Add new comment

Honestly, I think the "assumption" that Felix is pitching to contact is a bit far fetched.  This is a case of the League quote likely being treated as if an automatic direction to every pitcher.
But, 2010 is Felix HIGHEST K/9 of his entire career.  If he IS being directed to pitch-to-contact, he's doing an absolutely lousy job at it.
To my ears, what you're really seem to be saying is ... Felix CAN fan 10-15 guys a night -- I've seen him do it.  Why can't he do that EVERY night?
The answer is simple - NO pitcher does it every night.  From my perspective, it's no different than asking why Pujols doesn't hit .500 instead of .300, (I've SEEN Pujols hit .500 for a month). 
But, I guess why I opted to respond to the thread to begin with is I guess I was a little disturbed with the lack of gratitude for what is ... vs. what "could be".  Felix is, without question, one of the best pitchers in baseball today.  He's (statistically), John Smoltz ... but arriving a couple of years earlier to the majors than Smoltz did. 
He is CURRENTLY racking up his highest K total - throwing his lowest walk total - and sitting on his best HR rate as well.  In EVERY TTO outcome he is ALREADY at his 5 year peak, (and he's still only 24). 
I'm not going to pretend I know what his ultimate potential is -- but it CANNOT be significantly higher than where he already is.  He's posting his second under 2.50 ERA at age 24.  Pedro and Clemens each got their second sub 2.50 ERA at age 27.  And they both REDUCED walk totals in getting better.
And perhaps ... a factor in why Pedro started under 500 games, while Clemens started more than 700 had something to do with Pedro fanning 10, while Roger fanned "only" 8.6.  I know Smoltz had lots better stuff - far more Ks *AND* lots more health problems than Maddux.
It seems to me, Bedard, (when on), was doing precisely what you're talking about.  And the cost was instead of 7.1 innings per start, he's at 6.1 innings per start, (and, of course, a ton of time on the DL).
I can, of course, hear the immediate protestations that Felix hasn't had any injury problems.  (They said the same thing about Prior and Wood ... until they had health problems).
In the end, I see the route to Felix getting better NOT in simply trying to strike more people out - but rather in understanding WHEN he needs to strike someone out, and learning how to do so.  When you've got the talent of Miguel Batista, you learn when NOT to challenge hitters, (by hitter type or situation).  When you're Felix, you learn when TO challenge. 
I think what amuses me the most about the general pitch selection threads I've seen is that most everyone understands that Ichiro is successful in stealing 80% of bases BECAUSE he doesn't try to steal every time.  Yet, with pitch selection, the logic is - "this is his good strikeout pitch, if he throws it twice as much, he'll strike out twice as many".  (excuse the hyperbole). 
As for Felix specifically.  I think "judicious" and "tactical" deployment of the weapons he has might well allow him to tweak his K rate up to 9 (without impacting his walk rate at all).  But, I believe a 'general' idea to simply fan more batters would simply make him more susceptible to injury - shorter outings - (oh BOY!  Let's trade an extra inning of Felix for an inning of Sean White!) - and result in little to no change in his actual ERA.
Yes, when Felix is "on", he can be a dominating 11-K, 3-BB pitcher.  And when Silva was "on", he was an 8-K, 1-BB pitcher.  To my way of thinking - the belief that simply changing his pitch selection is going to allow Felix to "maintain" an 11/3 profile is no more reasonable than thinking Silva can maintain an 8/1 ratio with the proper pitch selection.