LOL! Only cuz I talk too much.
I'm workin' on it. ;)
But yeah, a pitcher can be good with one weapon as a starter and great with two. Three is just to make the pitching coach feel better. When a pitcher can't control his breaking ball, it makes for a shorter outing. That's when Bedard takes 100 pitches to go 5.
Randy - once he ironed out his walks issue - never had trouble going deep into games, though. Even if the slider was off, nobody could hit that fastball.
Pineda has a fastball that was rough on the opposition that way. We'll see if Walker does, but the guys seeing him live said it was as tough as it looks.
I know Paxton does - his FB on the hands, especially up and in to lefties, is murder. He didn't throw anything else in the Futures game and it was beautiful. Felix never threw easier and more elegant heat. Paxton's changeup has become at least a show-me pitch to be aware of, and that's enough to let the coaches breathe a little easier and get his foot in the door with his two good pitches.
We do have pitchers with significant weapons, and that's nice to see. Such a welcome change - and one that can make that jump to the majors an easier trip to be sure. Chris Tillman used to have a fastball weapon, but was a bit wild and as far as I can tell was told to aim his stuff instead of throwing it.
He promptly fell into the Abyss of Blah where Beavan resides. Of all the things we tell our young arms, I hope the first one is to trust their stuff and let it take them to good places.
This includes Hultzen - I don't care what he says about pitching to contact, he'd better have faith enough to want to miss bats too. Willingly sacrificing your pitching weapons seems like a pointless endeavor, especially when these three guys all have workable mechanics to say the least.
Fire away!
~G
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