The 70-80-90 Bloke and Boomer Wells
Once a-gayn, please? :- ) Rowland-Smith's velo separation on Sunday the 9th:
Brooksbaseball.net is bonzer. They have these up SAME NIGHT for ALL pitchers in the bigs. Slap me silly.
At 70 mph, Rowland-Smith's curve not only creates the third "depth" of pitch for batters, but it also cracks at that velocity.
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=== Boomer: also a Huge, Scary Male Kangaroo ===
This is precisely the sweet spot that Boomer Wells found in his own career: His curve got slower and snapped harder, which is why his K rate was 6.5, 7.0 in the second half of his career (as opposed to 4.8, 5.5 in Toronto).
Boomer combined the gorgeous 72 mph change-curve with an 88 fastball that had Moyer-like command, and not much of a change. There are differences between him and RRS (as there are between any two pitchers).
t-size: small;">Notice in the Brooks graph, that the lows dip farther and farther, and the highs (up to pitch 75) get higher and higher. Also, look at how "skinny" the mountain spikes are. Pitches 12-18, and 58-64, RRS threw a series of fastballs. But otherwise, he's throwing curve, FB, change, FB, curve, FB all game long.
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=== Dr's RX ===
Hopefully RRS will continue to throw the hook at 70, as a change-curve, rather than at 75-77.
At that velocity he spins it harder, it breaks like a Frisbee, and he gets three different depths in the strike zone.
A 70 change curve can lead to a very, very repeatable string of performances. Wells and the young Zito did this, even without a quality change at 80.
Couldn't be more enthused about the bloke. Let's keep that curve velo right where it is.
Good on yer,
Dr D