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I have not been posting and guess what, I've been winning.
So, let post and go for the kiss of death play............
UNDER 8.5 Pittsburgh @ Washington.
Both teams are having a difficult time scoring. Add to the fact that both have very good young pitchers going tonight. The Pirates have Geritt Cole, the #1 over selection in the 2011 draft, who was actually drafted in the first round in 2008 by the Yankees.
Here's the scouting report of Cole from Baseball Prospectus:
Cole fits the physical profile of a workhorse frontline starter, standing 6-foot-4 and checking in at 240 pounds. He is a solid athlete with excellent strength in both his upper and lower body. His delivery is clean and repeatable, and he does a good job of making adjustments to his mechanics on the fly. His ability to consistently repeat his mechanics gives him a plus command profile long term and should help his entire arsenal play up a bit. Cole’s fastball has sat in the 94-95 mph range this season and reached as high as 98 mph when he needs a little extra. The heater shows excellent movement in addition to its plus-plus velocity, making it a true swing-and-miss pitch that can completely dominate hitters.
Cole’s slider is a second plus-plus pitch with good deception, tight spin, and extremely sharp, darting movement thrown in the mid-80s and peaking at 89-90 mph. When I saw him earlier this season, Cole’s fastball and slider were strong enough on their own for him to enjoy sustained success in the majors. With work, his changeup could also become a plus pitch, though it has been inconsistent so far this year.
The biggest challenge Cole faces is maintaining his intensity from one pitch, hitter, and inning to the next. He has looked bored at times in Triple-A, causing apparent lapses in focus and occasionally resulting in his being hit hard. When he is dialed in, though, Cole can be completely unhittable. His raw stuff is that of a frontline starter, and his physicality matches that projection. Now he just needs the mental side of his game to catch up to the rest.
Here's the scouting report of Nationals' Taylor Jordan from District Sports Page:
Jordan is the real deal, and his teammates and coaches fully believe he’s prepared to play in the Major Leagues at a high level — even comparing him to Jered Weaver. He has the tools for the trade; velocity, command, off-speed stuff, as well as the peripheral numbers — high groundball rates (52%), high K/BB (4.80 this year) and low FIP (2.79 career).
Jordan’s best pitch is his hard and heavy two-seam fastball. The pitch sits in the 92-94 mph range with bowling-ball heavy sink low in the zone. He’s adept at commanding it down-and-in on opposing hitters, and will pronate extra and use the pitch’s tail to run it across the outside edge of the plate against right-handed hitters for called strikes. He absolutely wears the strike zone out with the pitch, drawing tons of weak contact and swing-throughs. But unlike many young hard-throwers, Jordan’s fastball command is now a plus after the tireless work he put into improving the past few years and he throws quality strikes with the pitch consistently.
Jordan is a big guy with a solid pitcher’s frame. He’s filled out nicely over the past few years and appears to be a strong athlete for the position. He repeats his delivery well, shows good balance, and finishes all of his pitches. He’s very good at keeping the ball away from the barrel, and his fluid delivery is a major reason for that. His arm action was a weak point when he was younger, but is looking better lately. There’s still some extra funk in there, twisting and wrapping a bit on the arm swing and therefore putting excess stress on his elbow and shoulder ligaments, but it’s nothing too serious. On the bright side it adds deception to his pitches, hiding them from the batter’s eye for an extra few moments.
These are 2 young unknown pitchers who have outstanding scouting reports. I just feel with the 13 and 14 ranked NL run producers and 12th and 13th NL ranked team batting averages, this total is a tad too high.
Just to let you know and Woodie knows this all to well, when we post our picks here, it more likely than not loses, so if you feel to tread lightly, please do, but I really like this as my play of the day.
So, let post and go for the kiss of death play............
UNDER 8.5 Pittsburgh @ Washington.
Both teams are having a difficult time scoring. Add to the fact that both have very good young pitchers going tonight. The Pirates have Geritt Cole, the #1 over selection in the 2011 draft, who was actually drafted in the first round in 2008 by the Yankees.
Here's the scouting report of Cole from Baseball Prospectus:
Cole fits the physical profile of a workhorse frontline starter, standing 6-foot-4 and checking in at 240 pounds. He is a solid athlete with excellent strength in both his upper and lower body. His delivery is clean and repeatable, and he does a good job of making adjustments to his mechanics on the fly. His ability to consistently repeat his mechanics gives him a plus command profile long term and should help his entire arsenal play up a bit. Cole’s fastball has sat in the 94-95 mph range this season and reached as high as 98 mph when he needs a little extra. The heater shows excellent movement in addition to its plus-plus velocity, making it a true swing-and-miss pitch that can completely dominate hitters.
Cole’s slider is a second plus-plus pitch with good deception, tight spin, and extremely sharp, darting movement thrown in the mid-80s and peaking at 89-90 mph. When I saw him earlier this season, Cole’s fastball and slider were strong enough on their own for him to enjoy sustained success in the majors. With work, his changeup could also become a plus pitch, though it has been inconsistent so far this year.
The biggest challenge Cole faces is maintaining his intensity from one pitch, hitter, and inning to the next. He has looked bored at times in Triple-A, causing apparent lapses in focus and occasionally resulting in his being hit hard. When he is dialed in, though, Cole can be completely unhittable. His raw stuff is that of a frontline starter, and his physicality matches that projection. Now he just needs the mental side of his game to catch up to the rest.
Here's the scouting report of Nationals' Taylor Jordan from District Sports Page:
Jordan is the real deal, and his teammates and coaches fully believe he’s prepared to play in the Major Leagues at a high level — even comparing him to Jered Weaver. He has the tools for the trade; velocity, command, off-speed stuff, as well as the peripheral numbers — high groundball rates (52%), high K/BB (4.80 this year) and low FIP (2.79 career).
Jordan’s best pitch is his hard and heavy two-seam fastball. The pitch sits in the 92-94 mph range with bowling-ball heavy sink low in the zone. He’s adept at commanding it down-and-in on opposing hitters, and will pronate extra and use the pitch’s tail to run it across the outside edge of the plate against right-handed hitters for called strikes. He absolutely wears the strike zone out with the pitch, drawing tons of weak contact and swing-throughs. But unlike many young hard-throwers, Jordan’s fastball command is now a plus after the tireless work he put into improving the past few years and he throws quality strikes with the pitch consistently.
Jordan is a big guy with a solid pitcher’s frame. He’s filled out nicely over the past few years and appears to be a strong athlete for the position. He repeats his delivery well, shows good balance, and finishes all of his pitches. He’s very good at keeping the ball away from the barrel, and his fluid delivery is a major reason for that. His arm action was a weak point when he was younger, but is looking better lately. There’s still some extra funk in there, twisting and wrapping a bit on the arm swing and therefore putting excess stress on his elbow and shoulder ligaments, but it’s nothing too serious. On the bright side it adds deception to his pitches, hiding them from the batter’s eye for an extra few moments.
These are 2 young unknown pitchers who have outstanding scouting reports. I just feel with the 13 and 14 ranked NL run producers and 12th and 13th NL ranked team batting averages, this total is a tad too high.
Just to let you know and Woodie knows this all to well, when we post our picks here, it more likely than not loses, so if you feel to tread lightly, please do, but I really like this as my play of the day.
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