Brandon Maurer to Setup already?!
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Q. How long does it usually take for a surging rookie pitcher to get the 8th inning?
A. Ask Justin Leone. (Or Dom. Or Don, Cor-. Thx SeattleNative. Shows you the impression Jeff Sullivan makes!)
Leone isn't being "punished" or anything like that; it is typical for a manager to take one (1) year to establish confidence in a new young pitcher. Earl Weaver's Fifth Law: the place for a rookie pitcher is in long relief.
Maurer has apparently shoved his way through MLB's best bullpen to grab the setup job, inside 10 appearances.
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Q. Does Lloyd get cpoints for insight AGAIN?
A. He's making a a lot of impressive finger-points. Dr. D hasn't had this feeling about a manager's SELF-confident, creative, decisive, talent evaluation since Lou Piniella.
We ain't saying that McClendon is HOF material. Just making a fair observation, giving credit where due. It's a gutsy move to promote Maurer that quickly. The M's needed that win, right?
You could NOT afford to waste Zunino's dramatic 8th-inning homer -- either in this specific game, or in the attempt to salvage July, generally. In context, this was LEVERAGE-leverage. Quite remarkable to anoint Maurer for the job.
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Although Dr. D suggested, more a year ago, that Maurer's destiny was to become Luke Hochevar, SSI's confidence in Maurer is lagging McClendon's. Maurer does not look settled to us; his confidence "feels" rather fragile to us.
The point is, Lloyd McClendon is underlining the Hochevar thing harder than I am. That's interesting, no?
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Q. Scouting report, as to Maurer's Thursday performance?
A. He came in sort of wild - like it was going to be an off day for Maurer. Not makeup-wise; just command-wise.
- Pitch 1: cutter, yanked for a ball
- Pitch 2: fastball a little outside, ump fortunately gave it to him
- Pitch 3: fastball missed by quite a ways
Also the mechanics were a little jerk-y on those three pitches.
Zunino instantly, inside of 3 pitches, switched modes. Pound 'em with the fastball; forget the pitch mix, just throw strikes.
- Pitch 4: 96 MPH fastball, just get it over
This ball was hit on a line to RF ... McClendon had just then replaced Corey Hart with James Jones, so Endy Chavez was in RF and made a nice catch going back.
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Next up, Maurer threw 5 of 7 fastballs to the RH Mike Aviles .... no changeups, and the 2 sliders were well inside off the plate. Good show. The speeds: 97, 97, 97, 96, 96, and in Brandon Morrow fashion, that was an extra-tough 97 MPH. Aviles, "a good fastball hitter" sez Blowers, couldn't get around on a 3-1 fastball because of the movement.
The "nasty factor" on the 3-1 pitch was a sky-high 82, which corroborates Blower's insta-take.
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Jason Kipnis came up and Maurer was in a groove by then, so Kipnis had no chance. The 0-2 pitch was my fave Brandon Maurer weapon: a screaming 90 MPH cutter that swerved through, and out of, the LH Kipnis' wheelhouse.
If you just joined us, lefty power hitters want the ball Down-In. Maurer's 90-93 cutter is analogous to Hisashi Iwakuma's "up the ladder" fastball -- it's right where hitters are hoping, but too much so. There is no pitch on the Mariners' staff I'd rather watch, than Brandon Maurer's screaming cutter down-and-in to lefties. He just flat humiliates them.
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Zunino + Maurer is a nice combo, primarily because Mike Zunino has a good feel for how to keep Maurer happy.
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Q. Fragile confidence, huh. Would you want Maurer protecting a 4-3 lead in the 8th inning of a Wild Card game in Los Angeles?
A. Maybe that's the method to McClendon's madness. Better get Maurer acclimated early.
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Q. Is he Bard-, Ogando-, Robertson-, Hochevar-level setup yet?
A. His stats have him at that point ... he's got 21 strikeouts, 4 walks, and 0 homers in 16 innings. Check the Fangraphs velocity charts:
Is his stuff Ogando-level? We started talking about this scenario quite some time ago, didn't we?
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Q. So it's kind of like trading for an All-Star short man, too. Does Paxton go Saturday?
A. They said on TV that he does. Paxton, that is.
I wouldn't bet anything I was afraid to lose, that (over the last 10 starts of 2014) James Paxton doesn't outpitch either Jeff Samardzija or Jon Lester, one of the two.
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That's how it goes with young teams like this. A Bobby Wagner or K.J. Wright blossoms? It's as good as trading for a star.
More "blossoms" to come, no doubt. But Brandon Maurer, sez McClendon, is there already.
Cheers,
Jeff