Just watched Greene pitch in Wednesday's game against the South Bend Cubs. The good news was that he looked like he was more in himself and not pushing overly hard like he was in the first game. He got his fastball up to 101mph (tying Chapman's record for speed at Dayton), but he hit the batter with that pitch so I'm not sure it's something to brag about at this point.
He was working on his inside-outside placement of pitches and doing better with it when he was using breaking pitches. In fact, he was pitching better with them than he did with the fastballs. The fastballs seem to be coming in a little too straight and predictable; single A batters aren't having too much trouble putting wood on them. In the first game he seemed to have a rising fastball that worked, but it didn't show up this time. He also seemed to have a high breaking pitch last time; it only showed up a couple times in this game. In the end, his breaking stuff looked more effective than his fast pitches. When the rain got bad in the third inning, Greene got flustered and that led to the rain delay and his removal from the game (he was near his allotted pitch count if not over).
All that said, he's a pretty solid single-A pitcher. That means he still has control issues. However, it's encouraging that they are having him work the inside and outside of the plate. I take that as evidence they aren't going to try to just make him into a Chapman type hurler. I'll be more impressed when they get him working the top of the strike zone as well as the bottom. His fastballs need help. They're entirely too hitable. If they can get that ball to hook a little or rise above a swinging bat this guy might just become unstoppable. But that's all in the future. He needs time to settle, adjust, learn, and grow. Hopefully that means he'll get a full season in Dayton before being skipped over the useless FSL and moved directly to AA Pensacola. In the meantime, expect sporadic reports here.
Below is a break down his pitches as best I could.
He was working on his inside-outside placement of pitches and doing better with it when he was using breaking pitches. In fact, he was pitching better with them than he did with the fastballs. The fastballs seem to be coming in a little too straight and predictable; single A batters aren't having too much trouble putting wood on them. In the first game he seemed to have a rising fastball that worked, but it didn't show up this time. He also seemed to have a high breaking pitch last time; it only showed up a couple times in this game. In the end, his breaking stuff looked more effective than his fast pitches. When the rain got bad in the third inning, Greene got flustered and that led to the rain delay and his removal from the game (he was near his allotted pitch count if not over).
All that said, he's a pretty solid single-A pitcher. That means he still has control issues. However, it's encouraging that they are having him work the inside and outside of the plate. I take that as evidence they aren't going to try to just make him into a Chapman type hurler. I'll be more impressed when they get him working the top of the strike zone as well as the bottom. His fastballs need help. They're entirely too hitable. If they can get that ball to hook a little or rise above a swinging bat this guy might just become unstoppable. But that's all in the future. He needs time to settle, adjust, learn, and grow. Hopefully that means he'll get a full season in Dayton before being skipped over the useless FSL and moved directly to AA Pensacola. In the meantime, expect sporadic reports here.
Below is a break down his pitches as best I could.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.