POTD Bobby LaFromboise
LOOGY, next Arthur Rhodes, or ... SP?

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If you just joined us, LaFromboise is French for "the raspberry." And this is one dude who definitely rocks a happenin' French look out there.  Word is that he's going with an M's beret on the next homestand.

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=== Little Unit, Dept. ===

Gordon and Spectator have been talking up Monsieur LaFromboise since June of the 116 win season.  Dr. D has no clue what they said, but he knows that it was accurate.  If you talk to them sweet, they'll probably be willing to restate it for you. There are probably others who would like to see it recapped at this point.  ::whistling::

The problem for them is, Dr. D has now seen 17 pitches from LaFromboise, which as you know is 14 more than he needs to properly diagnose the lad.  Obviously all other analyses become hopelessly obsolete now that the pitcher is on the diagnostic slab with 50,000 volts frying his, and my, hair into static snarl.

If Blake Beavan had been doing a Doug Fister imitation, then LaFromboise's reproduction of Randy Johnson's pitching motion is… what?  What's the word past impersonation? Plagiarism? Mimicry? Dr. D doesn't know, but he finds himself idly wondering what the showtimes are to The Host tonight.

Here's the video.

He had me at the knee tuck and the upturned palm sweeping up through to third base, but you can set up your own Where's Waldo of similarity points.  Some guys' ligaments are just loose - we have a lot of experience with this, applying elbow pins in the dojo.  There are guys whose elbow ligaments must be twice as long as everybody else's.  There y'go.

Bobby LaFromboise is definitely the pitcher in major league history whose motion most resembles Randy Johnson's.*

This image, after the first pitch, did not exactly alienate Dr. D against what was to follow :-)

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=== Little Unit, Dept. ===

Ah, you ax.  But does his stuff resemble the Big Unit's?

Absolutely. Provided you're talking about the 44-year-old Big Unit and provided you understand the definition of "resemble".  And that's hardly an insult. If you called Dr. D 40% of Siddhartha Guatama,  he'd let you slide with it.

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Nobody's slider Is the Big Unit's; that's like asking who has Mick Jagger's voice. But Bobby's slider "resembles" Randy's.  

The F/X system gives his slider a break that is 4 inches past center but that doesn't really capture it. What does capture it is a pair of human eyes reviewing this video at the 24 second mark. We don't say that LaFromboise has a full-on Frisbee Sequel but a lefty slider that will drop you like a sniper from the third deck? You see the same video we do.

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The fastball is 90 – 92 mph sidearm and you can see it's sneaky. Check the 18 second mark on this video.

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Location - even in 17 pitches, you can see that LaFromboise has a real knack for working the fastball up and down in the strike zone. Here is a Brooks strike zone chart from his first outing.

(In his second outing he threw six pitches, four of which were strikes, and the ump gave the batter a walk.  Pic below:)

The fastball up has been very tough for batters to get on top of, but him being a Seattle Mariner, he's got a problem getting the pitch called.  ... there is a great discussion going on right now about the Mariners' strike zones; the umps are demonstrably ripping the Mariners off, huge.  

[WORMHOLE TO COROLLARY ARTICLE, 10 DEGREES OFF SUBJECT]

Anyway.  LaFromboise saw his Dream become reality.  He stepped into a triple-decker stadium.  He threw great pitches.  The umps blew the calls.  LaFromboise stayed chill.  I chalk him up.

.......

Back on topic.  :- ) The fastball down is sneaky and will be tough for batters to drive.  Fastball up, fastball down, those are two (2) different pitches for him.  So give Dr. D a teeny-tiny little break on the 3-pitch dogma when he faces RHB's.

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His release point is a major defect.  He lets go of the ball at a significantly wider, and lower, point on the fastball than on the slider. Early on, pitching to just a few hitters at a time, maybe this won't come back to bite him yet. If he were a starter, as the 44-year-old Randy Johnson of course was, the release point would be a dealbreaker.

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=== vs RHB ===

Comparable-player templates help us organize our thinking.  

  • Is Bobby LaFromboise similar to Randy Johnson at age 44?
  • If similar, how is he different?
  • If in the same category, how good is he within that category?  Is he 80% of that?  Or 110%?  Or what?

Is LaFromboise doomed to LOOGY?  I dunno, was the older Randy Johnson helpless against RHB's?  Here's his age-44 season.   Johnson fanned 8+ men and walked 2+ until the day he walked off the field.

Once again, Dr. D would like to know what the logic is for preventing LaFromboise from starting. He doesn't say it doesn't exist; he's asking what that logic might be.

At any rate, bringing LaFromboise in for one inning, when three of the next four hitters are lefty, looks pretty tasty also. He seemed quite calm in his debut, in harsh contrast to the way Capps and Pryor debuted ... I dunno; maybe Gordon and Jim will recap the makeup and character issue.

We don't say that LaFromboise is a guarantee, but he obviously is a left-handed relief prospect the way you draw it up on a chalkboard.

We get tired of getting excited (check me on that phrase!) about these guys, but LaFromboise is what he is.  A really dangerous-looking LHR who seems to have the makeup into the bargain.

Especially with Stephen "Beast Rabban" Pryor down, it will be fun to see whether LaFromboise lands with a splash.  Wouldn't put it past him.

Cheers,

Dr D

Blog: 

Comments

2

 
But he can survive em.  
Last 2 years, vs lefties: 5.5 hits / 10.5 K / 2.5 BB, .508 OPS-against
Last 2 years, vs righties: 9 hits / 7.5 K / 3.5 BB .700 OPS-against
Completely unhittable by lefties in the minors throwing like this.  Bobby's hard to judge, though.  He didn't use this throwing motion 3 years ago.  He came up with it/was coached into it in AA back in 2011 and settled into it last year.  He KILLED last year with it and as you illustrated with the release points, it can still be improved.  
I don't think the Ms believe this is a 6 inning motion, though, so I expect guys like LaFromboise and Grady Wood to be 'penned simply because they don't have standard throwing motions.
IMO, LaFromboise is a George-Sherrill type who demolishes lefties and can get out enough righties that he'll get time as a set-up man or even a closer if the right situation comes along.  Bobby gets grounders from everybody, righties just hit harder grounders so some of them get through.  That's really all I ever saw him give up in Tacoma.  His ISO-against in the minors was under .100 with even helpings of righties and lefties faced.  He's given up 1 HR to a lefty in 2 years, and just 7 overall to all hitters in 530+ plate appearances.  Everybody has slugged like Mike Garciaparra against LaFromboise, and for a team that's given up a bunch of longballs I'm happy to add a reliever who hasn't coughed them up easily.
Yes, I like The Raspberry.  I wanted him to make this club out of Spring Training, so I'm glad for him that he's here now.  He's another talented bullpenner who is willing to do whatever you ask him to do in order to be successful.  Just what the doctor ordered.
~G

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