Ian Anderson's stuff

[atl717]

Umm, Max Fried has elite spin on his breaking stuff. It is literally the key to his dominance.

I agree with you on Anderson though. Once the velocity starts to wane, he is done as a MLB pitcher. Since that tends to happen almost immediately, the Braves need to use him up while they can.

I thought you were saying the lack of spin on his fastball makes it difficult for him to add a breaking pitch. But he's got 2 plus breaking pitches. Maybe I was confused.

[Enscheff]

Some of his change ups were flat at 89. Some dropped at 87ish. Wonder if he throws 2 different changeups.

These charts show all those scatter plots.

I don't see anything that suggests more than 3 pitches, just the normal variance of good ones and not so good ones scattered all over.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/ia...0&dh=0&data=pi

[CrazyTrain]

Some of his change ups were flat at 89. Some dropped at 87ish. Wonder if he throws 2 different changeups.

Hmm... here's some more "eye test" stuff that might betray the data that Enscheff put together. If my fastball was a good riser and my arm slot didn't allow me to have a lot of lateral movement, I'd certainly incorporate a flatter change and something with some more sink to fit the situation.

I would guess that Statcast grouped these pitches together and this might be why the sink was rated so low.

[CrazyTrain]

I thought you were saying the lack of spin on his fastball makes it difficult for him to add a breaking pitch. But he's got 2 plus breaking pitches. Maybe I was confused.

No, the issue is that his over the top arm slot lends itself to fastball rise and not lateral movement.

[atl717]

Has Fried's stuff taken a step forward this year or is it improved command in the strike zone and throwing more sliders that has made him a better pitcher? Probably the latter half. Righties just haven't been able to square up his fastball in. I think last year he stayed away to righties a lot more.

[CrazyTrain]

These charts show all those scatter plots.

I don't see anything that suggests more than 3 pitches, just the normal variance of good ones and not so good ones scattered all over.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/ia...0&dh=0&data=pi

Could be that, too. Hopefully as he gets better he can get more of that 87 dropper and not the 89 slow fastball.

[atl717]

No, the issue is that his over the top arm slot lends itself to fastball rise and not lateral movement.

Was talking about Fried who also has suboptimal spin on fastball but 2 plus breakers.

[Enscheff]

I thought you were saying the lack of spin on his fastball makes it difficult for him to add a breaking pitch. But he's got 2 plus breaking pitches. Maybe I was confused.

Fried has bad spin rates on his FA, which is why it's a SI now. It took a while for that change to happen, but it needed to happen, and was evident from day 1. His spin rates on the breaking stuff is elite, and he parlayed that into adding a killer SL along with the CU. It is a perfect example of taking tremendous raw skill and creating a great pitcher.

Anderson just gets poor spin on everything. His over the top arm slot sacrifices horizontal movement to get vertical movement, and that makes the FA work as a riser. It's almost like an OFer throwing motion to get pure backspin so his throws carry straight rather than fade to the side.

[CrazyTrain]

Has Fried's stuff taken a step forward this year or is it improved command in the strike zone and throwing more sliders that has made him a better pitcher? Probably the latter half. Righties just haven't been able to square up his fastball in. I think last year he stayed away to righties a lot more.

I think he's just getting better and more experienced which is benefiting him across the board. His command looks better and I do think the increased slider usage to RHHs has made his fastball play up.

[Enscheff]

Has Fried's stuff taken a step forward this year or is it improved command in the strike zone and throwing more sliders that has made him a better pitcher? Probably the latter half. Righties just haven't been able to square up his fastball in. I think last year he stayed away to righties a lot more.

He is mostly the same guy as last year, so probably better location and execution.

Fried is right in that sweet spot where his stuff isn't yet declining, but his pitchability is peaking. This is peak Fried, and it's awesome.

I mean seriously, 12" of drop on that CU is downright filthy. It is quite possibly the best CU in baseball.

