=== Another Fine Myth ===

Am becoming positively fixated on the lad's performances at this point. :- )  Locked into his game vs the A's, slo-mo'ing and freeze-framing and generally geeking out all afternoon.

....................

Mechanical flaw.  Doogie has a tendency to lean back ever-so-slightly at the waist on his backstroke. 

Forgetting injuries for a moment, and talking about performance only, this is simply the worst mechanical flaw a pitcher can have.  As you know, it is the flaw that cost Randy Johnson five years of Unit-age at the start of his career.

The leanback actually is caused by something good:  he's connecting his shoulders to the ball, and reaching back to CF -- which gets his weight involved in the acceleration of the ball.

But it's the easiest thing in the world to fix.  A single bullpen, thinking in terms of 'protecting' the belly button rather than letting the sun hit it, and he'd be cured.

...

Also, Fister reportedly didn't like the mound in Oakland.

...

At any rate, Doogie walked the first batter of the game.  He also was high in the strike zone for much of the day.  This is because he was not staying compact "at the top" of his backstroke.

Point is, I'd sure like to know what he'd do if this flaw were fixed.

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=== Fastball ===

He didn't have his real good command, obviously, but did have his (mediocre) velocity back again.  He sat 89, and even touched 91-92.   So my worries about the 86 fastballs have pretty well been put to bed.

Despite the minor concerns about the location, he still fanned 5 men and walked only 2.  

We feel that he's capable of locating even better.

................

He had most of the swerve / movement back, that he'd had against the Yankees.  This time the swerve was frequently vertical.   As usual, he had two of the three:  (1) movement, (2) Radke-like command, (3) mediocre-but-sufficient velo.  

Part of the game he had (1) and (3); some of it he had all three.  That's when he fanned guys on the FB.

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=== Changeup ===

Is now firmly established as a plus, probably plus-plus, pitch.  A "plus-plus" weapon is defined as one that is capable of impacting and maybe winning a game all by itself.  You decide whether Doogie's changeup has in fact been impacting and winning games all by itself.

He threw fewer changeups in this game -- only about 1/3 of his pitches were changeups, as opposed to fully 1/2 in some of his starts -- and later we found out that a blister was bothering him.  We assume that the blister was in a spot that was irritated most by the changeup.

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=== Swinging Strikes ===

Had only 6 swinging strikes -- but 5 strikeouts.

Dr. D constantly sermonizes that we should not get too cute with sabermetrics, chase the latest "cutting-edge" metrics, and outsmart ourselves.  ... am well aware that there's a very strong correlation between S% and K/9, but this is very early in Doogie's career and he is still LOCKING. GUYS. UP.

These swerving FB's two inches off the plate are freezing ML batters like Marvel Comic ice storms, and once the batters start swinging, it's not like they're going to start hitting them hard.

As Jeter indicated after the Yankee game, the hitters are well-and-truly confused against Fister.   The ball arrives in random sectors of the zone, at random speeds, at random depths, with random arcs on the tail of the pitch. 

They're swatting mosquitoes right now, and lots of the time they let the ball go by on a CALLED strike, and it's not logical to deduce that once they start swinging they're going to do something with these mosquitoes.

The S% will go up.  The K% will not.  Then the metrics will stabilize.

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=== Current Board:  Odds-On ===

For the first time after the A's game, Dr. D's odds on Fister went over 50%.  We now think that -- barring injury or velo loss -- that Doogie will probably be an effective starter in the major leagues.

His fastball lacked the great command vs the A's, and yet once again, Doogie managed the A's lineup like Chris Bosio.   I mean, Chris Bosio and Brad Radke lost games.  Fister with his B game competes as well as the Bosio/Radke types ever did.   It's getting easier and easier to imagine Doogie grinding his way through 32 starts with a 3.80 ERA in Safeco.

So for next year, you've got three young SP's you like, RRS, Fister and Morrow, pitching for peanuts.   Who gets the money?

BABVA,

Dr D