Good Article With Detailed Look at Alex Wood
- Thread starter nsacpi
- Start date
I'd trade Julio before I trade Wood TBH.
Wood has such a huge mental advantage over Julio it's amazing. They're the same age, but Wood is a bulldog (non-UGA term) and while Julio can get out of jams, we've also seen him get rocked pretty hard and try to go back out there and throw it by guys when he doesn't have high 90's stuff.
Wood's biggest impression on me was the Washington game where he got screwed on that strike 3 call with the bases loaded.
Alex just has that I'm gonna beat you however I can mentality and Julio just gets more angry out there instead of calming down. Also I worry because the Braves tried to change Julio's mechanics for a while because they felt his current delivery wouldn't be sustainable long term but they've reverted back to his old mechanics. While Alex's mechanics aren't the best I've ever seen, his actual midway delivery to follow through is actually more natural than Julio. Alex I could see having shoulder problems but Julio I could see having TJ for sure.
Wood has such a huge mental advantage over Julio it's amazing. They're the same age, but Wood is a bulldog (non-UGA term) and while Julio can get out of jams, we've also seen him get rocked pretty hard and try to go back out there and throw it by guys when he doesn't have high 90's stuff.
Wood's biggest impression on me was the Washington game where he got screwed on that strike 3 call with the bases loaded.
Alex just has that I'm gonna beat you however I can mentality and Julio just gets more angry out there instead of calming down. Also I worry because the Braves tried to change Julio's mechanics for a while because they felt his current delivery wouldn't be sustainable long term but they've reverted back to his old mechanics. While Alex's mechanics aren't the best I've ever seen, his actual midway delivery to follow through is actually more natural than Julio. Alex I could see having shoulder problems but Julio I could see having TJ for sure.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Here's an almost as good article on Teheran.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/julio-teheran-breaks-out/
I agree about the point the author makes about the importance of his rediscovering the feel on his changeup and throwing it more. It would help him a lot against lefties. The strange thing about Teheran is that he was two different pitchers in 2013. In spring training and the first couple months he was throwing the two-seamer more and getting more groundballs. The second half he was throwing the four-seamer and turned into a fly ball pitcher. It seems to me this is a kid with a very deep repertoire but he tends to sometimes lose confidence in certain pitches. One of these days, we'll see a Julio Teheran with command and confidence over the four-seamer, two-seamer, curve, slider and change. That's going to be an awesome pitcher.
I think the odds are pretty good that an ace will emerge from our five starting pitchers but it is hard to say which one will take that step. They all have the potential, which is different from last year when we sort of knew what the upside was with Maholm and Hudson.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/julio-teheran-breaks-out/
I agree about the point the author makes about the importance of his rediscovering the feel on his changeup and throwing it more. It would help him a lot against lefties. The strange thing about Teheran is that he was two different pitchers in 2013. In spring training and the first couple months he was throwing the two-seamer more and getting more groundballs. The second half he was throwing the four-seamer and turned into a fly ball pitcher. It seems to me this is a kid with a very deep repertoire but he tends to sometimes lose confidence in certain pitches. One of these days, we'll see a Julio Teheran with command and confidence over the four-seamer, two-seamer, curve, slider and change. That's going to be an awesome pitcher.
I think the odds are pretty good that an ace will emerge from our five starting pitchers but it is hard to say which one will take that step. They all have the potential, which is different from last year when we sort of knew what the upside was with Maholm and Hudson.
I remember when everyone had a huge boner for Tommy Hanson, while others cautioned that his delivery was a huge injury risk. Lincecum was the best pitcher ever with an odd delivery that lead to the wildness that finally caught up to him as he lost some of his "stuff".
I guess Wood is somehow different though, right?
I imagine Wood won't even be an effective healthy starter through the full 6 years the Braves control him. He will probably be mentioned as a non-tender candidate as soon as Arb2. A Wood plus CB deal for Price should not have been dismissed out of hand depending on who the other "top prospects" were. Those other guys couldn't have been all that great or they would have been mentioned by name, dontcha think?
I guess Wood is somehow different though, right?
I imagine Wood won't even be an effective healthy starter through the full 6 years the Braves control him. He will probably be mentioned as a non-tender candidate as soon as Arb2. A Wood plus CB deal for Price should not have been dismissed out of hand depending on who the other "top prospects" were. Those other guys couldn't have been all that great or they would have been mentioned by name, dontcha think?
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
But he did manage to win two Cy Youngs along the way.
Yes, but the point was not to compare Wood's talent to Lincecum's talent. Not even a Braves homer can say those two are even in the same universe talent-wise.
