2025 Spring Training Thread

From what I could tell it was more about pitch count in a single inning. They don't want them throwing 30 pitches in an inning this early. In ST they can pull the SP and then put him back in next inning if they want.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
Basically yes.

I will ease off my doom on him to be fair. He has a killer change. The problem is he has to be hitting 94/95 on his fastball and to be able to locate (not just throw strikes) for that to be effective. If Anderson can get back to that person then I would say he can be a good #5 pushing to a #4 with 2 times through the order. But he has to show that and so far he hasn’t. Even in the minors.
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Serious question, then. He had an adequate fastball and a really good change and made it work through 2+ seasons and has an incredible postseason record despite a near-unanimous opinion here that his stuff is trash.

You don't have to spin a spike curve. In fact, lower is better. You have to tunnel it, and control it, and like everybody else I'm not a fan of his command, but...he was awfully successful as a two pitch pitcher and if he could throw the spike (knuckle) curve, there would be a third pitch. Strider will be back in May, somebody needs to soak up innings, Sale and Lopez and probably others benefit from a six-man rotation, where's the harm in seeing if Anderson can inexplicably get guys out? Are we concerned about taking innings away from Elder and Dylan Dodd?
 
GovClintonTyree said:
Serious question, then. He had an adequate fastball and a really good change and made it work through 2+ seasons and has an incredible postseason record despite a near-unanimous opinion here that his stuff is trash.

You don't have to spin a spike curve. In fact, lower is better. You have to tunnel it, and control it, and like everybody else I'm not a fan of his command, but...he was awfully successful as a two pitch pitcher and if he could throw the spike (knuckle) curve, there would be a third pitch. Strider will be back in May, somebody needs to soak up innings, Sale and Lopez and probably others benefit from a six-man rotation, where's the harm in seeing if Anderson can inexplicably get guys out? Are we concerned about taking innings away from Elder and Dylan Dodd?
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God no.. I would rather see Anderson over Dodd.. Elder is a toss up imo.. I already stated that Soroka or even the Q signing would have been a better bet.

Personally I think Ian lived off a really good change, which doesn't have a huge spin, and a OK fastball coming from a really weird arm slot. That bought him time in the Bigs and thankfully, helped get the Braves a title. But as hitters started to adjust to his delivery and seek out his change, he tried to become even more refined with his command and that snowballed on him.. He went down with surgery and that gave him the opportunity to rework his delivery to get more spin.. so far that doesn't look like it worked out.
 
Enscheff said:
A lot of guys get hit with 96. He is injury prone, and he's a catcher who will likely age like a typical catcher. All reasons not to have traded Contreras for him and then extend him into his mid-30s.

That trade and extension has been an unmitigated disaster, and is easily the worst move in AA's tenure. No amount of homerism can change that.
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Idk if taking 96 to the ribs and that breaking them is a Sean Murphy problem? Do most guys who get hit there not have their ribs break?

I don’t really understand your last two sentences in the context of this discussion. I didn’t see anyone arguing otherwise here lol seems like a straw man
 
Enscheff said:
A lot of guys get hit with 96. He is injury prone, and he's a catcher who will likely age like a typical catcher. All reasons not to have traded Contreras for him and then extend him into his mid-30s.

That trade and extension has been an unmitigated disaster, and is easily the worst move in AA's tenure. No amount of homerism can change that.
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Go back and tell me where I said anything about the Contreras trade other than it didn’t make any sense. No one brought that into this discussion, only you did you ****ing goon.

Anyone can get hit with an MLB fastball and break a rib. A lot of people get hit and are okay. A lot of people get hit there and are not. It depends how hard it was thrown and where precisely it hits you. It’s really just luck.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
I wonder if the Braves will go with Bladwin/Leon over Bladwin/Tromp.
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The only way that happens is if Tromp gets injured. Leon is on a minor league deal and can be sent to AAA. Tromp is out of options on the 40 man. Murphy should be back by May and we need to have organizational catching depth.
 
Slippyjms said:
The only way that happens is if Tromp gets injured. Leon is on a minor league deal and can be sent to AAA. Tromp is out of options on the 40 man. Murphy should be back by May and we need to have organizational catching depth.
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so Baldwin back to AAA when Murph gets back? what if he is raking.
 
OK..I've tried to stay away from the IAN conversation but here's the thing..scouting reports can be fools gold unless you see them nightly or when they pitch.. So a scout with mlb said :

It all starts with a plus fastball that he can still get up to 96 mph, thrown with good angle and downhill movement. He misses a ton of bats and can get contact on the ground, as well. His power curve can be a plus pitch when he commands it and the fastball-curve combination is a big reason why he's struck out 10.7 per nine innings heading into 2020.

I'll leave it to the statisticians to delve into numbers, but that FB is straight as fk. Statcast aside, lower level AAA level batters were just missing sending his pitches into orbit. He gets to the majors and has some success and people think it's legit. I want Ian to have sustainable success, but you better bet on pork bellies first. That movement they say in the scouting report is..off. Yall know I don't mind being in the minority. After all....
 
Enscheff said:
A lot of guys get hit with 96. He is injury prone
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Murphy had never hit the IL before last season’s oblique strain. Now he’s felled by a freak HBP. I think it’s wildly premature to label him “injury prone.”

I was one of the biggest Contreras fans around, constantly lamented Snitker not playing him more, and took a pretty dim view of the Murphy trade precisely because it cost Contreras. But we can still be factual when we talk about Sean Murphy, even while we mourn William Contreras.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
Serious question, then. He had an adequate fastball and a really good change and made it work through 2+ seasons and has an incredible postseason record despite a near-unanimous opinion here that his stuff is trash.

You don't have to spin a spike curve. In fact, lower is better. You have to tunnel it, and control it, and like everybody else I'm not a fan of his command, but...he was awfully successful as a two pitch pitcher and if he could throw the spike (knuckle) curve, there would be a third pitch. Strider will be back in May, somebody needs to soak up innings, Sale and Lopez and probably others benefit from a six-man rotation, where's the harm in seeing if Anderson can inexplicably get guys out? Are we concerned about taking innings away from Elder and Dylan Dodd?
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Yes. Elder is a better pitcher than Anderson. I have no hesitance at all in saying that. Elder is what a MLB 5th starter looks like. He has a decent array of major league quality pitches and enough command to make them work. A sort of jack of all trades, master of none type of pitcher. If he stays healthy, he will likely have a relatively long career bouncing around the league like Kyle Gibson or Martin Perez, providing 150+ innings and a roughly 4.50 era and FIP.

Anderson might have been this sort of pitcher before the injuries set in. But I don't see anything to lead me to believe he has regained that form. He stuff looks noticeably worse (different arm angle now) and his command has vanished.

Dodd should have been moved to the pen exclusively a couple years ago. He has good command and a fastball that should play very well as a reliever where he could really let it fly.
 
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