By many pitchers’ standards, Walker Buehler’s numbers are pretty good, but they are certainly not up to his normal standards. As fans, it is easy to say that his fastball is declining, but that is a rather simplistic overview. Of course, over time a pitcher’s fastball will decline or if it doesn’t he will ultimately need Tommy John Surgery. It was never sustainable for Walker Buehler to pitch at 98 to 100 MPH. Walker is a strong man, but his frame is slight. Much like Pedro Martinez, who dropped some velocity in his prime, it is not surprising that Walker has dropped a few MPH on his 4-seamer.
Average Fastball Velocity over the years:
- 2017 – 98.2 MPH
- 2018 – 95.7 MPH
- 2019 – 95.9 MPH
- 2020 – 96.1 MPH
- 2021 – 94.4 MPH
- 2022 – 93.5 MPH
Walker threw much harder in his rookie year than any other year. In his second year, his velocity dropped by about 2.5 MPH. That happens a lot with young pitchers and Walker has said that he is trying to become more of a pitcher, instead of just a “thrower.” For some reason, we know that his spin rate is also down – maybe that has to do with not having “sticky fingers?” I am not sure about that one.
Here are some other interesting things to consider.
Average Exit Velocity
2017 – 90.2 MPH
2018 – 87.9 MPH
2019 – 89.3 MPH
2020 – 90.0 MPH
2021 – 88.2 MPH
2022 – 87.0 MPH
So, his exit velocity is the lowest of his career. Hitters are not sending the pitches out as fast, probably because they are not coming in as fast?
Breaking Ball Velocity
2017 – 85.5 MPH
2018 – 83.9 MPH
2019 – 84.0 MPH
2020 – 83.7 MPH
2021 – 82.5 MPH
2022 – 80.7 MPH
So his breaking balls are also down about 5 MPH from his rookie year, which seems logical because you do want “separation” from your breaking pitches and fastball. So, some fans want to believe that he has arm problems. Others say it is a mechanical issue, while others say it is a conscious effort to change the way he pitches. I say it is more than just “one thing.” Problems and solutions to those problems seldom present themselves in nicely wrapped packages. Issues such as this can be from multiple causes.
It does not appear that he is injured as he has logged extended innings and he can ht 97 MPH. Walker says that it is a “mechanical issue” and I do believe that is a part of his problem, but those who say he is not consciously trying to change the way he pitches ignore the fact that in 2020, Walker threw 53% fastballs. In 2021, that percentage dropped to 44%, and (so far) in 2022, his fastball percentage has dropped to 32%. That is not a mechanical issue – that is a conscious shift for some reason we are not privy to!
I do not believe there is one thing that is responsible for Buehler’s (under) performance. It’s more than a “mechanical problem” – although I do not doubt that is part of the problem. If you take Andrew Friedman, Dave Roberts, or Walker Buehler at their word, you are failing to see the real picture. Of course, they are not going to tell us what is happening. We can only look at the results and jump to conclusions, but I try and look past the obvious and I do not take Walker at his word that it is only a “Mechanical Issue.” We will know more as time passes. To me, it sounds like Walker needs some Driveline TIme with Rob Hill and Company. Stay tuned! At this juncture, I feel that Walker will break out at any time.
Craig Kimbrel
Craig has a history of pitching at a very high level and then inexplicably, pitching like crap. In April he had a 1.80 ERA versus a 6.30 ERA in May. In June and July of last year, he had 0.00 ERA, but in August it was 7.15. In 2020, he had a 0.00 ERA in September after having a 27.00 ERA in July and a 6.75 ERA in August. In 2019, he had a 12.27 ERA before the All-Star Break and a 5.29 ERA after the All-Star Break. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I was never a fan of Craig, but here we are and I am hoping he pitches as he did in April. It’s just that you cannot expect that. History is not on your side. I wanted Kenley Jansen back. Yes, he was not perfect… he still isn’t.
However, Kenley has a 0.87 WHIP this year while Kimbrel is sitting at 1.40. You can take Craig, but I’ll take Kenley. That said, the Dodgers’ have Kimbrel as their closer, not Jansen, but they had better be looking for a replacement. History says it may be likely. So, you might say, “that’s negative, be positive!” “OK, I am positive that the Dodgers might need a replacement for Kimbrel.”
