Taijuan's 2014 Debut, Innings 1-3 = Brandon Morrow 2009
Dr. D sweating cannonballs early on

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With two outs gone in the fourth inning, Marwin Gonzalez came up to the plate.  Taijuan threw him a cutter/slider, 89 MPH, and Gonzalez swung out in front of it.  It was the first time in the game that an Astro had swung out in front of a pitch.  

You've got a kid with an (effectively) high-90's fastball, and a terrible offense, and he goes 17 hitters before he gets anybody "in between" on a swing.   He did, however, get the Astros to launch tape-measure home runs on multiple occasions.

What's wrong with this picture?

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We offered, in the pre-game, that Taijuan (in his template) needed velocity separation:  an "explosive" fastball, and something that hitters had to respect.   Did he?

  • Explosive fastball:  You better believe it
  • Changeup:  First 4 innings, quite possibly the WORST changeup I have ever seen 
  • Curve ball, IP #1:  gasp-inducingly bad
  • Curve ball, IP #2:  big time yakker
  • Curve ball, IP#3-6:  Off and on
  • Cutter:  Threw NONE (after having thrown 30-35% !! cutters last year) (okay, he did throw 3 cutters)

The Astros had absolutely zero respect for anything but the fastball.  They sat dead-red and BAM.  The explanation for Taijuan's gopheritis in AAA this year.  There you have it, ladies and gentlemen.

.........

Blowers, who I respect and like, praised Taijuan's early changeup.  For once I am completely on the other side:

  • Taijuan's arm action was unconvincing
  • The changeup was fast (88-89) MPH
  • It had little movement, either to my eye or to Brooks', and ....
  • Sacre bleu, how the deuce can a 97-MPH kid not get ONE swing out in front

So there you had it.  First three innings, Brandon Morrow 2009.  Awesome fastball that is, in context, almost worthless.  And that ain't easy.

We're not writing the script to match the pregame.  Anybody can go review the DVR and count up the "in between" swings.  Grab a clean sheet of paper.  Draw a circle in it.  Read the result.  That's how many times Taijuan fooled enemy hitters.  He might just as well been TIPPING fastball.

He couldn't put them away with 2 strikes, couldn't slow them down on 2-0 counts ... you can't pitch with just a wild-in-the-zone fastball.  Ask Randy Johnson 1989.

..........

Now, the makeup has absolutely nothing in common between Walker and Morrow.  Taijuan's a "gamer."  Just as a f'r instance, his first pitch was a strike.  As were the first 4.  Then he threw one ball.  Then he threw four more strikes, 8-for-9.  Does Roenis do that?  Much less in his debut game?

As another f'r instance, Taijuan came off the mound twice to field grounders.  They might have been the 1st and 2nd sweetest fielding plays I've seen lately from a pitcher.  No shrillness.  At all.

One of my fave chess quotes:

“Morphy fought on good days and on bad days.  He loved the hard, fair struggle, which despises petted favorites and breeds heroes.” –Lasker, world chess champion for 27 years

"Tarrasch will never be champion. He has not the temperament for it. He lacks the lust for battle, the passion that whips the blood when the fight is hot, and great stakes can be gained by resolute and self-confident daring." – Lasker

........

It was odd to hear McClendon blaming the tape-measure shots on Taijuan's "early lack of command."  

Springer's 445-foot blast was off a fastball that clipped the inside edge of the plate, hand high, classic jam pitch (though on a 2-0 count).  Gonzalez' mortar shot was on a "ladder" fastball that was outside the strike zone.  You can look it up, gentlemen.  First 17 hitters, not a single mistimed swing. 

And much more to the point, command is absolutely not the key for Taijuan Walker, any more than it is for Strasburg or Kimbrel.  The key is timing.  See next article.

No, what was going on early was that the Astros were starting their swings as if in a 97-MPH batting cage, and just "fighting off" the occasional lousy offspeed pitch.

We prepared to write up the (extremely accurate) Taijuan 2014 = Morrow postgame.  Happily, though...

NEXT

 

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