Comments for Driveline Mechanics http://drivelinemechanics.com An Unconventional Look at Baseball Scouting Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:15:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 Comment on Is Tony Pena Jr. the next Rafael Betancourt? by ben f http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/22/is-tony-pena-jr-the-next-rafael-betancourt/#comment-628 ben f Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:08:22 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=90#comment-628 'Offensively-Challenged' is a compliment unworthy of Tony Pena Jr. The Royals' front office shouldn't even think twice about trying to convert him to a reliever. Maybe you even have him be a defensive sub, too. Then you think, oh maybe he'd be good in the NL where you might benefit from having him at the plate compared to most pitchers. Not so. His OPS of .375 does not compare favorably to pitchers with similar numbers of plate appearances.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('628','ben f'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('628','ben f','\'Offensively-Challenged\' is a compliment unworthy of Tony Pena Jr. The Royals\' front office shouldn\'t even think twice about trying to convert him to a reliever. Maybe you even have him be a defensive sub, too.\r\n\r\nThen you think, oh maybe he\'d be good in the NL where you might benefit from having him at the plate compared to most pitchers. Not so. His OPS of .375 does not compare favorably to pitchers with similar numbers of plate appearances.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> ‘Offensively-Challenged’ is a compliment unworthy of Tony Pena Jr. The Royals’ front office shouldn’t even think twice about trying to convert him to a reliever. Maybe you even have him be a defensive sub, too.

Then you think, oh maybe he’d be good in the NL where you might benefit from having him at the plate compared to most pitchers. Not so. His OPS of .375 does not compare favorably to pitchers with similar numbers of plate appearances.

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]]> Comment on Is Tony Pena Jr. the next Rafael Betancourt? by Matt http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/22/is-tony-pena-jr-the-next-rafael-betancourt/#comment-627 Matt Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:19:28 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=90#comment-627 It occurs to me that the reason that Pena, instead of another Royal, got to pitch was that the Royals brass is a step ahead of us.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('627','Matt'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('627','Matt','It occurs to me that the reason that Pena, instead of another Royal, got to pitch was that the Royals brass is a step ahead of us.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> It occurs to me that the reason that Pena, instead of another Royal, got to pitch was that the Royals brass is a step ahead of us.
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]]> Comment on HR Derby: Josh Hamilton by Kevin http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/16/hr-derby-josh-hamilton/#comment-626 Kevin Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:24:36 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=87#comment-626 Does anyone have the clips of the other slow motion swings from the derby? I know they showed Uggla, Braun, and a few others with this super slow motion camera. Thanks!<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('626','Kevin'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('626','Kevin','Does anyone have the clips of the other slow motion swings from the derby? I know they showed Uggla, Braun, and a few others with this super slow motion camera. Thanks!'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Does anyone have the clips of the other slow motion swings from the derby? I know they showed Uggla, Braun, and a few others with this super slow motion camera. Thanks!
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]]> Comment on HR Derby: Josh Hamilton by sam http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/16/hr-derby-josh-hamilton/#comment-624 sam Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:21:04 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=87#comment-624 for something to travel 500ft in about 5 seconds (estimated timimng off the youtube vid) it has to have an average speed of 100f/s, travelling 1 dimensionally that is. so if the angle off the bat is about 45 degrees (again an estimate) i reckon off the bat the speed of the ball is in excess of 200f/s. more the 140m/hr!! if anyone wants to correct me, please do i havent been at school in a while:P<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('624','sam'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('624','sam','for something to travel 500ft in about 5 seconds (estimated timimng off the youtube vid) it has to have an average speed of 100f\/s, travelling 1 dimensionally that is. so if the angle off the bat is about 45 degrees (again an estimate) i reckon off the bat the speed of the ball is in excess of 200f\/s. more the 140m\/hr!!\r\nif anyone wants to correct me, please do i havent been at school in a while:P'); return false;">Quote</a></div> for something to travel 500ft in about 5 seconds (estimated timimng off the youtube vid) it has to have an average speed of 100f/s, travelling 1 dimensionally that is. so if the angle off the bat is about 45 degrees (again an estimate) i reckon off the bat the speed of the ball is in excess of 200f/s. more the 140m/hr!!
if anyone wants to correct me, please do i havent been at school in a while:P
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]]> Comment on A little about myself…#2 by nick http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/17/a-little-about-myself2/#comment-604 nick Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:26:03 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=86#comment-604 Assuming I could even get the job as a scout I wouldn't. Being a lower level area guy sucks. Imagine scouting out 10th-20th rounders who have nearly no shot at the majors at a high school game where the guy you're looking at takes BP and then gets to bat 3-4 times. The kid is probably good enough that they walk him at least once so it's really 2 ABs to make your entire day while he might not even get decent pitches to hit in those. Not to mention this hypothetical game probably took a long drive to get there in the first place and then you're sitting on metal benches for 3 hours. Then your team likely doesn't even end up drafting him. Scouting 1st rounders: fun. Scouting a 36th rounder: not.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('604','nick'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('604','nick','Assuming I could even get the job as a scout I wouldn\'t. Being a lower level area guy sucks. Imagine scouting out 10th-20th rounders who have nearly no shot at the majors at a high school game where the guy you\'re looking at takes BP and then gets to bat 3-4 times. The kid is probably good enough that they walk him at least once so it\'s really 2 ABs to make your entire day while he might not even get decent pitches to hit in those. Not to mention this hypothetical game probably took a long drive to get there in the first place and then you\'re sitting on metal benches for 3 hours. Then your team likely doesn\'t even end up drafting him.\r\n\r\nScouting 1st rounders: fun. Scouting a 36th rounder: not.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Assuming I could even get the job as a scout I wouldn’t. Being a lower level area guy sucks. Imagine scouting out 10th-20th rounders who have nearly no shot at the majors at a high school game where the guy you’re looking at takes BP and then gets to bat 3-4 times. The kid is probably good enough that they walk him at least once so it’s really 2 ABs to make your entire day while he might not even get decent pitches to hit in those. Not to mention this hypothetical game probably took a long drive to get there in the first place and then you’re sitting on metal benches for 3 hours. Then your team likely doesn’t even end up drafting him.