What we all need to remember is that “problems are opportunities in drag.” When you get lemons, sometimes you just make lemonade. Our Ace may arise from this and be even better and out of the ashes of Craig Kimbrel, may rise a new closer. This is the beauty of baseball. I love this game!
- Andrew Heaney and Clayton Kershaw both experienced positive results after throwing sessions. Both are expected back in the next two to three weeks.
- My son and I will be at the same tonight on Julio Urias Bobblehead Night. We are arriving early to take the special tour. He has never experienced that.
- Saturday night we will be in Rancho Cucamonga for the Quakes Game.
Enjoy a great father-son day at DS !HOpefully with a W !
I hope Treinen is not lost for the season in case Kimbrel continues to give up runs at his current rate.
Need that reliable closer in postseason play.
Bad , bad loss yesterday after coming all the way back and taking a lead into the 9th inning.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Treinen would have been my pic for a closer. But with him, you know he’ll probably at least have a couple short stints on the IL, so realistically maybe we should always have two closers.
Haha! That’s the kind of positive negativity I’ve come to expect around here! Otherwise, I would go somewhere else. As far as Bueller goes, I don’t know about the technicalities, but I know last night early in the game whenever he threw that four seamer it was like he was throwing batting practice.
Cheers
What would it take to get David Bednar from the Pirates?
With Treinen out and whatever Kimbrel is at this stage in his career, the relief corps is not up to a championship winning caliber, regardless of the Happy Talk spin.
Considering he’s under team control for several years after his rookie campaign last year, he’s not going to be available. I wonder how many of our injured pitchers will be back back the trade deadline. The only closer without a blown save in the top 10 list is Josh Hader. Maybe go after him instead of some unproven Sophomore on a shitty team? But, then you’re still gonna have Kimbrel who sucks as a setup guy. Maybe we can do a Mark trade and trade him back for Pollock while we’re at it?
I didn’t see that. I just looked really quickly Fangraphs profile and saw it was a one year deal with the Pirates. No, he’s cheap and controlled. They’ll want to keep him.
I hate closers. What is it about a closer sucking in the setup role? It shouldn’t matter. Just go out and deal. He walked the #8 hitter yesterday. Bruh!
Bring some good luck to that game tonight and snap that losing streak!
At the beginning of the season, there was talk that the Dodgers were going to “fix” Kimbrel’s curveball. Maybe they are “fixing” something that isn’t broke. Last night was another boondoggle. I agree that you can’t walk the number 8 hitter after going 1-2. It all unraveled from there. Mookie pulled up on that ball to right field, technically the right move because if he dives and misses, it’s a tie game and a runner at third. He gunned home and a few inches he gets him. If he dives, maybe he catches the ball. Neither happened and the walk scored. No walk, no big deal. The walk changed everything. First blown save on the season. Moving on.
Bueller explanation of mechanics is believable to me. A pitching coach once explained mechanics for pitchers as being like water coming out of hose nozzle. The stream that comes out of the nozzle is optimized and travels at a great distance, but if you introduce the slightest twig into the steam it all goes haywire. That twig in his mechanics are causing the velo, spin and location to be off enough to turn that four seamer from an unhittable pitch to what we see now. It’s a lot like Kenley’s cutter, but not quite as dramatic with the results.
Mark can keep Kenley. He wanted to trade back Mookie for Verdugo earlier this season. This will turn out the same. I’m wondering why Mark saw Lux’s body language on a bad throw, but didn’t see Kenley’s body language when he blew back to back saves against the Giants. Perhaps Kenley left because he felt like he needed a new start somewhere else after several uneven season after signing that big contract with the Dodgers.
“If you take Andrew Friedman, Dave Roberts, or Walker Buehler at their word, you are failing to see the real picture.”
No one should be taking Roberts at his word. We should’ve learned that on day one when he told the media Andre Ethier had a minor bruise and was perfectly fine.
He’s a PR guy. He’s the Dodger Press Secretary. His dissembling would make even Jen Psaki feel shame (presuming reptilian brains were capable of such things).
I embellish, but it is true that Roberts is there to put a positive spin on things, and Buehler’s comments about being more of a pitcher than a thrower can at least be partially true, but the data says that the four seamer just isn’t as effective. It looks like he’s avoiding having to throw it. He’s dramatically increased the use of a cutter, which he barely threw last year. The eyeballs and intuition align with the stats. Something is up.
