Sunday, February 20, 2011

Rays' Tenet Regarding Fastball Establishment Has Yielded Mixed Results


I recently enjoyed an opportunity to attend a coaches clinic sponsored by the Red Sox organization on behalf of the Little League team that I coach down here in Cape Coral.  The BoSox were generous enough to send various Triple A coaches to help answer a myriad questions posed by Little League managers.  One thing that struck me was the unwavering consistency of overall messages given by the various coaches.  It was very clear that the Red Sox hold several very deep organizational philosophies that are instilled and maintained throughout all levels of their franchise.

The Rays have also cultivated several philosophical approaches unique their franchise.  Some are borne out of the fiscal restraints posed by the lukewarm market in this area.  But others are strictly baseball philosophies, many of which have been implemented since ownership majority changed six years ago.

The most widely-known organizational philosophy adopted by the Sternberg / Friedman team has been the procurement and maintenance of pitching and defense.  With the exception of the Burrell and Ramirez free agency signings along with a few necessary bench additions, virtually every player acquired via trade or free agency has brought an emphasis on either pitching or defense.  It would be almost impossible to argue that these moves were not beneficial to the team.  The franchise’s emphasis on pitching, speed and defense throughout all levels of the organization has completely transformed the Rays.

However, sometimes organizational philosophies can become cumbersome if a team does not exactly possess the types of players that can execute those particular approaches.  One such example of that can be seen with the Rays’ deeply held pitching philosophy of fastball establishment.  Yes, it is great for pitchers to have fastball command; all pitching coaches want to see that.  But the Rays take this to another level, forcing all their starters to incorporate and execute the strategy regardless of their abilities to do so.  Guys like David Price can adapt to it because even on an off-night, his “bad” fastball is overpowering.  But pitchers a notch below David in velocity and movement can ill-afford the predictability of the establish-the-fastball-at-all-costs approach.  I do believe this is the reason we are seeing a developing trend of former Rays’ pitchers doing better with their new teams.
 
I strongly believe our starting pitchers would benefit from a relaxation of the fastball establishment requirement the organization holds so dearly.  Guys like Hellickson, Niemann and even Price would have more success with their fastballs if they were allowed to drop a hook on the first pitch once in a while.  The Rays’ starters were remarkably predictable last season and good teams took advantage of this.  Overall, opponents hit over .280 when swinging at first-pitch fastballs.  An added element of uncertainty would undoubtedly improve the effectiveness of fastballs later in the counts.

It is unlikely the Rays will modify this particular approach.  Again, this is an organizational philosophy that is taught throughout the entire system.  While fastball command is a critical component to the development of younger pitchers, it is not always a practical approach when overused at the major league level.   

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