Fangraphs Q&A with Director of Player Development Reid Nichols

[Mass Haas]

Via David Laurila of FanGraphs -- good stuff here!

[SoupTown]

Amazingly intelligent chat. One thing I liked "...We try to let the players – in their first year – go as far as they can go, doing what they’ve been doing. They’ve obviously done something to get drafted and we don’t want to interfere with that unless we need to. When they get to instructional league – or if they’re struggling during the season and come to us asking for help – we’ll try to make a change. We work more on the mental side when we first get them.”

 

I think that is a change over the recent years. I was angry when they drafted that Maine hockey player and they immediately sat him down and said his delivery will hurt his arm. So they changed his delivery... and destroyed his arm (shoulder, I think). I am livid about that.

[LouisEly]

This part I found interesting:

 

"On pitching philosophy: “Early in their careers, we ask guys to throw strikes down. We don’t want them trying to throw to the corners. We want them to command their fastballs down in the zone and mostly, with very few exceptions, we don’t let them throw two-seamers. We want them to throw four-seamers with command. That makes them work on their command instead of trying to trick the hitter.

 

“Early on, their secondary should be their changeup. Then, if they’re a guy that can spin the ball – it’s a gift they have – we won’t take it away from them. But changeups are very important.

 

“We work more on the mental side and getting their line to the plate better, taking some stress off their shoulders – minor changes to help them stay healthy and start thinking correctly. A lot of times, pitchers coming out of the college ranks are trying to trick hitters. Our philosophy is more to go after them and throw strikes. We like to get early outs on the ground.”

 

Looks like the Brewers place very little emphasis on striking guys out in the minors, instead focusing on throwing strikes and going after hitters. Kind of helps explain why strikeout numbers are low, and why guys like Jungmann increased their K rate as they got to AAA. Hopefully that applies to Bradley and - if he doesn't get plucked away in Rule 5 - he increases his K rate at AAA too. He's got the "early outs on the ground" part down pretty well.