I’m at a loss as to what the solution is. I’d be a lot more confident with the acknowledged ace pitching like one. If I was the GM, I’d wait and see how Heaney looks when he comes back. If whatever the Dodgers did to fix him seems to be sticking after he returns, then I might ride it out with the current group of pitchers. Montas is under control until 2024. He’ll be expensive. Eovaldi is giving up a bunch more home runs than last year. He might be having similar spin rate/ no more sticky issues.
You are saying that the estimable Jen Psaki has a reptilian brain. You probably think that is humorous.
Very.
You don’t?
Sheesh! I thought giving her credit for any kind of brain was quite the compliment! Nice job!
Let’s split the difference politically and just say she’s estimable for having a reptilian brain?
Reptiles have relatively thick skin. Liberals have skin microns thin. As we see above.
WB problems for me are not velocity but placement & movement. A fastball belt high in the middle of the plate is trash whether it’s 92 or 100. Also, a 90 change up is not really a change up if your throwing a 94 fastball. Look at Gonsolin and Anderson. They have actually an inferior fastball at 91, 92, 93 but their off pitches are around 80, so the hitters don’t have to sit and wait for the fastball.
Yes, good point, and the the thing you’ll notice about both Heaney and Kershaw is that they really disguise the pitch. Whether it’s considered “tunneling” or not, you’ll see batters swing weakly at a slider well out of the strike zone simply because they can’t recognize the pitch and are guessing on their 92 MPH fastballs.
I have noticed recently that Cody Bellinger has not been in the starting lineup. Is he injured or just being rested?
He has a leg issue.
Buehler is a victim of the spider tack in a lot of ways. His spin rate on all his pitches are down. There was a great article in the Athletic that really broke this down. He’s going to have to learn to get by without it. He didn’t have ONE swing and miss on his fastball yesterday and that is very concerning.
Spider tack was removed from the equation early last year, his best season. If it was spider tack, then his second half numbers would be similar to what they are this season. They aren’t.
Why can’t we believe Walker? He said it was mechanics.
Patch – hope you’re well – and enjoyed yesterday’s lesson in Composers.
Last year after a series against The Pirates I suggested trying to acquire Mr Bednar at the Trade Deadline.
I liked what I saw then, but was even more impressed with his 50 pitch, 2 innings save last night.
B&P glad you enjoyed your concert / festival the other weekend. Been real busy since my trip.
My pal was in Vegas to see Debbie Harry a couple of weeks back.
Think she was the first poster I ever had on my bedroom wall!
Keep up the entertaining banter guys – LADT at its best.
Will you be participating or attending The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend 2022?
Thx, Watford. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your Cali trip up the coast?
Before we all get pumped up on the Dodger’s record of 33-15, we have played 41 of 48 games against teams that are currently below .500. The Mets will be a true test for us in the upcoming 4 game series even without DeGrom and Scherzer.
Maybe they are below .500 because they had to play the Dodgers…..
Touché!
They’re actually have been several times this season when we went into series with teams who were a couple games above 500 and by the time we were done with them that was no longer the case.
Closer Possibilities:
Danny Duffy
Blake Treinen
Victor Gonzalez
Dustin May
Andrew Heaney (why not?)
All on the IL!
or
Mike Grove
Yency Almonte
Why not?
This will probably qualify as a negative post, but I am more apt to try to point out concerns, particularly as the goal of this franchise and its fans is to win world championships, not just be competitive, or even win division titles.
Baseball is changing, although perhaps it is a short-term trend. There are more bad teams, few very good ones. The really good ones are the ones we will likely face in the playoffs. A few of them have records comparable to ours. We are not going to be playing the Pirate or Diamondbacks or Reds or Nationals. We will likely be playing two (assuming we only have to play two playoff series) of the following teams, Mets, Brewers, Padres.
What this means, at least to me, is that what is going to really matter is a few weeks in October. Not that we do not want to win each game, not that many fans do not enjoy the daily games in themselves, but they can be misleading. It may be fairly said, though I know some would disagree, that the Dodgers underperform in the playoffs, at least in relation to how well they do in the regular season.
If that is the case, and I do to some extent look at the game managing as a factor, it may be that in short series against very good teams, our bullpen and starting staff come up short. The overall season numbers which people point to, are not as important as which team has the better set of three starters, and which has the better closer.
