Spec links us to a Hultzen vid:

 ....

I guess he's back to being "Danny."  So there.

Won't cut and paste this time, but the Gameday has all the velo and break info, and it's worth looking at.

3.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Came right out of the gate at 94 on his first pitch, and hit 95 by the third batter.  Was pretty much 92-94 consistently for three innings.

Hope that is answering the concerns of those who didn't think he'd have that kind of velo.  And it looks like he knows where it's going most of the time.

Gave up a bunch of singles, but got himself out of it with a double-play ball on a slider.

***

Then there's an interview (he says he wants to be like Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte) and some game action from his first game here.  Hard to dislike the kid.

 ..................

 Am I remembering wrong, or didn't Trevor Bauer also emphasize a number of ML templates he was trying to imitate?  Seems there was some Bauer interview in which he said he tried to learn mechanics from Lincecum, a changeup from some other ML star, pitch sequences from a third one, etc.

I know it's SuperGeek City to relate real sports to chess, but this is axiomatic with tourney chessplayers:  they try to extract Capablanca's simplicity, Alekhine's will to win, Lasker's active defense, etc.  It kinda sounds funny to hear a baseball player approaching his career with that kind of sophistication.

Of course, they'll all tell you they learn from the players around them, and they do, but not like Bauer and Hultzen talk about.  Methodically and scientifically.

...

And OBF volleys with

Danny!  Very well spoken, seemed humble, but knew he was going to be a star in the bigs.  Spoke well and easily in front of the camera.  Compare and contrast that to the very next video on that page the one of an interview with Nick Franklin and well...  Lets just say you can really tell which kids is the college graduate with Doctor parents and which kid was pick out of highs school from The Florida sticks ;)

Not that it really matters, I guess.  Who cares if Nick Franklin can't put otgether a coherant sentance of more than 3 words as long and he can pick it and hit it :)  I just thought the contast between the two videos was stark and interesting.  Good offseason fodder ;)

 

Link to the Nick Franklin Vid:

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19885517&c_id=sea

Bill James in the 1990's always talked about pitcher intelligence.  I remember that he called Norm Charlton's success on that basis... if there has ever been anybody else who talked about the distinction between pitcher and hitter IQ, dunno who that would be...

Remember.  Regardless of how they happen to keep score ... in baseball the pitcher is the inherently offensive player and the hitter is the inherently defensive player.

If they kept score more naturally -- as it pertains to the pitcher/hitter matchup -- the pitcher would score points with strikes and the hitter would defend points by knocking the ball away.  A hitter is like a cornerback trying to intercept a pass.  It's the pitcher who holds the ball, the pitcher who selects the play and who executes it at his own leisure.

A wide receiver knows where he is going; the cornerback doesn't.  The WR needs to organize the chaos in his mind, identify the soft spots in the defense.  The corner reacts.  It's not feasible for him to "deduce" his way to success, not on any consistent basis.  He needs reflexes.

Jason Kidd needs intelligence; the guy guarding him needs reflexes.

Charlie Whitehurst :cough: needs to make decisions; the strong safety across from him needs one-step change of direction.

......

Without a doubt, brains matter less in the bullpen.  It's when you go three times around the order that the brains matter most.  I'm sure you could grab a surfer out of the South Sea and make a closer out of him.  It's three batters, max effort.

But in the rotation ... gimme a Jamie Moyer, an Erik Bedard, a Doug Fister and we'll takes our chances.  Taro might take some consolation in the fact that --- > although Trevor Bauer appears to be very intelligent, Danny Hultzen  is known to be dreadfully intelligent.

.... 

Tell me that Manny Ramirez' attic is a little dusty and it don' bother me none.  "How are you supposed to think and hit at the same time?," Yogi.  IF it were true that Nick Franklin were running at 400 baud throughspeed, it wouldn't downgrade his hitting projection for me.  

(And incidentally, I don't think any less of a person for having a lower IQ, any more than for blond hair or being 6'2" or whatever.  Josef Stalin was smarter than George Washington.)

But to know that Danny Hultzen will play a brainy game of baseball for us ... ::shia lebeouf::well, that's just one more thing y'did for us, Z.