The Departed
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:54 pm
785E5F485E4E3D0 wrote: I just saw Tyler Glasnow interviewed on the MLB Network. He was asked what made him a better pitcher in Tampa. He said that the Pirates wanted him to nibble at the corners. He said in Tampa they recognized that that had not worked for him and wanted him to get back to what had made him successful (in the minors). He said they gave him confidence that his stuff was good enough to pitch aggressively and challenge hitters instead of nibbling. I watched him pitch against the Orioles last season and he was throwing 97 over the plate, getting strikes and getting ahead of hitters. What a shame the Pirates failed to bring out his potential when Tampa seems to have had so little trouble doing that.
Nibble at the corners... Whoever told him that should definitely have been fired. Jeez.
Later in the show he said Cole had also been told to nibble and wasn't allowed to pitch to his strength until he got to Houston.
If those words were said to Glasnow and Cole, you know it was an organizational philosophy. Getting rid of Searage may be better for guys like Brault as well. Brault has been an habitual nibbler and one who seems to not trust his stuff. There may be a lot of collateral growth here from getting a toxic maxim out like the need for pitchers to "nibble around the zone."
I am not a fan of nibbling but it seems like an excuse to me. Nibbling to me means throwing strikes on the corner and if you miss, you miss away from the plate. Maybe Cole and Glasnow didn't have enough command to do it.
Yes, but missing away from the plate and not getting calls from umps on what should be perfect strikes gets the pitcher in a hole. Few pitchers are perfect enough to pitch that way consistently instead of getting ahead of hitters by challenging them with good stuff and then nibbling when ahead in ther count. Glasnow admitted in his interview that hitting the corners was not his strength. The Pirates embraced that philosophy and tried to force a square peg into a round hole. Tampa agreed that nibbling was not his forte and told him not to pitch that way.
Nibble at the corners... Whoever told him that should definitely have been fired. Jeez.
Later in the show he said Cole had also been told to nibble and wasn't allowed to pitch to his strength until he got to Houston.
If those words were said to Glasnow and Cole, you know it was an organizational philosophy. Getting rid of Searage may be better for guys like Brault as well. Brault has been an habitual nibbler and one who seems to not trust his stuff. There may be a lot of collateral growth here from getting a toxic maxim out like the need for pitchers to "nibble around the zone."
I am not a fan of nibbling but it seems like an excuse to me. Nibbling to me means throwing strikes on the corner and if you miss, you miss away from the plate. Maybe Cole and Glasnow didn't have enough command to do it.
Yes, but missing away from the plate and not getting calls from umps on what should be perfect strikes gets the pitcher in a hole. Few pitchers are perfect enough to pitch that way consistently instead of getting ahead of hitters by challenging them with good stuff and then nibbling when ahead in ther count. Glasnow admitted in his interview that hitting the corners was not his strength. The Pirates embraced that philosophy and tried to force a square peg into a round hole. Tampa agreed that nibbling was not his forte and told him not to pitch that way.