Cardinals @ Braves Strider Is ****ing Trash

How bad was this loss? Espn just put out an alert telling about it... braves were a whooping -365 favorite. Damn
 
If anything can be this team's downfall in October (aside from general randomness of the playoffs), it's their low baseball IQ. Arcia swinging at the first breaking ball against a new pitcher with the bases loaded. Albies swinging on 3-0 when the Braves need baserunners. Rosario trying to steal home. All things that let a struggling pitcher off the hook.

To be clear: That's not the reason the Braves lost this game. But the bad pitching was an abberation that happens occasionally. The mental lapses, or poor situational awareness, are not an abberation, they are part of the team's DNA.

Strider continues to be a mystery. The guy struck out 5 batters in 2.2 IP. So just 3 balls hit into play were converted into outs. Yes, he had the walks and the home run, but it just seems like every ball hit into play against him is either a rocket, or falls in the perfect spot. And this happens frequently in his starts. He either has the worst BABIP luck in the world, or something is going on that's not visible in his numbers.
 
I will take dominate the good teams and occasionally **** the bed vs the worst teams. We won't run into the A's and Cards in the playoffs.
 
If anything can be this team's downfall in October (aside from general randomness of the playoffs), it's their low baseball IQ. Arcia swinging at the first breaking ball against a new pitcher with the bases loaded. Albies swinging on 3-0 when the Braves need baserunners. Rosario trying to steal home. All things that let a struggling pitcher off the hook.

To be clear: That's not the reason the Braves lost this game. But the bad pitching was an abberation that happens occasionally. The mental lapses, or poor situational awareness, are not an abberation, they are part of the team's DNA.

Strider continues to be a mystery. The guy struck out 5 batters in 2.2 IP. So just 3 balls hit into play were converted into outs. Yes, he had the walks and the home run, but it just seems like every ball hit into play against him is either a rocket, or falls in the perfect spot. And this happens frequently in his starts. He either has the worst BABIP luck in the world, or something is going on that's not visible in his numbers.


Dudes still developing as a pitcher. Both in experience and his third pitch. If healthy he should get much better.
 
XWOBA against his change is .174. Maybe he just needs to throw it more than 7% of the time.

I think I remember that against RHH it gets hit harder and it is death to lefties. But I might be misremembering. But if that is the case, then it might explain why he doesn't use it as much.
 
Spencer is learning how to pitch still.

He's still obsessed with striking out as many as he can to the point his sequences get repetitive. And one slip of the ball locationwise turns into a homer.

When he matures and gets experience like Fried, he'll probably strike out 7-9 guys per game rather than consistent double digits, and he'll be way more economical with his pitch counts. Fried most days can reach 7-8 innings under 95 pitches. Spencer still has long battle ABs with some guys he can't put away because once he gets someone 0-2 or 1-2 he tries so hard for the strikeout that some b atters foul off pitches then he gets a bit annoyed and starts letting them get into a favorable count before he walks or throws a mistake pitch on the 9th pitch of the atbat.

Watching Fried work is IMO better than Strider because his pitch variety, and different ways to strike you out or produce weak contact.

Strider is like watching a closer pitch for 6 innings. 1-2 pitches with the same sequencing. Don't get me wrong, it's amazing to watch a starter pitch like a closer for 6 innings ajd rack up K's the way he does. But Fried can be so economical and still rack up some strikeouts here and there.
 
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