When you say his velo is low 90's... how much vid did you watch, or games in '09?
I do see that Fangraphs has him at 91.7 but this must be one of their wonky little glitches. You might as well say that French and Fister are 91.7. :- ) This guy routinely clocks 87 and 88. And he is loathe to get any more of the plate than the very edge of the black.
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Anyway, whether Liriano throws 88 or 92, hitters fight to get to the plate against it. He's -1.99 last year with the FB, meaning that his ERA is 6.25 - 6.50 when throwing the heater.
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There's a semantic debate here. Liriano's "stuff" is terrible flying through the air, but he does have tremendous deception, so is that "great stuff"?
If Luis Tiant or Orlando Hernandez or Hideo Nomo twisted around four times, did a cartwheel, threw the ball between their legs and an 88 fastball went by the hitter, is that "great stuff"? :- ) I guess it depends on your semantics...
Same thing with a submariner. The guy might throw 87, but the angle is weird and he strikes out 1 per inning. Great stuff? ::shrug::
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I do know that I'd hesitate to call it great stuff when his ERA is 5.80 :- ) It's not like he's Brandon Morrow trying to figure the game out.
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