Could we say that lack of a top closer was a major factor in 2017, 2019 and 2021? I would say so, either directly, or in terms of what we tried to do to compensate; i.e., use starters in relief.
Right now, Craig Kimbrel does not look like a high quality closer. He was once, absolutely. But he badly tailed off late in 2018, and then Boston virtually gave up on him. Then he went to the Cubs, where he did not do anything for two years, then last year he started off doing great, but was traded to the White Sox, where he did terribly The explanation was that he did much better as a closer than as a set-up man? That does not seem too credible. This year, he has been the closer, and has an ERA of almost 5.00. He has not been awful, but he certainly has not been good.
Does anyone have real confidence that if we get to major playoff games, Kimbrel will do the job, particularly as compared to the opponents’ closers? I do not. So winning 110 games will not help us in the ninth inning of a crucial playoff game.
How about our starters? I like Buehler a lot, but there are concerns. If the Mets get DeGrom and Scherzer back, do you fancy facing them with our top two starters? That’s what the playoffs are going to come down to, not piling up runs against bad teams And that is where I am concerned that if we do not pick up a top reliever, somehow, and if we do not get another starter, or at least have Buehler get back his fastball velocity and location, we will fall short of a title in a full season, once again. There are reason for this, and they do not all revolve around other teams cheating.
i will say that I think it is imperative that we have one of the best closers in baseball. Most championship teams do. But we have not, at least not since 2017 or so. We relied on Jansen too much, then a struggling Kimbrel was traded for as he closer. We need to fix this. Kimbrel may recover some form, but from what I’ve seen, he is never going to be the pitcher he was, not even close enough to close out series against talented and well managed teams.
If the Mets get DeGrom and Scherzer back, do you fancy facing them with our top two starters?
I’m a little puzzled that you would think that two broken, old pitchers are necessarily better than our guys that keep going out there every 5th turn and most often return a W. Why is it that you obviously think they’re better than what we have, but at the same time, have no faith in Kimbrel, who is just a month older than DeGrom and is much younger than Max. All of this knowing full well that Max didn’t help us at all against the Braves last year. But, he’s going to be better than our guys, a year older, pitching for the Mets after already going on the IL?
Okay, so we need to acquire a top closer.
Let’s look a list of “top closers” defined as
More Saves than our guy
Same or Less Blown Saves than our guy
WHIP less than 1.0
Here’s the list…
Josh Hader – Mil
Raisel Iglesias – LAA (one more save, same blown 3.71 ERA
Josh Hader is the only clear answer to that question and I wouldn’t count on the Angels trading Iglesias as they’re looking for a post season appearance for the first time in almost a decade.
So, let’s go ahead a discard the active saves leader that had a sub 1 ERA before he was trade last year so we can trade prospects to acquire Hader. Okay, I love Hader and he’s clearly the best closer this year. Then, obviously we’ll need to cut Kimbrel and eat the rest of his salary. We certainly aren’t going to pay him to suck as a setup guy. So, then another team that’s in a position to make the playoffs can pick him up on our dime and use him against us in the post season. Brilliant plan! And it probably only costs 2 of our top 6 guys to get him since he has another full year remaining and a nice raise to about 15M in arbitration.
So, why focus on a couple of bad seasons and ignore a career of excellence when it comes to Kimbrel?
Ignore the fact that Craig Kimbrel is the active saves leader (20 more than second place Kenley Jansen and 67 more that Ardolis Chapman. Note – all three are the same age with the same number of seasons.
Ignore how good Kimbrel was last season before he was traded.
Ignore the fact that Kimbrel has a hard hit rate in the 90th percentile, K rate in the 88th percentile and still has a fastball velocity in the 84th percentile.
Odd side note. Looking at pitch data for Walker this year, I looked at Kimbrel and Hader today. All three have a 4 seamer that’s down about half an MPH from last year. Not drawing conclusions, but it’s something worth sharing.
We may be stuck, but I think we need to seriously consider finding another closer Since 2018, Kimbrel has had one very good half-season. Combining the last half of last year, and the first third of this year, his ERA is around 4.50. The clear trend is that he is not nearly what he was.
Do we want to go into another playoff series without a reliable set-up man or closer,? It rarely works out well. I don’t know who might be available, but we have a lot of top talent in our lineup which would be wasted if we do not have the consistent ability to hold a lead, or win an extra-inning game. We have time to work on that, but we should not ignore it just because we roll over most teams.
