Another pitcher questions development under NH regime.
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:17 am
Per the PG, Geoff Hartlieb has questioned how pitchers were developed under the previous regime. Previously Cole and Glasnow have attributed their progress to things they learned after leaving the Pirates.
The article notes:
Last season — the first with pitching coach Oscar Marin calling the shots — the Pirates were much more analytically driven and had Hartlieb throw almost exclusively sinkers and sliders, his two most effective weapons.
“I didn’t know what was expected of me coming up through the system,” Hartlieb said. “I’d get to spring training, and I’d be working on a cutter, changeup or four-seamer, trying to have multiple things to go to battle with.
“But in the end, if you do even one thing really well and you can complement that with something that’s pretty good, there are guys that have done a lot more with a lot less in this game. It’s finding out what works for you and being comfortable with that. I’ve finally embraced who I am as a pitcher and just letting it work.”
Hartlieb’s comments sounds similar to Tyler Glasnow’s last spring. The Rays ace told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette how the Pirates really didn’t have much of an answer for his developmental struggles, instead having the hard-throwing right-hander with a terrific four-seamer-curveball mix to pound sinkers at the bottom of the strike zone.
With Hartlieb, a reliever who generally sits in the mid-90s with his sinker, it was the same sort of thing. His four-seamer netted a .520 slugging percentage against in 2019, so Hartlieb shelved it. The impetus became better location of his sinker and trying to sync its arm slot with his slider, tunneling the two together.
But until recently, when Marin and bullpen coach Justin Message took charge prior to there 2020 season, Hartlieb said he never really had a concrete plan of attack.
“The biggest thing for me was finally getting clarity from our new coaching staff and guys who were in charge of the pitching side of things,” Hartlieb said. “They just kind of told me, ‘Hey, we think this will work. We think this is what you need to do.’
“All anybody can ask for is direction and an exact clarification on what they want from us. I feel like I finally really got that and was able to just kind of build on that and roll with it and just embrace sinker-slider. … I’m feeling really good about it right now.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pir ... 2103090127
There's more but that's the gist of the article. In fairness to the prior regime, I don't think a 60 game 2020 season is enough to conclude the current regime will get better results via pitcher development. So it remains to be seen if the current regime will fare better. OTOH, we've seen too many Pirate pitchers suddenly improve upon joining another team so maybe there was a correctable problem in the organization that can lead to better results.
The article notes:
Last season — the first with pitching coach Oscar Marin calling the shots — the Pirates were much more analytically driven and had Hartlieb throw almost exclusively sinkers and sliders, his two most effective weapons.
“I didn’t know what was expected of me coming up through the system,” Hartlieb said. “I’d get to spring training, and I’d be working on a cutter, changeup or four-seamer, trying to have multiple things to go to battle with.
“But in the end, if you do even one thing really well and you can complement that with something that’s pretty good, there are guys that have done a lot more with a lot less in this game. It’s finding out what works for you and being comfortable with that. I’ve finally embraced who I am as a pitcher and just letting it work.”
Hartlieb’s comments sounds similar to Tyler Glasnow’s last spring. The Rays ace told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette how the Pirates really didn’t have much of an answer for his developmental struggles, instead having the hard-throwing right-hander with a terrific four-seamer-curveball mix to pound sinkers at the bottom of the strike zone.
With Hartlieb, a reliever who generally sits in the mid-90s with his sinker, it was the same sort of thing. His four-seamer netted a .520 slugging percentage against in 2019, so Hartlieb shelved it. The impetus became better location of his sinker and trying to sync its arm slot with his slider, tunneling the two together.
But until recently, when Marin and bullpen coach Justin Message took charge prior to there 2020 season, Hartlieb said he never really had a concrete plan of attack.
“The biggest thing for me was finally getting clarity from our new coaching staff and guys who were in charge of the pitching side of things,” Hartlieb said. “They just kind of told me, ‘Hey, we think this will work. We think this is what you need to do.’
“All anybody can ask for is direction and an exact clarification on what they want from us. I feel like I finally really got that and was able to just kind of build on that and roll with it and just embrace sinker-slider. … I’m feeling really good about it right now.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pir ... 2103090127
There's more but that's the gist of the article. In fairness to the prior regime, I don't think a 60 game 2020 season is enough to conclude the current regime will get better results via pitcher development. So it remains to be seen if the current regime will fare better. OTOH, we've seen too many Pirate pitchers suddenly improve upon joining another team so maybe there was a correctable problem in the organization that can lead to better results.