It was certainly nice of Noesi to deal up a gem in response to my "Baby Teeth" post.
I dearly love Doc's even-handed view of a solid effort where the results were better than the actual performance. It is, of course, much harder to be as even handed on those occasions when you get bad results from good performances.
For me, the performance was picture perfect ... not from a pitching standpoint, but from a mental snapshot perspective.
The pitch selection breakdown is telling. But, Doc limits his focus to that of who was calling the pitches. Yes, the catcher has initial control over pitch selection, but it is the pitcher that makes the final call. Anyone who lived through the Wash/Johjima years should appreciate the importance of a battery working "together".
Remember the era when Felix was too prone to challenge hitters? Experience has moved his HR/9 from 1.1 to 0.6. The point here is not that Noesi is done developing. He's not. There is "No-Easy" development path. Mistakes and setbacks are a part of what development is all about. But, Noesi wasn't just able to alter his pitch selection and execute a new game plan - he was WILLING to do so. The combo of willing and able is actually much rarer than one might think. Pro athletes are used to doing things "their" way. Too many are convinced they have all the answers because they have always been the best athlete on the field. Believe me -- having a kid more interested in winning than in proving his "stuff" is superior to the opposing bats ... that's a much bigger dealio than one might think.
Doc described the previous outing as a trip to the dentist. I think this outing would be the moment the "Nova-caine" kicked in. The procedure may not be over yet ... but it certainly shouldn't feel quite as painful moving forward after this effort.
.................
Q. Was Noesi really that good?
A. Good, fo sho, though not shutout good. In the second, Casper Wells rented a jet ski and ran down a thunderbolt from Seth Smith. I got your +10 runs LF glove right here, babe. That play was sweeeeeeet.
Two or three other balls were hit hard and deep. The A's could have gotten 2, maybe 3 runs with a bit of luck. Let's not sell the start as Pineda-like.
On the other hand, c'mon. Noesi was ahead in the count all day, jammed them at will, was totally in control.
...........
Noesi has a Death Valley-deep 29% grounder rate after two starts ... in Texas those airballs blew him away. In Safeco the airballs were buffered. You see the general principles in their sharpest relief, in these reductio ad absurdum situations. Noesi threw a huge flotilla of airballs, got detonated in Texas, and threw an 8-inning SHUTOUT in Safeco.
That said, Noesi has a live arm, and he was real sharp Saturday.
.
Q. How live is his arm?
A. In early (cold) April, Noesi's fastball velo is #10 in the American League:
There are times, in sports, when you just forget about wrapping yourself around the axle of what the other guys are thinking. And you just go do what you do good. Jesus Montero has no way to call pitches like a 10-year veteran. But he can bring his own game and force the other lineup to deal with him. In chess we call this "The Initiative," dictating action rather than finessing it. Both approaches have their places in sports. . Q. The changeup is Noesi's #2 pitch? A. SSI has been saying that the slider and the curve, in 2011, were high school pitches, but that the changeup is pretty decent. Jesus Montero dialed in on the change. You can see why SSI is not averse to this understanding of Hector Noesi's current capabilities. You just got a 3-D visual demonstration of the toolbox prospectus. Go wit dat. .Oak
FB
47 (55%)
73 (70%)
CH
19
21
SL
12
8 (for show)
Curve
7
3 (for show)
Comments
Is that he seems to have two actual pitches, and the second one isn't great. If all you're gonna throw are fastballs for 6 innings then your heater had better be lethal, not just good. In Texas it seemed like he was afraid to throw heat to a heat-hitting lineup, and he got crushed trying his weak secondary pitches. I wasn't that worried - opening day jitters get to everyone, and he is not that experienced a pitcher.
I loved seeing this from him - good rebound game. Focus on what you do well, and save the experimentation with mush for later. His changeup was pretty effective, and his fastball had good life to it. It was still hit HARD at times - this was not overwhelming dominance. This was...more like what the As have been doing to us for years. Taking a good pitcher, putting him on the mound against us and watching him perform like an ace.
I'm glad the As underwhelming lineup was the balm for Noesi's game one pain. If we'd come home to face the Tigers instead, I'd have been worried.
Noesi's still definitely a moving target, like you say Doc. The Mariners decided with Wilhelmsen (who has a more unhittable fastball than Noesi) to move him to the pen rather than deal with starter growing-pains. He had a weapon we needed, and we needed it now.
A good 200 inning starter tends to be more valuable than a 70 inning 7th-inning man. I agree with you - I dunno who's gonna be starting for us in 2 years, but we're gonna have a serious crunch. Erasmo Ramirez and Hector Noesi can each be starters in this league...
But Paxton's struck out 17 in 10 innings, Hultzen's racked up 16 in 9.2, Capps struck out the side on 9 pitches last night, Walker might be our best pitching prospect period, Pryor's looking good, Carraway wants to be noticed... and all those future major leaguers are on just ONE of our minor league teams.
Noesi's time to impress is limited, even with Vargas and his likely-imminent departure freeing up an extra slot. League being traded would open up another bullpen slot for RH setup, since Wilhelmsen would likely slide to closer. I dunno which trade would help Noesi's chances to make our 2014 club more.
So at the moment, I just want him to do as well as he can. Jose Campos is destroying A-Ball and generally being the prospect we believed him to be. If Noesi can be the same sort of pitcher for us now instead of in 2015, then we'll be well-served. And I'm sure we'll be able to find some use for him, either on the staff or in trade.
~G