Knebel’s health

[NYChez]

In April, Corey Knebel suffered a serious left hamstring injury and missed 6 weeks. Since his return, he obviously hasn’t been nearly as effective as he was last year.

 

Having been a right-handed pitcher back in the day and having suffered a left hamstring injury, it wouldn’t surprise me if the hamstring is a significant cause of Knebel’s struggles. I recall missing some of the flexibility and strength in my left leg which resulted in it being tough to get my upper body to rotate over my plant leg. This impacted my ability to keep the ball down.

 

With a seemingly healthy arm and no drop in velocity, this seems to be a more plausible reason for his struggles than him waking up one day and sucking. Hopefully with an off-season of rest, we’ll see 2017 Knebel again in 2019.

[Oxy]

Perhaps his health is bothering him, but looking at the history of Brewers closers, it might just be a baseball thing.

[Austin Tatious]

Thanks for the perspective, NYChez. You may be onto something.

[Roderick]

Something is different about Knebel's fastball. His fastball speed is still way up there, but it must be straighter or less deception of some sort, because it is getting teed off on - I can't believe it just hitters sitting on FB because he can't get the curveball over for a strike.

[adambr2]

The good part is because of how arbitration works, we're still going to get the pleasure of paying Knebel at least 4M next year.

 

He's not going to get non-temdered, but another season like this one next year will probably get him there.

[Thurston Fluff]

Here is a pretty good article on his fastball in particular. https://www.brewcrewball.com/2018/8/11/17678550/milwaukee-brewers-closer-corey-knebel-control

[FVBrewerFan]

I can't believe it just hitters sitting on FB because he can't get the curveball over for a strike.

 

It may be that simple. Would love to see what his strike % is throwing his curve last year vs this year. I don't have time now, but will look it up later. But this would easily explain it, as professional hitters will go to town sitting dead red all the time.

[TigerUppercut]

Talk about what you will with Knebel but for me, it's simple. Watch where the catcher sets up when he pitches. Corey, beyond almost anyone I've ever seen throw a baseball, rarely if ever hits the glove or is even near it. Not even worth discussing command when control altogether is easily the bigger question.

[djoctagone]

knebel can be optioned. if he spends less than 20 days optioned in 2018 (which is easy to manage with september roster expansion), he will not burn his final option.

[Roderick]

Here is a pretty good article on his fastball in particular. https://www.brewcrewball.com/2018/8/11/17678550/milwaukee-brewers-closer-corey-knebel-control

 

Good to see the stats bear out what my eyes were seeing. Less movement on the fastball. Throw it 100 and straight and they will tee off, and Knebel isn't hitting 100.

[clancyphile]

If it's fastball movement, it's probably something that can be tweaked by Derek Johnson in the off-season...

[FVBrewerFan]

So it's a combination really. Fastball doesn't move, he can't locate it, and not getting his curve in/near the zone. If he could improve on even one of those things it would help him significantly. I don't buy it's just fastball movement. If he commands his curve and locates the FB he would have a tone of success- even if his FB had no movement.

[JohnBriggs12]

Knebel wasn't perfect last year. He walked 4.7 every 9 innings. He blew 6 saves and was the loser in 4 games. He had command troubles periodically. Occasionally he has no feel for where his pitches are going. This year he's missing his spots more often with his fastball and guys can hit it if it's in their wheelhouse.

[homer]

During Counsell's pre-game interview the other day he said it's a mechanical thing that he has been unable to rectify during games. Basically said they know what it is but he can't quite fix it yet.

[tmwiese55]

Yes after his initial really ridiculous hot streak he really did start to show these issues at times in the second half of the year. This hasn't surprised me at all but hopefully they can fix it.

[djoctagone]

quite a relief to see that knebel appears to have returned to form. since his recall, 15 batters faced: all retired.

[Roderick]

quite a relief to see that knebel appears to have returned to form. since his recall, 15 batters faced: all retired.

 

Yes, much better. But didn't a couple of guys hit rockets, but just at OFs last game? So fingers and toes crossed.

[WinkelsasVsSoriano]

I really didn't know where else to put this, but since this is a Knebel thread...

 

Does anyone know why he didn't get the win instead of Hader last night? I thought the guy that pitched through the fifth got the win, but, instead, it was awarded to Hader. Not that I'm complaining or anything, I'm just curious on the how and why of it.

[Warning Track Power]

I really didn't know where else to put this, but since this is a Knebel thread...

 

Does anyone know why he didn't get the win instead of Hader last night? I thought the guy that pitched through the fifth got the win, but, instead, it was awarded to Hader. Not that I'm complaining or anything, I'm just curious on the how and why of it.

From Josh Hader's notes on my ESPN Fantasy Baseball page:

 

The Brewers never trailed in Wednesday's game, but starter Chase Anderson only went four innings, and the official scorer -- as is his discretion -- decided to award the victory to Hader rather than Corey Knebel, who finished the fifth inning and also picked the sixth frame. Hader has 17 strikeouts in just 7.2 innings this month.

 

Not sure it really clarifies specifically why in this case but it was the scorer's discretion.

[Madhawk23]

I believe the rule is that if a starting pitcher doesn't get through 5 innings, but still leaves with the lead (thus not qualifying for the win), then the official scorer ultimately decides which of the relief pitchers ends up getting credited with the W. Not sure why this falls at the hands of the official scorer, but I'm almost positive that this is how it goes down.

[Lathund]

Anderson left with the lead, but went less than 5 innings so wasn't eligible for the W. It's then up to the official scorer to decide who gets the W. I presume Hader got it because he pitched a scoreless inning while Knebel didn't. But then again, so did Jeffress and Soria. Perhaps the argument goes something like Hader being the only pitcher to leave with a bigger lead than he entered with?

 

Anyway, games like this are yet another reason the W-L stats are meaningless.

[bjkrautk]

I believe the rule is that if a starting pitcher doesn't get through 5 innings, but still leaves with the lead (thus not qualifying for the win), then the official scorer ultimately decides which of the relief pitchers ends up getting credited with the W. Not sure why this falls at the hands of the official scorer, but I'm almost positive that this is how it goes down.

 

Correct.

 

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/documents/0/8/0/268272080/2018_Official_Baseball_Rules.pdf

 

Rule 9.17(b) on pages 132-133 states that when the team takes and never relinquishes the lead while the starting pitcher is in the game, but the starter goes for less than five innings...

 

"the official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher the

relief pitcher, if there is only one relief pitcher, or the relief

pitcher who, in the official scorer’s judgment was the most

effective, if there is more than one relief pitcher."

[tmwiese55]

I was aware of this but feel like it could be tweaked that the scorer could choose to giee the W to the starter if he wanted or felt it was worth it. With the logic being he still likely pitched more innings than anyone else. The way I understand it is that he can't and I assume the reason is they're trying to eliminate some subjectivity.