Sunday, July 10, 2011

Matt Moore Pitch-f/x and Praise from the Futures Game

He threw 11 pitches, nine for strikes:
Pitch 1 - Fastball - 96 mph - Called strike
Pitch 2 - Fastball - 98 mph - Swinging strike
Pitch 3 - Fastball - 98 mph - Foul
Pitch 4 - Slider - 86 mph - Swinging strike
Pitch 5 - Fastball - 97 mph - Groundout
Pitch 6 - Fastball - 96 mph - Called strike
Pitch 7 - Slider - 86 mph - Ball
Pitch 8 - Slider - 87 mph - Swinging strike
Pitch 9 - Fastball - 98 mph - Foul
Pitch 10 - Fastball - 97 mph - Ball
Pitch 11 - Fastball - 98 mph -Groundout

Two things jump out here: First, the fastball velocity is just insane. It's likely a product of the fact he knew he'd only be working an inning, but it's pretty sweet to know he was the ability to ramp it up like that. Second of all... slider? Wha? The report on Moore was always fastball-curve-change, so it was really weird to see him throw that upper-80s breaking pitch. I don't really know what to make of that, here's what some on Twitter had to say:

Jason Parks (@ProfessorParks) of BaseballProspectus: "@KevinGengler It looked like a cutter to me, but you can call it a slider. Whatever you call it, it was nasty"

Frankie Piliere (@FrankiePiliere) of Scout.com/FOXSports: "@KevinGengler not sure what he calls it and first time I've seen him but had nasty snap at 86-87. Maybe he calls it a cutter but to me SL"

And here's some more general praise:

Jim Callis (@jimcallisBA) of BaseballAmerica: "Looks like he can pitch there right now to me. Better pure stuff than Price. @banditdew: How close is Matt Moore to the big leagues? #Rays" Callis also mentioned that Moore was the most impressive U.S. pitcher

Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) of ESPN: "Several scouts at Futures Game today raved about #rays prospect Matt Moore. "It's not just good stuff,'' said one. "It's tremendous.''

Jon Heyman (@SI_JonHeyman) of Sports Illustrated: "#rays lhp prospect matt moore brings the heat to phoenix. Kid looks terrific.#futuresgame"

Ben Badler (@BenBadler) of BaseballAmerica: "Bryce Harper is still the best prospect in baseball, but the most impressive player at the Futures Game was Matt Moore"

2 comments:

  1. Do you think the addition of the cutter/slider could be part of the reason why he has been getting a good amount of groundballs lately and why his K's are slighty down this year(though they are still very good)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've seen a couple of places that he was so amped up and throwing so hard that he had trouble staying on top of his curve, so it moved like a slider, but he was still trying to throw the curve.

    ReplyDelete