Carlos Carrasco, who you’ll remember most Indians reporters characterized as “struggling” in Triple-A before the Indians acquired him as part of the Cliff Lee deal, was dominant tonight, striking out 10 in 8 innings, walking none, and giving up no home runs in an International League victory.
Also, BJT68, great comment in the old post I’m referring to - I’m sorry I missed it the first time around. I don’t know how anyone can argue that throwing hard is so incredibly important. Obviously, there have been plenty of hard throwers who can’t pitch. If I’m a hitter, I’ll take 95 mph fastballs all day if they’re coming on 2-0 and 3-1 counts, especially (for example).
Pluto said the same thing today in his weekly podcast, expounding again on the greatness of guys who throw way above 90. At least this time he gave a reason, albeit a weak one, claiming that if you throw hard you don’t have to be as “fine” with your pitches.
What it is, I think, is that people associate strikeouts with throwing fast because guys like Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens struck a bunch of hitters out - but really, you can’t tell me there isn’t more than one way to strike a dude out.
For his career, Greg Maddux’s SO/9 were 6.1 and his BB/9 were 1.8. Clemens struck out more (8.6) but also walked more (2.9). Both were fantastic in HR/9 - Clemens at .7 and Maddux at .6. In other words, not a lot of guys on base when balls were hit out of the park.
So, there are a lot of things that matter…but, obviously, getting three guys out before anyone scores is the big one. If throwing hard contributes to a pitcher’s ability to pitch, great - if it doesn’t…get him outta here.
