Q. What's Category II Quote in the newspaper, then? that M's fans have seen day-in, day-out?
A. Of the other 30% of the quotes that we have seen, day in and day out, percentiles 76-95 have been weirdness that is actually tailored to a specific prospect.
And from Dr. D's chair, it ain't been pretty:
WEIRD PLAYER DEVELOPMENT QUOTE, CATEGORY II
- Austin Bibens-Dirkx needs to get on top of the ball so his slider has two planes
- Matt Thornton needs to work on his offspeed pitch (not lower his CG)
- Gil Meche needs to hold his glove higher in the stretch
- Gil Meche needs to forget about his three quality offspeed pitches and just throw the FB
- Miguel Olivo needs to forget everything else and just focus on his lousy pitch-blocking
- Jose Lopez needs to hit to right field
- Brandon Morrow needs to get angry and just huck the fastball in there nice and high
- Ichiro needs to work the count like Mike Hargrove did (okay, that was just one manager)
- Phillippe Aumont needs to work on upper-body mechanics; the locked knee is irrelevant
- Ian Snell needs to throw the fastball knee-high every pitch
- Young Player X needs to stop doing the thing that makes him special, and start playing like all the other MLB(TM) players do
- etc etc etc
Go back and Google what shtick Dr. D threw down about each of these situations. The list of protests, from our corner, has been a loud and long one.
I double-guarantee you that when Jose Lopez starts his string of .500 SLG seasons, he won't be taking the ball through the right side of the infield...
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Again, notice that we're not talking Player Development as such. We're talking adjustment to the major league game. Player Development occurs mostly, if it occurs at all, in the low minors.
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