The point was that unorthodox mechanics spell disaster more times than not, and sooner rather than later.
A few scouts actually said Lincecum's delivery was natural because it was lots of leg power, but that was proven somewhat wrong.
I never read a scouting report that complimented Hanson's delivery in any regard. Whether it was mechanical or efficient. The report on him since he was in the minors was that you could steal bases off of him ALL DAY.
Zito had the biggest boner for Hanson's mechanics and I adamantly went against him on it for 2 years.
Completely agree. I'm very high on him.
Look.....we need some luck this year but I think our rotation could match up with almost any if Beachy is healthy and Minor/Teheran continue to develop.
There is technically a flaw in Harvey's mechanics and it's on the follow through. When you watch him pitch everything from Step 1-4 is fine. It's after the release there's a hitch in which he snaps his arm back.
I remember watching him pitch and thinking "that's not supposed to be like that". When you have a pitcher that throws hard like a Pedro or Unit, watch their throwing arm. It follows through ALL the way around and around the body to almost to where they're semi-hugging themselves with one arm. Harvey would snap and throw, and immediately snap his arm back forward. It may not sound like much, but re-directing your arm that quickly in at turn-around in the opposite direction after you JUST used all that force to whip it across, is very dangerous and it's similar to neck whiplash. Except it happened on his elbow.
@nsacpi
Here's a highlights video of Harvey.
Watch his motion. Everything from leg kick to release is fluid and efficient. After he throws the ball, his throwing hand doesn't get to naturally follow through all the way and the momentum doesn't die naturally. Instead he forces his arm to re-direct back to the batter while his leg is kicked. That whiplash motion can cause serious effect to the tendon and ligament because of the force you need to snap your arm back from Point A to Point B after already using so much force to throw the ball. Instead of letting his own torso stop his arm on the follow through, he uses his elbow/shoulder to kick-back his arm. That twitch may not look all that dangerous but after repeating it over and over and over that whiplash effect can cause damage.
Here's a highlights video of Harvey.
Watch his motion. Everything from leg kick to release is fluid and efficient. After he throws the ball, his throwing hand doesn't get to naturally follow through all the way and the momentum doesn't die naturally. Instead he forces his arm to re-direct back to the batter while his leg is kicked. That whiplash motion can cause serious effect to the tendon and ligament because of the force you need to snap your arm back from Point A to Point B after already using so much force to throw the ball. Instead of letting his own torso stop his arm on the follow through, he uses his elbow/shoulder to kick-back his arm. That twitch may not look all that dangerous but after repeating it over and over and over that whiplash effect can cause damage.
I'm as big of an Alex Wood fan as anyone here. I think he's got very very bright future as a starter that could be a solid 2. But no way I trade Julio before him.
Notice how Pedro's throwing hand goes ALL the way around on the follow through sometimes where it's almost as if it's wrapped around his body? That's natural. That's his torso stopping the momentum of his arm with his body weight. Watch Harvey's again. Notice his hand doesn't go all the way around, it kind of stops 85% through the follow through and he brings it back. Pedro used to bring his arm back after the follow through by turning his torso back towards the batter. Also, the fact Pedro let his arm go all the way though the zone and follow through, his arm's momentum used his torso to trampoline back to the front which kind of makes it look like Harvey's arm snapback but the way each pitcher does it is different.
Curt Schilling, someone who always has had fluid mechanics.
Big Unit, same as Pedro
Maddux and Glavine were both notorious in my mind for letting their arm just die on the follow through. Neither threw that hard, so their arms didn't whip all the way around.
Had it all the way through his years in Chapel Hill. Never caused issues before. I'm sure there are specialists who can provide insight as to whether repetition could have contributed to his eventual injury - do know he was never asked to alter it earlier though.
Heyward
<B>Voted Worst Poster <br>'13, '14, '15 (Co-Winner
The others was probably Sims and someone else.
Why such a half-brained response? Obviously all pitchers are risky. Some are profoundly more risky than others. And I KNOW you know the difference.
So why even bother with such a response?
Pitchers like JJ and Medlen rely on mediocre stuff and good location. They will never be aces, and I have said so about both pitchers frequently.
Pitchers like Hanson and Wood have odd deliveries that make them more of an injury risk than most pitchers.
Everyone should have known Hanson's shoulder was s ticking time bomb and sold high on him. Luckily, Wren found someone dumb enough to give up a useful BP arm for a broken Hanson. If Wood and CB can be the main pieces that brings back Price then Wren has to seriously consider it.
I still think Wood will end up being a non-tender candidate 4-5 years from now, just like Hanson.