Q.  But could he still throw 102, throwing the right way?  Or would he lose that coupla feet?

A.  He'd have an easier time throwing hard, throwing the right way.

It never ceases to amaze Dr. D, the way they (1) send kids out with deliveries like this, (2) get outings that alternate between (2a) fan-the-side or (2b) four wild pitches, and shrug (3) well, that's just growing pains.

No, it ain't growing pains.  It's a sock-wah delivery.  And it could be fixed in two bullpens.

Completely amazing that a pitcher could throw 98 mph with a decel like that.  It's like Hugh "One-Arm" Daily's doubles and triples:  would be kinda nice to know what he'd do if he'd held on to a bat with two hands.

Tell you what, I'm jazzed about the kid.  I figure the Mariners ought to be able to hit Amazon.com, score a copy of Pitching For Dummies, teach Cortes how to lean over once in a while, and run a star reliever out there.

Just kiddin', Carl.

Yeah, Cortes' problems are very easily fixable, and then bye-bye go the Keystone Kops innings.

asy to see, is it explosive like Morrow's, or what is it?

A.  It's as fast as Stephen Strasburg's, is what it is.

Right now Cortes' velocity is running #7 in both leagues -- behind Aroldis Chapman, Zumaya, Strasburg, Bard, and two other guys.

And ahead of Neftali Feliz', Matt Thornton's, King Felix', etc. 

Cortes' FB velo is warping in at every inch of 96.8 mph, compared to Brandon Morrow's 93.4.  True, Morrow was 94.9 last year in relief, and in the 2008 season max'ed at 95.5.

But 96.8 is a standard deviation better than Morrow ever did, and you get the feeling that Cortes should actually be throwing harder.

..........

At any rate, this is a guy with a Plus-Plus heater:  an "70-75" weapon that can control a game all by itself. 

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Part 3

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