Video, Hultzen striking out the side Nov 5
......................
First batter, Grossman, 1-2 count, Hultzen comes in with the slider/change and Grossman's reaction is comical. Can't tell whether his swing was late on pitch 4, or early for pitch 5. Always funny to see a hitter (half-)swing wayyyyy late on an 81 mph pitch :- )
.......
Second batter, on the 1-2 again, Hultzen throws the Jamie Moyer deadfish change and gets the same garbage strikeout that Moyer used to get.
.......
Third batter, full count, Hultzen blows Lane away with a 95 fastball at the knees. The hitter was looking offspeed on a full count (very odd at minor league level), which shows you how much into their heads that Hultzen was ... in the first inning.
It's always odd to see a pure sidearm, almost submarine, pitcher hit 95 on the gun, much less a left hand pitcher do it.
.......
From a body language standpoint, from a tempo and rhythm standpoint, from a mechanics standpoint, in terms of his weapons, Hultzen JUST LOOKS TREMENDOUS.
Am not even sure when was the last LHP who came that sidearm, with that kind of velocity. Randy Johnson did; can't think of anybody else. Sid Fernandez struck out 10 men per game with that motion -- throwing 90-92 mph. Right now, can't think of a single other LHP who could maintain velo with that motion.
Hultzen even shares with the Big Unit, that weird habit of crouching through the leg kick. You're supposed to "stand tall" at the top, in order to line everything up. Randy Johnson never did, and neither does Hultzen. Same with El Sid.
Sidearming tends to keep the ball low, as was true with the Unit and El Sid. As Kent Tekulve said, "it's hard to hit a groundball out of the park." But it is exceptionally rare to throw so hard, so sidearm. In Japan they have sidearmers, precisely because they like finesse pitching.
........
This fine Beyond the Box Score article applies the F/X to Hultzen's first few innings.
Dr. D was thrilled with two things:
- Hultzen averaged 92.5 mph on his fastball
- Hultzen threw almost exclusively FB's and changeups
The entire world is thinking three pitches for Hultzen, but SSI is rooting for him to go with the FB and change. In my opinion, that would give him a real shot at starring in 2012. How many pitches did the Big Unit throw? How many did El Sid throw?
.
As well, a 92.5 mph fastball would have made Hultzen the 4th-fastest LHP in the American League last year, behind David Price, CC Sabathia and Derek Holland. This from a pitcher that Dr. D maintains has little need for velocity.
Ricky Romero is a LHP with a repertoire very similar to Hultzen's -- he throws a 90-92 fastball, a hellacious changeup, and -- about 8% of the time -- mixes in a slider. Romero in 2011 took a big step up with his fastball, increasing it from 90.8 mph to 92.1 mph.
As a result, in 2011 Romero's change became one of the deadliest pitches in baseball, scoring a Bedard-like 1.95 runs per 100 changeups.
Romero's ERA dropped to 2.92. You should read the way the local Toronto fans swoooooon about Romero these days.
I'd of liked to have had Trevor Bauer, but Hultzen was a worthy 1-1 pick. The Mariners were way ahead of the curve on this one, baby.