The bullpen was not good enough in the 2017 playoffs, or in 2018, or 2019, or 2021. There were other things, including the ability of the opponent, but blowing leads in key games was a major factor in not winning the title. You can only lose three games in a series. Last year, the bullpen, or what we used for relief pitching, lost game 2 against the Braves. In 2019, it lost game 5 against the Nationals. In 2018, it lost game four against Boston. In 2017, it lost game four against Houston. The bullpen also was insufficient in two series with St. Louis. And it cost us against Philadelphia with Broxton, and earlier against St. Louis with Niedenfuer. Same story, most years.
“i will say that I think it is imperative that we have one of the best closers in baseball. Most championship teams do. But we have not, at least not since 2017 or so. We relied on Jansen too much, then a struggling Kimbrel was traded for as he closer. We need to fix this.”
How?
Daniel Hudson was the closer for the Nats in 2019.
Will Smith was the Braves closer last year.
I would not say that either one is a top closer!
In 2020, it was a team effort.
Closers are important… unless they are not.
I don’t think people on this site define “one of the best closers in baseball” correctly. I think they define it as Josh Hader so far this season, or Eric Gagne during his streak.
Most championship teams do, eh? Patch should know that the last time the Giants won the World Series, Sergio Romo was their closer with just 23 saves and a FIP of 3.94.
* We are a little lean in the outfield, with CT3 and Belli sitting. If anyone was questioning Doc’s line up, he went with the experience in left field with Lux who has 30 starts now in the outfield. Alberto has 5.
* I thought while watching Kimbrel last night that it was an important appearance. He had the perfect situation for a high end closer. One run lead, bottom of the order coming up on a beatable line up. Big crowd at home after a huge emotional come back. No more excuses about not enough work or pitching in less competitive circumstances. This is what he gets paid for. A clean inning would do wonders for the fans, team and himself. A quick 1 – 2 – 3 and Bookem Danno.
Kimbrel had 10 saves in 10 chances so on the surface everything is fine. In May he had 7 saves. But a closer look reveals what we’ve all seen. In his 14 innings before last night he’d given up 14 hits and 7 earned runs. He’s had exactly ONE clean inning.
So instead of putting that all to bed, Kimbrel didn’t get it done. It was complete with the dreaded walk and an offering or 2 to the backstop. All that combined with the untimely error made for a tough loss. And even tougher is it opens the door a crack for all those critiques snd comparisons with KJ. If Kimbrel ever needed a clean inning with his new team, it was last night.
Mark said ….. “That is not a mechanical issue – that is a conscious shift for some reason we are not privy to!”
Well when your fastball is getting hammered you have to be unconscious not to shift
In my opinion it’s not a velocity issue, it’s a movement issue. Movement comes with spin, and for some reason he’s not able to generate the spin and movement like he used to
Walker used to have a blister problem. I hope it has nothing to do with that. Hopefully it’s just something mechanical and he’ll figure it out
Kimbrell, he’s starting to scare me like Jansen used to.
All in all we have an awesome team. And I’m betting things for all work out. It’s going to be a fun ride go Dodgers
I was thinking about the blister issue as well. Remember he had blister problems a couple of years ago. If you’re not gripping the ball the same because you don’t have calluses built up or there is pain, then you can’t generate the friction you need to generate spin at a given arm speed.
I think it’s accepted that it is a spin issue, not a velocity issue.
Yeah whatever the reason I’m sure they’re not being truthful about it. We’ll just have to wait and see, hope for the best.
Lucky to have Tyler Anderson and Catman pitching the way they are.
I really don’t understand all the praise to DBednar. Who was the pitcher who blown the save, well by that time it was a hold in the 8th?
Doesn’t he is the pitcher a couple of weeks prior in Pittsburgh, gave 2 HRs to Edwin Rios?
Bednar is the flavor of the week. They want to go after another team’s players. I prefer to grow our own.
Grow away … but if you want a difference maker for this year’s playoffs, then there’s no other choice.
Brusdar? Please.
If you just go down the list of relievers who have closer experience having good seasons, Bednar is maybe the only guy on a team that isn’t a contender.
If you’re advocating that Kimbrel isn’t good enough and the Dodgers have to go find a closer via a trade, it’s guys like Bednar who are the only possible candidates. You can’t trade for a Hader.
