David Laurila speaks with Andrew Miller about his slider. At one point, Miller noted that earlier in his career, he didn’t use it in the proper spots (emphasis added):
“The reason I didn’t throw more — and this has been correlated to my success the last couple of years — is that it’s been so engrained in us to get ahead with your fastball. And when you’re behind in the count, you get back into it with your fastball.
“I always had this fear that, when I went back to the dugout after walking a third batter in an inning, having thrown a slider behind in the count, I would have to explain myself. Getting over that — getting beyond that — was big for me. I’ve realized you don’t have to be a fastball-dominant pitcher.”
I once asked Ray Knight why Tom Glavine gave lower offensive averages to righties than lefties, despite being a left-handed pitcher. Ray explained that Glavine threw a “dead fish”, a ball that moved away from RHB but into the hitting zone for LHB. My follow up was to ask why didn’t managers start lefties against Glavine. Ray said they didn’t want to face the criticism if they employed that strategy and lost.
About a year later, Greg Olson, who caught Glavine, was in the studio for an audition. I asked him the same questions and got the exact same answers. It was common wisdom enforcing process, but the process was wrong.
Andrew Miller eventually realized what worked for most didn’t work for him. Terry Francona and Dave Roberts, in this post-season, realized the same thing and are using their bullpens effectively. Nice to see managers and players willing to take the criticism and do what they believe is best to win.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2efNhXZ
No comments:
Post a Comment