The Oakland Athletics
- Thread starter D-Rose
- Start date
My thoughts from the series for you A's fans.
Greg Smith: A solid pitcher, not going to be nearly as good as he has been so far this year, but a legitimate ML starter. His SL is pretty tight in that it's only 3-4 mph slower than his FB and doesn't have a lot of depth, it's really more like a cutter. He's not afraid to throw his SL to RHH (both in and out), and his CH is solid.
Dana Eveland: Reminds me of Sabathia the way he breaks his hands, extends his lead arm and drives towards the plate. Pretty good stuff, his best pitch is his SL when thrown hard and not slurvey, his CH needs work though, a lot of work. His FB command also needs a lot of work.
Rich Harden: Easy gas, it's amazing how the ball just explodes out of his arm with relatively quiet mechanics. The SF and SL are both short and tight, it was pretty tough to tell them apart sitting behind the plate. He also followed the blatant pattern of increasing his velocity w/ each strike in the count (i.e. 90-91 w/ 0 strikes, 93-94 w/ 1 strike, 95-96 w/ 2 strikes). His problem today was his pitch count got up early, and he was leaving his splitter up in the zone.
Santiago Casilla: Gas w/ a sharp slider, makings of a great setup guy if he knows where it's going, but there are about 100 guys in the majors (who throw 94-95 w/ a sharp SL) who you could say that about.
Alan Embree: Old pro, knows what he's doing, K'd Hamilton bad today, and that's not easy to do.
Kurt Suzuki: Sucks, has a below average arm, a pretty weak inside out swing w/ little power. The only thing positive I can think to say about him is he's quick behind the dish, he stuck a couple of Santiago Casilla SLs that were 2 feet outside. I wouldn't want this guy as my catcher of the future.
Daric Barton: Powerful swing, he really gets his hips through whilst keeping his hands back, that's how you generate a powerful swing with a lot of torque. I know his numbers aren't great, but I think he can hit.
Rajai Davis: Has 2 ridiculous tools (a cannon and speed), if he could only hit. Still not a bad guy to grab off the scrap heap.
Jack Cust: I like him, he has a presence at the plate, can drive the ball the other way, I know he's a 3 true outcomes guy, but most ML teams would be happy to have him.
Ryan Sweeney: Sucks, basically killed their chances of winning yesterday by swinging at the 1st pitch w/ bases loaded after Scott Feldman had thrown 8 of his last 9 pitches for balls. A 9 hitter swinging at the 1st pitch w/ bases loaded and 1 out after 2 straight walks = a sin.
The A's aren't a .500 team, enjoy it while it lasts. I still think this team will finish last in the West, but they're rebuilding the right way, they will be good in a few years when some of their studs in A ball are up and Beane has a little more money to throw around w/ the new stadium in Oak... er I mean Fremont.
Greg Smith: A solid pitcher, not going to be nearly as good as he has been so far this year, but a legitimate ML starter. His SL is pretty tight in that it's only 3-4 mph slower than his FB and doesn't have a lot of depth, it's really more like a cutter. He's not afraid to throw his SL to RHH (both in and out), and his CH is solid.
Dana Eveland: Reminds me of Sabathia the way he breaks his hands, extends his lead arm and drives towards the plate. Pretty good stuff, his best pitch is his SL when thrown hard and not slurvey, his CH needs work though, a lot of work. His FB command also needs a lot of work.
Rich Harden: Easy gas, it's amazing how the ball just explodes out of his arm with relatively quiet mechanics. The SF and SL are both short and tight, it was pretty tough to tell them apart sitting behind the plate. He also followed the blatant pattern of increasing his velocity w/ each strike in the count (i.e. 90-91 w/ 0 strikes, 93-94 w/ 1 strike, 95-96 w/ 2 strikes). His problem today was his pitch count got up early, and he was leaving his splitter up in the zone.
Santiago Casilla: Gas w/ a sharp slider, makings of a great setup guy if he knows where it's going, but there are about 100 guys in the majors (who throw 94-95 w/ a sharp SL) who you could say that about.
Alan Embree: Old pro, knows what he's doing, K'd Hamilton bad today, and that's not easy to do.
Kurt Suzuki: Sucks, has a below average arm, a pretty weak inside out swing w/ little power. The only thing positive I can think to say about him is he's quick behind the dish, he stuck a couple of Santiago Casilla SLs that were 2 feet outside. I wouldn't want this guy as my catcher of the future.
Daric Barton: Powerful swing, he really gets his hips through whilst keeping his hands back, that's how you generate a powerful swing with a lot of torque. I know his numbers aren't great, but I think he can hit.
Rajai Davis: Has 2 ridiculous tools (a cannon and speed), if he could only hit. Still not a bad guy to grab off the scrap heap.
Jack Cust: I like him, he has a presence at the plate, can drive the ball the other way, I know he's a 3 true outcomes guy, but most ML teams would be happy to have him.
Ryan Sweeney: Sucks, basically killed their chances of winning yesterday by swinging at the 1st pitch w/ bases loaded after Scott Feldman had thrown 8 of his last 9 pitches for balls. A 9 hitter swinging at the 1st pitch w/ bases loaded and 1 out after 2 straight walks = a sin.
The A's aren't a .500 team, enjoy it while it lasts. I still think this team will finish last in the West, but they're rebuilding the right way, they will be good in a few years when some of their studs in A ball are up and Beane has a little more money to throw around w/ the new stadium in Oak... er I mean Fremont.
