.
Q. What's the bottom line?
A. He's healthy, and he's learning. He's already effective, and he's got Astronomical Units' worth of upside left to him.
On March 31, 2015, we all thought the M's would win 95 games* if Nelson Cruz slugged .550. But all of us, no matter how optimistic, thought it unlikely that Taijuan would string 26 consecutive starts and be going stronger at the end than at the beginning. So, the bottom line is, the M's have a healthy young star-quality SP who is gathering momentum like a freight train.
His arm is a bit more to the side and his shoulder looks less pinchy. Everything looks as good as we coulda hoped way better than we coulda hoped.
.
Q. IS he learning? Is he evolving as a pitcher?
A. He's learning, but he hasn't evolved. Not a whit. He's downloading info, but there's no change at all in the finished product. SSI believes in the idea that pitchers go through plateaus, and then leap to the next one. It hasn't happened, but he's poised.
.
Q. How is the 89 MPH splitfinger? The 89 MPH slider/cutter?
A. Both of them are train wrecks IN CONCEPT, fouled up from the very drawing board. (They're slow fastballs.) Neither pitch has gotten even 1% better since Opening Day. If you squint you can appreciate that Taijuan leaves them in the strike zone less often than he used to; he "nibbles" with them now.
Go to Fangraphs > Pitch Type and you'll see that both pitches have way negative results ... this despite the fact that hitters sit dead red, ignoring the split and slider. How do you ignore a pitch, but then waste it when it shows up? Because they're just slow fastballs.
....
There's hope. Last night, Taijuan threw two sliders that came in at 87 MPH and had real bite to them. Detonated the hitters ... for that one swing. Same occurrs with the split sometimes. He "flashes" bite on the pitches. Some days, he has had a quality spikeball, and then he's untouchable.
.
Q. How's the fastball?
A. Authentically dominant.
It reads 93-96 on the gun, but honestly, hitters react just as though it were 97-98 every time. No joke. It's tight-spin, he's got huge hands and a huge stride, it comes from way high, it's got hop, he's from the stretch ... the ball explodes. Consistently.
Also, Taijuan does a great job going inside with the pitch. That's a cliche, but in this case it has substance. (1) He throws 94 up and in, and the hitters just hit the EJECT button and blow themselves back into the on-deck circle to get away from it. It's fun to watch.
... (2) He goes UP with the pitch, very consistently, and (3) he can throw it down, knees and lower, and (4) he can hump up and hit the black with his best velo. Last night he threw almost all fastballs, Curt Schilling style, and he threw a shutout. There aren't five pitchers in the major leagues who can do that. Imagine when Taijuan gets his slop together.
.
Q. What's this about Lloyd wanting a 78 curve instead of a 73 curve?
A. Dr. D has admired a few games where Taijuan threw his curve "with conviction," getting it into the heads of batters .... Last night, Taijuan threw three (3) curve balls. That's because an early 1-2 curve was beautifully located, below the knees, and a lefty batter swatted it into right-center field for a clean hit. As Krueger put it, Taijuan "ditched" the curve after that. (stoopid.)
I like McClendon's idea of putting a little extra mustard on the curve because --- > it goes to the idea of throwing the curve with bad intentions.
It's comin', man, it's comin'.
.
Q. Dr's R/X for 2016?
A. Bill James had a great line on the young Randy Johnson ... he's going to be great. Expecting him to be great at any one particular time, such as now (HEH!!), would be misguided.
But Taijuan's good already, and we're perfectly fine to hope for "now."
Hey, one more rehab start for K-Pax, and then we getta watch that too. Like that one national guy twittered, there's going to be a feeding frenzy for the Mariners' GM job. Nothing that a GM or head coach wants more, than to take over a 5-and-11 football team that is bursting at the seams with the #1 draft picks that have piled up during the losses.
In theory, an avalanche of Mariner wins is looming in the snow pack. And that's how the GM candidates, not just we, will look at it.
Cheers,
Dr D