Scouting 1st rounders: fun. Scouting a 36th rounder: not.

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]]> Comment on Has Mike Pelfrey turned the corner? A Pitch F/X analysis by Jason http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/16/has-mike-pelfrey-turned-the-corner-a-pitch-fx-analysis/#comment-603 Jason Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:56:04 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=83#comment-603 Dan Werthen, Mets pitching coach, has also stated he would like to see the pitchers pitch up in the zone more, thereby changing the eyelevel/hitting plain (sp?) of the batters. I think Met announcers Gary Cohen and Ron Darling said that was the first time they had ever heard a modern day pitching coach preach that. Would be an interesting article to see if this could be true. Great analysis and article, btw.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('603','Jason'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('603','Jason','Dan Werthen, Mets pitching coach, has also stated he would like to see the pitchers pitch up in the zone more, thereby changing the eyelevel\/hitting plain (sp?) of the batters. I think Met announcers Gary Cohen and Ron Darling said that was the first time they had ever heard a modern day pitching coach preach that. Would be an interesting article to see if this could be true.\r\n\r\nGreat analysis and article, btw.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Dan Werthen, Mets pitching coach, has also stated he would like to see the pitchers pitch up in the zone more, thereby changing the eyelevel/hitting plain (sp?) of the batters. I think Met announcers Gary Cohen and Ron Darling said that was the first time they had ever heard a modern day pitching coach preach that. Would be an interesting article to see if this could be true.

Great analysis and article, btw.

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]]> Comment on News: Period of Absence by MF http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/18/news-period-of-absence/#comment-602 MF Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:16:13 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=89#comment-602 Congrats! I live in San Diego and it is a great place to go for something like this...definitely check out the La Jolla scene and if you can go to Windansea beach.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('602','MF'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('602','MF','Congrats! I live in San Diego and it is a great place to go for something like this...definitely check out the La Jolla scene and if you can go to Windansea beach.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Congrats! I live in San Diego and it is a great place to go for something like this…definitely check out the La Jolla scene and if you can go to Windansea beach.
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]]> Comment on A little about myself…#2 by rwperu34 http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/17/a-little-about-myself2/#comment-597 rwperu34 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:33:57 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=86#comment-597 Did you ever consider scouting as a profession?<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('597','rwperu34'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('597','rwperu34','Did you ever consider scouting as a profession?'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Did you ever consider scouting as a profession?
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]]> Comment on Quick Note: Mike Farrenkopf by bazeballz http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/06/14/quick-note-mike-farrenkopf/#comment-596 bazeballz Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:49:50 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=63#comment-596 <a href='#comment-569' rel="nofollow">@OverProduced</a> - What does that have to do with pitching? Anyways, I am very impressed with this video, the quality of the pitches. Good competition or bad competition, these pitches will work. It shows in the video. Best of luck to him. Also I always thought 'Marshall's Motion' was going to look awkward but this pitcher for the most part looks 'normal'.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('596','bazeballz'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('596','bazeballz','<a href=\'#comment-569\' rel=\"nofollow\">@OverProduced<\/a> - \r\nWhat does that have to do with pitching?\r\nAnyways, I am very impressed with this video, the quality of the pitches. Good competition or bad competition, these pitches will work. It shows in the video. \r\nBest of luck to him.\r\nAlso I always thought \'Marshall\'s Motion\' was going to look awkward but this pitcher for the most part looks \'normal\'.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> @OverProduced -
What does that have to do with pitching?
Anyways, I am very impressed with this video, the quality of the pitches. Good competition or bad competition, these pitches will work. It shows in the video.
Best of luck to him.
Also I always thought ‘Marshall’s Motion’ was going to look awkward but this pitcher for the most part looks ‘normal’.
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]]> Comment on HR Derby: Josh Hamilton by ed http://drivelinemechanics.com/2008/07/16/hr-derby-josh-hamilton/#comment-595 ed Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:08:27 +0000 http://drivelinemechanics.com/?p=87#comment-595 What is the physics behind hitting a 60 mph BP pitch 509 feet? What bat speed was achieved to contact?<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('595','ed'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('595','ed','What is the physics behind hitting a 60 mph BP pitch 509 feet? What bat speed was achieved to contact?'); return false;">Quote</a></div> What is the physics behind hitting a 60 mph BP pitch 509 feet? What bat speed was achieved to contact?
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