Only one ballpark out in Arizona is supplying public-facing Statcast data this season in the Arizona Fall League, and on Wednesday the Surprise Saguaros – the team the Cincinnati Reds prospects are with this season – played in that stadium. We got to see three pitchers and three of the hitters from the organization on the day.
The Pitchers
Jacques Pucheu
The first guy out of the bullpen for Surprise on Wednesday, the lefty tossed 2.1 hitless innings with a walk and two strikeouts. For his efforts he was also credited with the win. It was his second appearance, with his first one only lasting for one out (he struck out the only hitter he faced).
Here’s what his Statcast data was for the game:
A hard thrower, Pucheu is not. He topped out just below 89 MPH. What we can see from the day is that he absolutely had the change up working. Of the 13 that he threw the batters swung through 5 of them.
Michael Byrne
The right-hander followed up his teammate with a shutout inning where he allowed a single and picked up a strikeout. It was his third appearance of the Arizona Fall League season. It was his third shutout appearance, too. He’s now thrown 4.0 shutout innings with 4 hits, a hit batter, and 4 strikeouts.
Here’s what his Statcast data was for the game:
The takeaway from this one for Michael Byrne was that he flat out pounded the strikezone. 10 pitches and he threw just one ball.
Eddy Demurias
It was a tough outing for right-hander Eddy Demurias. He followed Byrne, beginning the 8th inning, but allowed 2 hits and 2 walks while being charged with 2 runs and picking up a strikeout in 0.2 innings. Wednesday’s appearance was his second of the fall and the first in which he had allowed a run.
Here’s what his Statcast data was for the game:
One caveat here – simply looking at the raw data, it seems there’s a decent chance that the slider and curveball are both the same pitch and were just classified differently. That may not be the case, but given the information available they were incredibly similar in velocity, movement, and spin. That’s not typically the case with a true slider or true curveball, but could be for more of a slurvy offering.
The takeaway from the outing on Wednesday was that Demurias simply struggled to throw strikes on the day. He threw 11 balls and just 10 strikes.
The Hitters
In the game the Saguaros ran out Michael Siani in center, Drew Mount in left, and Ivan Johnson at second base. Siani went 0-3 with 2 walks and he stole home as a part of a double steal. Drew Mount went 0-4 with a walk and a run scored. Ivan Johnson went 1-4 with a double.
Here’s what the Statcast data was on the hitting for the day:
Are the velo numbers for Pucheu common? I’m a little surprised that there are guys throwing that slow that are being brought up as prospects. I don’t mean that as a knock on Pucheu at all. I just don’t understand. Is there a belief that he’ll add more velocity? Is his off-speed stuff just that good? I don’t know much about him; is he just very young still? If so, why is he in the AFL?
I know there are guys like Kyle Hendricks who are successful soft-tossers in MLB. I tend to think that most of those guys were successful throwing harder and were able to maintain success even as the fastball lost its zip. It seems like we never see young guys come up throwing less than 92 or so right out of the gate these days. Is my perception wrong there?
Hard throwers don’t always mean success. The hardest thrower of the night got hit the hardest. It is what you do with your stuff and where you put it that matters. Velocity can make up for a few ills but are times changing?
Question: with all of the emphasis on hard throwers is that the norm now for hitters and they are adjusting and the softer tossers with junk and placement will now become the more effective pitchers out there???
You make some good points. A pitcher’s objective should be to miss the good part of the bat and destroy the hitter’s timing. He should place the ball in the zone of the hitter’s weakness which is low and outside for most hitters. He should also be able to keep the ball in the park. Usually location, fastballs, hanging curves etc are the culprit of that.
That being said. All of that is hard to do and the best pitchers are better at doing it. I think it is a fact that hitters mostly hit pitcher’s mistakes. Since pitchers are human, they make a lot of mistakes.
I have made comparisons with Pucheu (pronounced PEE-shoe) and former Reds reliever Jeremy Horst. Both are lefties who had change-ups that were virtually unhittable in the minor leagues. Horst got to the big leagues for 72 appearances throwing in the high 80s. Pucheu did throw a little harder than this in Dayton this summer, mostly working in the 89-90 range. Pucheu is never going to be a lefty-on-lefty guy because his change-up is more effective against right-handed batters, but he has had a fair amount of success for a guy overlooked in the draft and signed out of independent ball.
I don’t have anything to back my claim, I’m sure I’ll get torched with it; but I think Siani is going to be a serious riser next season. I think he figures it out with the bat.
It’s laughable to watch most of the bullpen pitchers in the league. 95% of them are using max effort all the time, sacrificing command. If only they would commit to easing up 5% effort and speed they would get back 10 to 20% in command. They would drastically reduce falling into hitters counts. They would more easily nail the corners and they would have more movement on their pitches. We’ve all seen that even mediocre hitters can drive the ball when they know what is coming and that it’s in the middle of the plate, no matter the speed.