Dodgers Nation
Dodgers Prospects: Diego Cartaya and Alex De Jesus Get Promoted To Great Lakes
Tim Rogers
May 31
For those Quakes fans in Southern California, we have bad news. Number one Dodgers prospect, catcher, Diego Cartaya, and the number twenty prospect, shortstop, Alex De Jesus were both just promoted. They will be reporting to the High-A Great Lakes Loons.
Diego Cartaya
Diego Cartaya is pretty much the consensus number one prospect in the Dodgers organization. He did get off to a slow start in 2022 but it was just a matter of time before he broke out. I’ve seen Cartaya play a few times and the contact is usually quite loud. I had the pleasure of meeting Diego at Spring Training this year and had a chance to interview him a couple of times; once on Media Day and once after a game.
Cartaya ends his time with the Quakes with a slash of .260/.405/.550 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in 131 at-bats in 2022. He also had nine home runs. The Quakes kept his legs healthy by having him catch about half of their games and serving as the designated hitter in some others. They also gave him some days off. I would expect the Loons to continue at the same pace. The question I have will be how this impacts other catchers in the organization.
Alex De Jesus
Like Cartaya, Alex De Jesus also played with the Quakes in 2021. De Jesus got off to a slow start in 2021 but in the second half of the season, he caught fire. I discussed his 2021 during Media Day with Alex. One big question going forward is his position. With the Quakes, he played equal time at shortstop and third base. The third base position is newer to Alex but we all know how the Dodgers like position versatility. De Jesus will join other highly rated infield prospects Jorbit Vivas and Eddys Leonard on the Loons. That will be a fun infield to watch.
De Jesus finishes his time with the Quakes by slashing .259/.398/.483 with seven home runs in 143 at-bats. Along with Cartaya, he was a fixture in the top half of the Quakes’ batting order and a leader on the field. Also like Cartaya, De Jesus is fluent in English and even acted as a translator. Someone on the Quakes will now have an opportunity to step into the leadership gap without De Jesus.
Impact
Both of these players are being promoted to play. How it ripples throughout the farm system will be interesting. Over the last three weeks, we’ve seen Jose Ramos, Ben Casparius, Michael Busch, Jose Hernandez, Mark Washington, Michael Grove, Ryan Pepiot, and Gavin Stone all promoted. That is a lot of promotions for these players that are all destined for the big leagues. There will be more over the next month or so as the Dodgers start clearing space at the lower levels for some of their 2022 draft picks.
Final Thoughts
The Quakes (and the fans of the Quakes) were quite fortunate to have players like Diego Cartaya and Alex De Jesus on the roster. It will be tough to replace them both on the field and in the clubhouse. I personally want to thank them for the time they took to work with the media at Rancho and we wish them continued success. These are players I expect to see at Dodger Stadium at some point. At least with the Loons, they televise their games on milb.com. The Loons are well worth watching as they have four position players and two pitchers in the MLB
Glad to see them both progress. Hate to see them off the Quakes, for selfish reasons.
I’ve never met De Jesus but my son and I got to meet Diego. The kid has poise. Well beyond his years. My son has met a lot of 19/20 year olds from Latin America playing in Rancho. Most, as one would expect, are on the shy side and haven’t become accustom to the attention from fans and media. Diego was confident, smiling and seemed like a complete natural being in the spotlight. He has Los Angeles written all over his personality. I’m sure they will be missed in the clubhouse. We will certainly miss watching them in person.
I think we’re over analyzing Walker’s issues. Pitching is all about “feel”. Doesn’t take much to make a pitcher feel off. When I was 16 I caught my little toe on the shower door rail and dislocated it for about 1/10th of a second. Hurt for a few minutes. Didn’t think much of it. But I started a game some days later and it hurt when I pushed off the rubber. Just enough to screw me up. My two seam all of a sudden didn’t move. Had another reliefs appearance that wasn’t any better. The toe hurt for about a month. But the solution was a pair of cleats that were one size too big and thicker socks. That was all it took.
Maybe Walker stubbed his toe or forgot to trim his nails and cut himself while scratching his balls in the middle of the night. Or maybe his mechanics are shot and he won’t be right for a while. He’s had a couple bad starts. That happens.
