Mike Minor Utilizing Secondary Offerings
April 20, 2012 at 11:05 am by Ben Duronio under Player Analysis
Right now, Mike Minor is probably the best starter on the staff. He has a 1.99 FIP and an ERA of 3.10. He struggled a bit in the tail end of his first start of the season against the Mets, but has been absolutely dominant in his past two starts.
I posted in the offseason about how Minor’s best performances came when he utilized his breaking balls. So far this year, his slide, change up, and curveball percentages are both up while his fastball percentage is down. This is certainly a good thing, as a lesser reliance on his fastball has not come with decrease command. He is throwing his secondary offerings for strikes and has decreased the amount of contact he has allowed in the zone.
While three starts is certainly not enough to properly evaluate Minor, he has shown the type of pitcher I have claimed he could be. His main issue in his two other Major Leagues stints was allowing tons of hits, and his decrease in contact allowed as well as an increase in foul ball percentage has shown that hitters have squared up on the ball less and less with Minor.
David’s chart in the news shows exactly what Minor needs to do with each of his pitches, and David details that in his post. He is locating and confident on the mound with all of his pitches, which is important as he enters his first full year as a starter. This is a sort of narrative type statement, but I think his two stints in the Majors helped him prepare and be comfortable during his first full season of work. He does not have to worry about what will happen if he pitches poorly, and he does not have to worry about going back down to the minors once someone returns from the disabled list as has often been the case over the past two years.
I am on the record saying that I think Minor should be the best pitcher on the staff this season and is the best bet throw 200 innings. It is still far too early to say I have nailed those predictions, but this start is exactly what anyone who was high on Minor could have hoped for.
Loading ...
In your opinion, does Minor have the ceiling of a #1 ?
I honestly think that is a fair statement.
I have to admit that I was much higher on Beachey than Minor coming into the season. But, Minor has certainly close that gap and maybe even overcome it. Delgado is obviously still a work in progress and may not even be up much longer, but if we can get him to turn the same corner as Minor, our rotation will be just as formidable as any other in the league.
Only saw like 3 innings, but man he was PAINTING that inside corner…wasn’t even really getting the call…and even when NOT getting the call it forces the hitters to consider all ares of the plate. The hitters were so frozen on a couple of the inside pitches they would just let them go by because they knew there was absolutely nothing they could do anyway…like they knew it was literally a quarter-inch away from the umpire ringing them up. Ya right. Let it go…hope for the best. Last year I felt like if we could score 4 we would win, imagine the wins piling up if we can get 5-6 routinely. And these explosions of runs is allowing us to put wins in the column AND the monsters in the pen get to rest…beautiful.
Let’s party like it’s 1995 in 2012 and totally counting beyond, especially when the BRAVES will possible be the first team in BASEBALL to win the WORLD SERIES without even making a single move if I’m not mistaken.GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL they did make moves though. But I’m with you on the rest. ;)
A good lesson for all who follow this stuff: don’t put TOO much stock in what Keith Law says. And I like Keith Law’s stuff.
Scouting is an imperfect science. There is no definite answer on draft day.
Oh for sure, but you’ve got to admit, K Law was pretty adamant ATL had made a mistake.
Perfect example look at Hanson. He was a 22nd round pick. Pujols was a 13th round pick. Mike Piazza was a 62nd round pick(for the record there are no longer 62 rounds!).
Pssh. Keith Law is a legend…of baking/eating pies. Fuck anyone that talks shit ab my Braves – that’s my job.
Would love to see Mike go for 200 innings this year, I know hes a couple years in, but does he have the conditioning and strength to do that and not need shoulder or TJ surgery next year?
He’s big, he’s tall, and everything about his mechanics scream durability.
Is Chip Caray drunk or just even dumber than usual? He has gotten more stuff wrong tonight than I’ve ever heard and Joe seems to be really getting annoyed by Chippy constantly making him say “like a dancing bobcat.”.