Hisashi Iwakuma Scouting Report, 7.15.12 - Dr's R/X
The exact moment of breaking the sound barrier, or of breaking 7.0 strikeouts per game, one of the two
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Q. Is this situation fixable?
A. I would be very confident that it is.
Iwakuma has many ways to keep the hitters honest - to prevent them from leaning out over the plate and crushing outside-third pitches. He is capable of doing these things, too.
Jamie Moyer kept hitters honest despite an 87 MPH fastball ... why? Because he would zip a stinging little straight pitch right on the inside corner, hand-high. No leverage there. He could saw off hitters at will, and they absolutely hated it, so would not lean over.
Changing speed is great, but is not enough by itself. That's a nibble-and-pick game, 100 pitches for five innings. There's got to be some reason for the hitter to respect the fastball itself, which will always be 50-65% of the pitches thrown. For everybody.
Vargas, Moyer, etc., do this by moving fastballs around. They actually do hit the jam spot, the outside black at the knees, the letters, all the while missing the big circle in the middle. If a hitter has to guard in, and up, and low-away, and a tease pitch OFF the plate... he won't get good swings.
Iwakuma can do this. He did it in Japan.
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