Colorado Springs Strategy?

[billymac]

Does anyone have any knowledge of Colorado Springs and any pitching philosophies they are using if any? Just looking back at Jorge Lopez and how he went from dominant in AA to dreadful in AAA(I know, everyone gets shelled in CS). Read an interesting article at Baseball Propsectus http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=20069 on the effects of the certain pitches in that environment. It looks like Jorge likely lost a lot of confidence in his pitches and the results showed. From the article it looks like the fastball and slider are the only two effective pitches that react the similar no matter what environment you are in. Would it be wise to treat Colorado Springs like early spring training and just have pitchers pitch fastball/slider no matter what and use their full arsenal on the road(change ups and curveballs)? It looks like Jorge Lopez has been pitching great this fall which is good to see, but would hate to see him regress again going back to Colorado Springs. Could this be a useful strategy the next 2 years to hopefully keep pitchers confidence in their pitches and hope we get an opportunity to move the affiliate to a more development friendly environment? Or are they trying this already?

[JohnBriggs12]

The most effective starter pitching in that environment last year was Burgos, who pretty much is a fastball/slider pitcher who works down in the zone giving some weight to the theory.

[Mudville9]

Yeah, I'm thinking Lopez should just be started in AA for a month or so, move him to AAA and then just call him up after service time consideration or the first trade/injury happens.

[MadThinker88]

Best strategy is to not even be there or in the PCL.

 

If there, take all numbers with a grain of salt. Have the mega talents skip it entirely.

[JohnBriggs12]

The problem isn't just the loss of confidence but the loss of trade value in your young arms. That's not so much a concern now, but a year or two from now it might be. If you are looking to deal a prospect for a position of need somewhere, it's a tough sell when the pitcher is carrying an ERA of around 6 in AAA no matter what the scouts might think of him.

[logan82]

Burn it to the ground and move.

[jerichoholicninja]

Same as pitching anywhere: keep the ball down, work the corners, and change speeds.

[LouisEly]

It's not just the thin air there, it's also pretty dry with low humidity. Curveballs work by the seams creating friction with the air, and humidity in the air will slow down balls once they are hit. When the air is thin there isn't as much to create friction with the seams which results in less break on curveballs. The most effective pitchers there change speeds (Burgos is a changeup specialist).

 

Read a couple of months back that players commented that it's tough pitching there, but they admit that it makes you a better pitcher because you really have to execute - you can't get away with being lazy and having poor technique. The flip side is that it can effect your confidence, which is very important, but we've seen Peralta, Jungmann, and Lopez pitch very well after leaving there. Hopefully it's because CS forces you to develop good habits and really focus on mechanics.

[Mass Haas]

Toolshed Stats: Triple-A ballpark factors

Colorado Springs, Columbus stadiums stand out for distinct reasons

By Sam Dykstra / MiLB.com

[MrTPlush]

The problem isn't just the loss of confidence but the loss of trade value in your young arms. That's not so much a concern now, but a year or two from now it might be. If you are looking to deal a prospect for a position of need somewhere, it's a tough sell when the pitcher is carrying an ERA of around 6 in AAA no matter what the scouts might think of him.

 

No...stats are quite meaningless in the grand scheme of things for what you are referring to. Since we are talking about established prospects by the time they are at AAA what the scouts think is almost the entire equation. A poor showing in Colorado(where everyone knows pitchers struggle) isn't going to erase what they did in all the years prior.