Is Gallardo tipping pitches?

[FVBrewerFan]

I just don't believe it's a physical issue. He's still hitting 94 on his fastball when he wants to, so I really doubt he has an injury. I realize fastball speed alone doesn't indicate whether a pitcher is injured or not, but it's usually a preety good indicator.

 

He's struggling with control. Could be mechanics, could be he just doesn't have it right now. Yo needs to throw his curve for strikes anywhere in the count and he hasn't been able to do that. Sending him to Nashville could be the answer, but that depends what the problem is. I'm sure they've studied this, and if his mechanics haven't changed, and he's not tipping pitches...then it may do him some good to go down to Nashville and work on his control for a couple starts.

[crewcrazy]

Let's keep this thread about Gallardo, and try to avoid condescension.

 

I do agree that it doesn't seem to be a physical issue with Gallardo, because the velocity has been more than fine. There was a good post in the IGT last night about Gallardo having 6-start stretches like this before, and I think Jack Moore did a good job of breaking down Gallardo's game in trying to get to the root of the problem at Disciples of Uecker.

 

The "wait for him to get back to normal" idea won't be popular in a year that means so much to a lot of people, but it's probably the best course of action right now.

[RockCoCougars]

This is more than a bad 6 game stretch though. Outside of a handful of games, Gallardo is been pretty much brutal since last summer. Velocity is down a tad, walks are about the same and strikeouts are way down. My guess is the major issue is that his curveball has went from a plus pitch to a non factor, making him a one pitch pitcher in essence. Without the curve, if command is off just a tad, Gallardo will get rocked- especially if he isn't able to keep the hitters off balance by changing speeds.

[Baldkin]

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=8173&position=P

 

Look at the graphs. Comparing this year to last year side by side, it's tough to pick out any major differences.

 

He's also been incredibly unlucky, his ERA is over 6, and his xFIP is right at 4.00. Those who say he was brutal the 2nd half of last year, his xfip's for July/Aug/Sept were 3.93, 2.99 and 3.44. A tad worse than his Apr-Jun, but not nearly as bad as his ERA was.

[RockCoCougars]

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=8173&position=P

 

Look at the graphs. Comparing this year to last year side by side, it's tough to pick out any major differences.

 

He's also been incredibly unlucky, his ERA is over 6, and his xFIP is right at 4.00. Those who say he was brutal the 2nd half of last year, his xfip's for July/Aug/Sept were 3.93, 2.99 and 3.44. A tad worse than his Apr-Jun, but not nearly as bad as his ERA was.

I think that you need to compare this year and last year to 2009. There are some major differences when you do that, in both pitch mix and results. Most notably, it looks like he is less efective changing speeds, and he is also throwing a ton of sliders, which I don't think is a good pitch for him.

[Oxy]

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=8173&position=P

 

Look at the graphs. Comparing this year to last year side by side, it's tough to pick out any major differences.

 

He's also been incredibly unlucky, his ERA is over 6, and his xFIP is right at 4.00. Those who say he was brutal the 2nd half of last year, his xfip's for July/Aug/Sept were 3.93, 2.99 and 3.44. A tad worse than his Apr-Jun, but not nearly as bad as his ERA was.

If I am not mistaken (a big IF), xFIP works under the assumption that every at bat is independent from another at bat, i.e. A pitcher doesn't change the way he pitches no matter how many outs there are or how many guys are on base. Hopefully that is the case, and Gallardo has just been unlucky. There's been so many single inning implosions this year that it seems like Gallardo "loses it" when things get sticky though. Over his career it always seemed like it was the opposite to me, however, in that YG would bear down and get key outs when he really needed them.

[Baldkin]

xFIP normalizes for defense and HR%. So, since the Brewers defense has been horrible this season, and he's given up way more than average HR/FB, his xFIP is lower than his ERA.

[DannoMac21]

Ok, does EVERY thread have to be about Betencourt? This is a thread about Gallardo, and here we are arguing about Betencourt again.

 

Funny, I was being accused of repeatedly posting about my hate for Betencourt. At least I kept it in ONE thread about BETENCOURT.

It only bothered me because you said it 3 times, and caps locked it once: Betancourt.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Ok, does EVERY thread have to be about Betencourt? This is a thread about Gallardo, and here we are arguing about Betencourt again.

 

Funny, I was being accused of repeatedly posting about my hate for Betencourt. At least I kept it in ONE thread about BETENCOURT.

It only bothered me because you said it 3 times, and caps locked it once: Betancourt.

Richard Sexton approves of your spelling correction. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[RockCoCougars]

I'm guilty of the 'Betencourt' thing sometimes as well, but I'm getting better the more that I post in 'the thread'....

 

At any rate, I agree that Gallardo is a 'bigger issue' than Yuni, he's been hurting the team more. If Estrada pitches well again today, I think there's going to be a really tough decision to make.