What I do know about Walker is that he’s crazy focused and will do whatever it takes to be an effective pitcher. If he’s still struggling by the end of June then I might get worried. What I also know is that if he is having rotator cup issues, is dealing with a case of antibiotic resistant clap or has begun sniffing glue; Roberts ain’t going to tell either way. I don’t know enough to speculate. Also way too early to worry.
Diego Cartaya has officially been promoted to the Loons. Dodgers used the day off to get him moved. Very efficient.
I’ll go with the lacerated scrotum theory … while sniffing glue.
Maybe he’s got a case of the crabs too that’s why his nuts are itching
I remember someone here said that Buehler threw 95-96 mph as a strategy and that if he wanted he could throw 98-99 mph and I told him it was 95-96 because he couldn’t be 98-99 anymore.
I will add that when a pitcher loses speed he stops trusting his fastball and then starts throwing more off-speed pitches, that’s typical.
Buehler was very good last year until the game in SF where he allowed 6 runs, from then on he wasn’t that effective, including October, to this day; I think we’ll have to accept that Buehler is not the same as before, it’s still very good but it’s not great anymore.
This is how J. Dominique started today: “Can we just forget this nonsense that Walker Buehler’s velo is down so that he can be more effective?
This is how Buehler launched in October 2020, just a year and a half ago, he was powerful.
In 2021 his speed decreased and in 2022 his movement has decreased, that only at 27 years old and with very little accumulated work, that does not look good thinking about the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYrPUe_ZjP4&ab_channel=MLB
Not sure what happened above.
Just want to give a shout out to Eric. I hope you’re feeling better.
I’ve dealt with serious depression myself so I understand what you’re going through. Hope to hear from you soon take care
Sorry to hear Eric. Take care and get better.
I don’t see anything, so maybe a post was deleted, but if Eric is suffering I hope he realizes he’s not alone.
I know what the D-word is like. It’s awful. He has supporters here.
Thank you nonicnamebumfan, BulldogsandPenguins, dodgerpatch for the kind words.
I read this website daily, but the depression has wiped everything out of me. I hope my doctor can figure something out for me. But thank you guys for the kind words.
Hang in there, we all have our own inner demons. Wish you the best of luck!
I will go on record that I think Walker will figure out his issues relatively soon. That is unless he is dealing with an injury we aren’t aware of and lands on the IL.
The first time I saw Walker pitch in Rancho (it was only once since he was promoted after like 10 days with the club) he immediately reminded me of Tim Lincecum. Small frame, crazy velocity and a bit of a violent delivery. Since then his delivery has become less violent and much smoother.
Time Lincecum was, however, a bit of a two trick pony after a few years in the league. He had a very good curve ball when he first came up and relied on it heavily, but seemed to lose command of it after a few seasons. When he was throwing mid/high 90 and could place his curve he was devastating. Especially when he had a solid changeup and a decent slider. As his velocity declined, he began to rely more on his changeup and slider. His use of his curveball plummeted. For one reason or the other he seemed to have lost command of his breaking stuff. That wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if his velocity of his fast hasn’t dropped to 88-91 range. I believe it was the loss of his curve that really did him in. And, we found out later, a chronic hip issue.
Walker doesn’t need to throw 98. He he is a fastball/curve pitcher. His curve is wicked and he throws it at around 78-80 mph. His slower FB (cutter, two seam.. whatever you want to call it) has been sitting at around 90. His four seam has been in the 92-94 range. As long as he has command and proper movement on his curve, he can easily live in the 91-93 range with great effectiveness. The difficulty is learning how to be a pitcher first and a flame thrower second (or rarely or even not at all). A 10+ MPH difference between FB and an effective curve when there command and movement has won pitchers CY Young awards. Even if their FB doesn’t reach 90 MPH. Tim Lincecum couldn’t make that transition. He lost command of his curve and essentially stopped using it. And his career ended quickly.
I believe Walker is leaning how to pitch and moving away from just throwing the ball. If he can keep command of his curve and still throw in the low 90s, his work ethic and dedication will take care of the rest.
Tell any MLB hitter in the 90s that Greg Maddux wasn’t a flame thrower. From their perspective if he could paint the corner with a 78 MPH curve, that 89 MPH fastball looked like it was 102.
I will give Walker some time to work this out. If I’m wrong, please give me a side of BBQ sauce when you make me eat crow.
Alright, how about Kevin Pillar? 3 K’s in 7 AB’s and a whole lot of nothing except for a big league diving catch in left field. Last year he hit 231. His best year was 288. Can we get some of that, please?
