaDave10]

You HAVE to give Ubaldo a shot in the rotation. Especially when you consider how great he is when he's on his game. I'd give him 2 or 3 starts. One start would not be fair to Ubaldo or the rest of the rotation. If he's still the same old Ubaldo, put him in the pen.