[CheezWizHed]

Good morning class, welcome to "Problems with Gallardo 101". For those of you have have mistaken this class with "Problems with Betancourt 101" (aka "Problems with Betencourt 101", aka "Defensive Metrics 101"), please note its being held now at this location.

[Invader3K]

I'm guilty of the 'Betencourt' thing sometimes as well, but I'm getting better the more that I post in 'the thread'....

 

At any rate, I agree that Gallardo is a 'bigger issue' than Yuni, he's been hurting the team more. If Estrada pitches well again today, I think there's going to be a really tough decision to make.

Estrada having another good outing would make it pretty unjustifiable to bounce him from the rotation at this point. I'm hoping the Brewers are put into a bind, in all honesty.

[strawbossisevil]

Good morning class, welcome to "Problems with Gallardo 101". For those of you have have mistaken this class with "Problems with Betancourt 101" (aka "Problems with Betencourt 101", aka "Defensive Metrics 101"), please note its being held now at this location.

It would be fair to make this point if it were possible to talk about one player without ever referencing another.

Trouble is, that isn't at all possible or practical. When talking about Gallardo, and the question is asked whether his previous poor outing came about as a result of poor pitching or poor defense (Prince/Betancourt etc), I think it is fair to address whether Prince or Betancourt negatively effected the production of Gallardo. That isn't turning this into a Betancourt or a Prince thread, it simply is centered around why Gallardo had the results he did.

Since baseball is a team game, it is impossible to have a thread about one player that is completely absent of discussion of other players present on the team. To expect that kind of uniformity in posting is ridiculous IMO.

 

[DuWayne Steurer]

Good morning class, welcome to "Problems with Gallardo 101". For those of you have have mistaken this class with "Problems with Betancourt 101" (aka "Problems with Betencourt 101", aka "Defensive Metrics 101"), please note its being held now at this location.

It would be fair to make this point if it were possible to talk about one player without ever referencing another.

Trouble is, that isn't at all possible or practical. When talking about Gallardo, and the question is asked whether his previous poor outing came about as a result of poor pitching or poor defense (Prince/Betancourt etc), I think it is fair to address whether Prince or Betancourt negatively effected the production of Gallardo. That isn't turning this into a Betancourt or a Prince thread, it simply is centered around why Gallardo had the results he did.

Since baseball is a team game, it is impossible to have a thread about one player that is completely absent of discussion of other players present on the team. To expect that kind of uniformity in posting is ridiculous IMO.

 

It's always fair to bring up other players, but as sooooooooooo often happens, a thread can go completely off topic in a hurry. Maybe I was a bit pre-mature in my post complaining about Betancourt being the topic of discussion in yet another thread, but the dude is a hot-button topic here right now, and another thread about Betancourt's shortcomings (or lack thereof) just probably isn't appealing to anyone right now.

 

(I'm still not sorry though) http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Thats Freakin Sweet]

Where's Tanaka when we need him to give a pep talk to Yo?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKq1uF1T__8&feature=related

[jakesdaddio]

To me, it seems pretty simple. He gets too fine, which was mentioned previously here. He doesn't pitch nearly as well from the stretch, which might be the biggest problem. After someone gets on, whether it's an error, or a hit or walk, Yo simply doesn't seem to pitch as well from the stretch. I'd love to see his stats from the windup vs. the stretch.

[topper09er]

Gallardo career

with bases empty: 1290 PA, .252/.318/.394 against, 308 K (1 per 4.19 PA), 111 BB (1 per 11.62 PA), 29 HR (1 per 44.5 PA)

with runners on: 1055 PA, .237/.328/.377 against, 247 K (1 per 4.27 PA), 120 BB (1 per 8.8 PA), 20 HR (1 per 52.75 PA)

 

Looks like the main difference is a much higher walk rate from the stretch, which does hurt especially when there is already other runners on.

 

 

The other thing that bothered me is when he gave up that double to lose the lead he just walked over towards the line and did not hustle to get in place to back up a throw. It looked like he was just really frustrated, and if his confidence is his problem its not getting any better.

[DannoMac21]

Ok, does EVERY thread have to be about Betencourt? This is a thread about Gallardo, and here we are arguing about Betencourt again.

 

Funny, I was being accused of repeatedly posting about my hate for Betencourt. At least I kept it in ONE thread about BETENCOURT.

It only bothered me because you said it 3 times, and caps locked it once: Betancourt.

Richard Sexton approves of your spelling correction. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Haha! Just giving you hard time.

[CheezWizHed]

It would be fair to make this point if it were possible to talk about one player without ever referencing another.

 

Its fair because there already is a 27 page (and growing) thread on that topic. Sure, our SS defense effects our pitchers. But the discussion went far beyond that....

[Oxy]

topper09er wrote:

 

Looks like the main difference is a much higher walk rate from the stretch, which does hurt especially when there is already other runners on.

