1
...does he really have pinpoint command consistently.
We need more starts to find out. Tonight he had good command and the ump was a tool. We shall see about tomorrow.
Fister and the Chris Bosio Template
Q. How's his makeup?
A. Just remarkable. He not only stayed quiet and calm, but was visibly *thinking* out there. You literally would not have known he was a rookie.
Even more telling was the way he stayed within his game plan, despite blown calls and despite the nerves. He kept his head about him, and took the right amount of the plate for the circumstances.
The kid's a battler.
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Q. Who is the template for this toolbox?
A. We would need:
1. Average-mediocre FB thrown with good run and/or location
2. NON-bombshell curve/slider
3. Third pitch at a different speed, perhaps a 4th pitch (junk arsenal)
4. Very few walks
5. "Battler" makeup
................
All the Japanese pitchers fit this template. LOL. No, seriously, most of the game I thought I was watching somebody out of the Central League -- pinpoint the mediocre FB like a surgeon, throw a bloop curve up there, change speeds constantly with a Shiggy humpback 83 slider...
Fister definitely pitches in Japanese style. The coin of the realm there is IQ, rather than power. Fister sets batters up. He pitches.
Ray Miller preached this, and for some reason was controversial: change speeds! Change locations! Work ahead! Ray would have loved Doug Fister.
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In America, you could pick from the following comps: Joe Blanton ... Brad Bergeson ... Derek Lowe ... Randy Wolf ... Jeff Suppan ... Bronson Arroyo.
In his day, Chris Bosio pitched like Fister does: I think of a sinker-slider righty as a Bosio type, if he has real good command and if he's a battler.
That's just a quick grab-bag of RHP's who throw OK fastballs, pretty decent 2nd pitches, who throw 3-4 pitches and who don't walk people. As to which is the best comp, and what Fister's ceiling would be, that's another day (or a comment from one of youse in the thread).
...............
You'll notice that not many of the above RHP's fan 7 men per game these days. In order to dominate 21st-century ML hitters, you need a Jered Weaver slider, or a 94 fastball, or some kind of signature weapon.
Craftsmanship is fine, but hitters are just too good these days to dominate with pure intelligence and deception.
That doesn't mean you can't be effective pitching like Fister does. I like his chances to be one of those Lowe / Suppan / Blanton types who sticks in the big leagues.
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Q. Similar to Chris Jakubauskas?
A. Fister doesn't pitch much like Jakubauskas at all; Fister's change-speed game is very effective, and he sets batters up very thoughtfully. Jaku does neither.
And if there's a downward plane to his FB, I didn't see it. He does get good running action on it, but it's not like he throws downhill.
Fister, at least Tuesday, was miles ahead of Jaku.
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Q. Why'd he get overlooked?
A. Well, he apparently leaped a plateau, but also: he is PRECISELY the kind of guy that's going to be overlooked. 88 fastball, slurve doesn't have much spin, do you think he's going to get attention?
The Mariners are showing their sabermetrics on this guy. The 11 walks in 130 innings in the upper minors were a PERFORMANCE, not a tools, issue.
Here's a clear case of the Mariners going much more sabermetric than they would have in, say, 2005.
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Q. Dr's Prognosis?
A. Definitely NOT another dime-a-dozen sinker/slider righty. This one may have special command and special makeup. Go to the front-of-the-line for #5 SP. Let's see more.
Cheers,
Dr D
Comments
2
... judging by the way that he goes for the black on 2-0 all the time.
It's like watching an NBA shooter fire away from 24 feet all night. Whether he hits them or not, one thing you know: HE thinks he's a shooter. :- )
Fister's intentions are those of a guy with excellent command, and Burke agrees. So, yeah, will be fun to watch.
3
...I've just taken to heart Sandy's lesson that you never judge a player too finally after just one start. :)
4
We do the quick-reactions for fun, 'cause it's only baseball chat ... but really you'd want trends across seasons (even if only minors seasons) before you'd put any money down on anything...
:daps:
5
I thought his curve ball was sharper than you give it credit for, but then again I didn't study it.
My other observation is that it still irks me to see how umps treat rookies with no reputation. There is almost no question that Fister wasn't pitching to the same box that Danks was. The lemonade there of course is that he battled through it with flying colors.
6
Ron Luciano said that it takes 5 years before a manager even begins to treat an ump seriously. Which is a little fishy, since not that many managers last 5 years :- )
I thought a judge's job was impartiality. Yeah.
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Are you talking about Fister's 82 mph slider? You thought it broke pretty late? Hm, ok.
7
THe first few innings, it was more like a mushy cutter or circle change-up. But around the 4th inning, I started seeing it nose dive better at the end.