How many of the people that are worried about Bueller and Kimbrel wanted Pillar to replace Belli and / or Lux? Be honest!
I’m not in that bag but I’ll add this:
Buehler: I’m still worried, even when I see his body language, his frustration, it makes me even more worried.
Kimbrel: I’m not worried, he’ll be fine.
Lux: when they said to trade him, his yips, that he looked like a deer… I said: with the lineup that the Dodgers have this year Lux doesn’t need to be a star, just let him play 2b put him ninth in the lineup and let him stabilize, in the end he will be fine.
Graterol – Much like Lux, let him throw 55-65 IP this year, don’t put him in high leverage situations, just let him have his first full season, get his feet wet.
All this is recorded and I did not say it once, I said it several times.
I didn’t say anything about Pillar, but he seems very suitable as a fourth OF and that he plays occasionally covering an injury, when someone rests or as a defensive replacement at the end of games, he is the only real OF in the bench.
10:10 PM ET
Pirates (20-27)
Dodgers (33-15)
SP Julio Urias L
3-4 2.49 ERA 47 IP 34 K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
SS Trea Turner R
C Will Smith R
DH Edwin Rios L
3B J. Turner R
CF Chris Taylor R
2B Gavin Lux L
LF Kevin Pillar R
Clear-day
0% Rain
70° Wind 6 mph Out
Man, you guys are tough! It’s not even June and we need to fix our starting pitching and relievers. By any measure we have the best, or near best, offense, starting pitching, relievers, minor league system and front office in baseball but Buehler had a bad outing and Kimbrell blew a save so we have no chance when we get in the playoffs and have to play the Mets, Padres, Brewers, etc. Really? Have you considered the alternatives? You can’t just “get” a “better” pitcher. Who’s better than Buehler? How do you know? How are you going to get him? And have you really compared the Dodgers to the other contenders? You all look at the opposition like all their players are, better, healthier, younger, stronger, etc. then our guys. But you look at the Dodger players like they are old, frail, loosing their stuff, etc. You assume DeGrom and Scherzer will be fine but Buehler and CK will not. Why? Why not the reverse?
Honestly, I’ll like my chances right now against any team in the majors. We have more firepower offensively than any other team and our depth of pitching, both in the majors and the minors is as good as anyone’s.
I don’t often agree with Mark but lighten up a little. Like Mark Twain said: : “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” Or, like my son would say–this is a first world problem. Baseball is a beautiful game and the season is long. Enjoy each and every Dodger game. October is a long ways off.
Word!
Man Gavin Stone has looked fantastic lately!
Another 6ip, 9k today
We fret and complain. It’s what we do here.
Pillar actually came pretty close to catching that.
Well I’m not enjoying this game! I was kidding when I said Anderson and Catman were battling for the ace of the staff but…….! Does anyone get more cheap hits than TT?
Well not all of them are cheap!
I guess he took offense!
Coming off of a great road trip, we come home and crapped the bed. We’ll have to win tomorrow and take three out of four from the Mets to have a winning homestand.
Oh well, let’s get the Pirates tomorrow and then take it to the Mets
Freeman deflected the blame for last nights loss from Kimbrel. He blamed it on his error. It did open the door. Just a bad game tonight. No clutch hitting and the player of the month goes ofer. Freeman blundered trying to stretch a hit in the 7th, Those of you pining for Pillar are probably disappointed in his ofer performance so far. Belli returns to the lineup tomorrow. Muncy now out indefinitely.
Good stuff today, guys. I appreciate the extended analysis of Walker Buehler’s issues. I tend to agree with the “him losing his feel” hypothesis with a side of “mechanics” thrown in. Thank goodness it’s only affecting his four seamer. He will have to throw it way up or at the knees and on the corners, if he wants to use it effectively.
Or perfect his two seamer. I worry about relying on the cutter and putting it somewhere he doesn’t want it (or maybe Kenley has me sensitized to errant cutters). On the other hand, Walker’s got a pretty nice (underused) changeup!
Good take Marcia. I love his change up as well. He’ll figure out the fastball and be better off having renewed confidence in his change up.
In his three Double-A starts, Gavin Stone has now worked 16.0 total innings and has allowed just one run. He has walked only two batters while striking out 24. His ERA with Tulsa is 0.56.