I would think that in order to get an accurate picture of how he is pitching from the stretch you'd have to exclude his numbers when first base is open, as there is no question that pitchers pitch around certain guys in that situation. I would guess that almost all pitchers would have higher walk rates with guys already on, actually. Especially ground ball pitchers and guys with very good walk rates overall (not that Gallardo is either one of these).

[strawbossisevil]

It would be fair to make this point if it were possible to talk about one player without ever referencing another.

 

Its fair because there already is a 27 page (and growing) thread on that topic. Sure, our SS defense effects our pitchers. But the discussion went far beyond that....

Right, some pointed out that Gallardo was negatively effected by Yuni's play his last time out. I watched the tape and suggested I didn't see the same on the alleged play, and that I believed that Gallardo was responsible.

I am not going to be bullied into refraining from posting in a thread if what I am posting relates to the topic of the thread. Even if in doing so means bringing up Yuni B. in a thread outside of the 27 pager.

 

[1992casey]

Right, some pointed out that Gallardo was negatively effected by Yuni's play his last time out. I watched the tape and suggested I didn't see the same on the alleged play, and that I believed that Gallardo was responsible.

It would certainly seem fair to attempt to discuss how defense might have factored into Yo's meltdown inning. This response was helpful and fair:

I went back to the tape and watched this play about a dozen times.

Betancourt was shaded toward second for the double play and actually

got a decent jump on this one. The best we could have hoped for from

any shortstop there was for them to knock it down and keep it in the

infield, but the result would have been the same as Chipper wasn't going

to third in either case.

However, the message continued with this unnecessary scolding, which led to 10 posts being hidden in an attempt to bring this topic on track:

This is exactly what some of us have been pointing out in the Yuni discussion thread. People are showing absolutely no objectivity in bagging on him. The difference between him and an average SS is maybe a ball or two a week, if that. Yet, so many see his defense costing us runs one or twice every night. It just shows that most have no concept of what average defense at SS looks like.

A message above states, "Good morning class, welcome to 'Problems with Gallardo 101'." I'm sure that was meant to lead to humorous responses or no responses at all rather than to be taken seriously.

 

As crewcrazy stated, let's keep this discussion about Yo. Previous discussion involving Yuni and the defense has more than run its course.

[strawbossisevil]

Right, some pointed out that Gallardo was negatively effected by Yuni's play his last time out. I watched the tape and suggested I didn't see the same on the alleged play, and that I believed that Gallardo was responsible.

It would certainly seem fair to attempt to discuss how defense might have factored into Yo's meltdown inning. This response was helpful and fair:

I went back to the tape and watched this play about a dozen times.

Betancourt was shaded toward second for the double play and actually

got a decent jump on this one. The best we could have hoped for from

any shortstop there was for them to knock it down and keep it in the

infield, but the result would have been the same as Chipper wasn't going

to third in either case.

However, the message continued with this unnecessary scolding, which led to 10 posts being hidden in an attempt to bring this topic on track:

This is exactly what some of us have been pointing out in the Yuni discussion thread. People are showing absolutely no objectivity in bagging on him. The difference between him and an average SS is maybe a ball or two a week, if that. Yet, so many see his defense costing us runs one or twice every night. It just shows that most have no concept of what average defense at SS looks like.

Fair enough. I'll save those types of responses for the Yuni thread. I just thought of it as an opportunity to give a concrete example to something that has been bugging me as of late. But you are right that it probably belonged elsewhere.

A message above states, "Good morning class, welcome to 'Problems with Gallardo 101'." I'm sure that was meant to lead to humorous responses or no responses at all rather than to be taken seriously.

I suppose that would be placing the best construction on the post...I would say the subsequent post by the author has revealed that it was not meant to be humorous.

As crewcrazy stated, let's keep this discussion about Yo. Previous discussion involving Yuni and the defense has more than run its course.

Absolutely it has, and I won't be commenting on that play again. However if another situation were to come up where Yuni's play impact's Gallardo's, I don't think it is fair to ask anyone to hesitate from posting, nor will I be bullied into silence.

[CheezWizHed]

I suppose that would be placing the best construction on the post...I would say the subsequent post by the author has revealed that it was not meant to be humorous.

 

Of course the post was meant as a humorous reminder that we ventured way off topic. If I had posted what I really thought, I'd probably be banned from BF.net.

 

As casey and others have agreed, your initial post about YB's play effecting Yo was completely valid to bring up. It was the subsequent discussion that rehashed YB in detail again, even to the point of spell checking that was overboard.

 

Everyone knows that topics have swayed off course (I've done it myself). But there has been SO much discussion on YB, that I think people (including me) are tired of it. Not that he shouldn't be brought up ever. But just so it doesn't consume the original thread intent.

[davemakovec]

Fangraphs today attempts to answer the question of what the heck is wrong with Yo:

 

Their answer: We don't really know