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There are a bunch of articles I want to get to, most of which are only tangentially related to the White Sox, but I liked what James Fegan got out of David Robertson regarding his lights-out start. I suppose it’s also funny what he didn’t get out of Robertson, too.
Robertson has thrown curves for more than half of his pitches through four games, and Fegan wondered about a potential downside to it.
Going heavy on breaking balls seems risky for a guy who saw his walk rate spike to 12 percent last season, but Robertson got cagey when I asked what someone who throws everything with a ton of movement turns to when he falls behind in the count.
“You want to know my secrets for pitching?” Robertson said. “You’re asking questions about stuff I don’t really talk about.”
Robertson has only thrown eight pitches on three-ball counts, so good luck extrapolating. Plus, even three of those pitches were curves, so his confidence must be soaring right now.
Terrerobytes
Because the White Sox chose to rebuild rather than contend, they didn’t flirt with the harsh reality the Blue Jays and Mariners have encountered with their awful starts. The White Sox’ direction would’ve been a little clearer, though.
Grant Brisbee breaks down the infamous Fenway Park pizza-throwing video on its 10th birthday.
My favorite part of this video is when someone consciously decided to wing a piece of pizza at someone four seats away. One second there’s an innocuous foul ball drifting into the stands, no different from the dozens of foul balls in every game, and the next second there’s a soggy ninja star sailing through the air, too floppy to be aerodynamic, too ambitious to be earthbound.
Remind me to do one of these for “Bacon Gets Bucked.”
I pretty much read anything Jeff Sullivan writes about either Felix Hernandez or Mike Trout. The two of them together? The math checks out.
The pitch is just as good as Pitch No. 4, and this is how Felix loves to put righties away, but you can see that the annoyance has mounted. Look at Felix’s head right after he sees the ball go foul. He looks off, wondering what it could possibly take to make Trout go away. Trout, for his part, was enjoying himself.
This is where it stopped being about Mariners vs. Angels, and started being about two elite baseball players showing off. Trout was having some sort of exchange with Zunino, Zunino presumably telling him, “hey, quit it.” It’s funny. It’s funny to be amazing.
Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone referenced this story on Friday. The donor’s family listening to their son’s heart beating in Carew’s chest is heavy, but in a wonderful way.
Trea Turner already made esoteric baseball history by being the one who prompted a change to the Player To Be Named Later rules. Now he has one of the first injuries that could prove as an ideal case for the 10-day disabled list.
- Andrew McCutchen’s 3-run homer keys Pirates’ comeback win — Bucs Dugout
- How necessary are mound visits? — FanGraphs
As a big right-handed pitching prospect with loose mechanics and a bit of an identity crisis, I’ve been watching Tyler Glasnow in preparation for Lucas Giolito’s eventual call-up.
Jeff Passan is a big fan of pitch clocks, and I am, too. I mean, they shouldn’t be necessary, but the one in Durham kept Mike Pelfrey honest. He averaged 24-25 seconds per pitch last season in the majors, but he didn’t come close to running out of time while pitching for Charlotte in Durham. Maybe that explains his poor first two starts but, hey.
SSSer gnix has a podcast that’s ostensibly about baseball, but also provides comedians a platform to mess around with the subject. For instance:
Then Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson (Carl Tart, MadTV) tries to tell stories of his historic career, but mostly talks about Green Day.