[clvclv]

I thought some Astros guys improved spin rates. And Bauer said it was impossible without using foreign substances. And twitter fights ensued.

Thanks for doing these.

There was a great tweet from pitching ninja showing the tunneling of the fastball and change up. It was spot on. I think he is getting good results b/c he has good velocity with rise on the FB and control of a tunneled Change with some sink.

I liked how low effort the delivery was. Seemed long and lanky but repeated it.

I didn't see world beater stuff. The analysis did not suggest that. I worry what the results will be when more data and video is available on him.

After reading this I am even more glad we called him up. He is clearly better than what we have now. Is at least a great number 5 starter for a long time. I worry with this arsenal if he loses even a little velocity that he will lose his effectiveness big time. So I'm really glad he is up at 22, because you never know when that velocity is going to slip.

Another reason to wish this would have been a full season. If the rotation would have imploded in April instead of August we'd probably have had a chance to see Weigel, Davidson, De La Cruz, and potentially even Muller get a shot before AA has to decide on just how much he has to give up for a MOR arm.

[NYCBrave]

Can you name a single pitcher who used "deception" to have success for more than a few starts?

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my post. What I meant by deception was like Alex Wood for example. His unorthodox mechanics allow him to hide the ball for longer, so the ball appears to be on the hitter sooner than someone with normal mechanics. Obviously Ian doesn't have the same strange style. But just wondering if a pitcher can not only survive, but thrive, but having a deceptive delivery that makes their stuff harder to pick up.

Here is an article I found about Wood's mechanics and the deception that allows him to be hard to pick up.

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/20...hanics-lol-wtf

[bravesfanMatt]

Reddit posted a link to a site with gif of Anderson’s game. It is a good eye test recap. After looking I think his change is more execution. There was one 89 that dropped and some 87 flat. The last pitch he threw was 86 and just dropped off the table. His curve is scary to the eye test. Looks like a hanging slider. When located it can be effective I guess.

Here is the link.
https://www.pitcherlist.com/gif-brea...ut-in-32-gifs/

[Horsehide Harry]

cutter

no seriously...Split

[Tapate50]

Don't think that was it.

Would guess that answer would depend on what you get in return. Does he get you Lynn straight-up? Would he and Riley get you Devers or Seager and Gonzales plus some cash?

Dems jokes.

[50PoundHead]

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my post. What I meant by deception was like Alex Wood for example. His unorthodox mechanics allow him to hide the ball for longer, so the ball appears to be on the hitter sooner than someone with normal mechanics. Obviously Ian doesn't have the same strange style. But just wondering if a pitcher can not only survive, but thrive, but having a deceptive delivery that makes their stuff harder to pick up.

Here is an article I found about Wood's mechanics and the deception that allows him to be hard to pick up.

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/20...hanics-lol-wtf

I think it needs to be pointed out that in Wood's spectacular half season of 2017, he added a four-seamer with a couple more ticks than his two-seamer. That basically made him golden. Problem is, the increased velocity wore him down and he went back to the two-seamer almost exclusively. It made him mortal again.

[Russ2dollas]

Klaw chat today

He had the opinion he wasn’t impressed with Anderson. Loved plan of attack and control. Said none of his pitches looked plus.

[OcalaBrave]

Loved the description of him as smart and competitive. Same description of Soroka when he came up. We're full up with kids that can spin it, but don't seem to have a plan or believe in their stuff.

Looked to me like Ian's head makes his stuff play up.

[Enscheff]

Klaw chat today

He had the opinion he wasn’t impressed with Anderson. Loved plan of attack and control. Said none of his pitches looked plus.

The FA is probably plus, but I mostly agree. He’s more 4 than TOR, or even MOR. However, on a team with exactly 1 SP, that’s quite valuable.

[Carp]

Can you name a single pitcher who used "deception" to have success for more than a few starts?

Only deception? None. But Dontrelle Willis and Alex Wood come to mind as guys who had success in part due to deception. Of course they also had unique deliveries and were LHP.