Frustro Fausto

[bookelly]

Paulie C's article was spot on. That's good sportswriting.

FWIW - I think Faustos extreme numbers with men on base are 'cause he's pitching out of the stretch. His #1 pitch, the cut sinking fast/slurve make you hungover whatever...dips outside and low out of the stretch. He just cannot control it without the windmill full rotation. After 3 of these horrors he's forced to throw the straight fastball and guys know it and he's clobbered.

He's like the guy on the golf course who's thunder off the tee and in the fairway, but can't chip or put for shit.

[Symbolic47]

He throws a heavy sinker.

The problem is team just dont swing at it anymore, as he hardly throws it for a strike. It always bites to hard and drops way low. He's got better stuff than Jake Westbrook, but half the command. As they have very similar sinkers. In 07, nobody had seen him, thus teams didnt know what to make of that pitch. The league adjusted. And he hasnt been able to command it enough to be effective. It's pretty simple actually.

[Bigfist]

He was pretty effective last year...hard to say it is just because the league has adjusted from 2007.

[WiscTribeFan]

As a pitcher who pitches to contact like he does, if his sinker is ineffective, he's toast.

To date he's given up 2 less dingers than he did last season in well over half as many innings. Teams are laying of the stuff out of the zone and waiting on that fastball, with excellent result.

[YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES!]

He throws a heavy sinker.

The problem is team just dont swing at it anymore, as he hardly throws it for a strike. It always bites to hard and drops way low. He's got better stuff than Jake Westbrook, but half the command. As they have very similar sinkers. In 07, nobody had seen him, thus teams didnt know what to make of that pitch. The league adjusted. And he hasnt been able to command it enough to be effective. It's pretty simple actually.

He's actually getting batters to swing at pitches out of the zone more this year than he did in '07. They're just hitting those pitches out of the zone at a much higher rate.

[TribeinLA]

Any idea What Chuck Nagy is up to? Seems like Nagy would be a great guy to go drag Fausto somewhere and show him a little more about becoming a finesse pitcher with the sinker...in other words, developing a great change-up to go with it, as opposed to a 92 mph fastball.

Fausto needs someone who can relate to him (not that Silent Chuck has any similarities with FC, but he also struggled with command of his sinker). Just a thought.

[dazindiansfanuk]

Any idea What Chuck Nagy is up to? Seems like Nagy would be a great guy to go drag Fausto somewhere and show him a little more about becoming a finesse pitcher with the sinker...in other words, developing a great change-up to go with it, as opposed to a 92 mph fastball.

Fausto needs someone who can relate to him (not that Silent Chuck has any similarities with FC, but he also struggled with command of his sinker). Just a thought.

Nagy is pitching coach for the D'Backs.

Fausto can try and talk to him on the upcoming road trip.

[leadpipe]

He throws a heavy sinker.

The problem is team just dont swing at it anymore, as he hardly throws it for a strike. It always bites to hard and drops way low. He's got better stuff than Jake Westbrook, but half the command. As they have very similar sinkers. In 07, nobody had seen him, thus teams didnt know what to make of that pitch. The league adjusted. And he hasnt been able to command it enough to be effective. It's pretty simple actually.

He's actually getting batters to swing at pitches out of the zone more this year than he did in '07. They're just hitting those pitches out of the zone at a much higher rate.

Again, he hasn't hit the right side of the plate in weeks. There ain't a right hander on God's green earth that's gonna be successful exclusively working the middle/outer half of the strike zone. This is exasperated by his overall lack of command.

"Out of the zone" for Fausto is in the same general area. Too simple a choice for major league hitters.

Check out Pineada from Seattle. I know he throws a few more MPH's than Fausto, but that ain't the difference. The difference is Pineada's nasty movement is all over the strike zone. If Fausto was in on the hands of lefties occasionally, then the 2 seamer away would me a money pitch. Instead, they just spit at it and wait for a better one.

[WiscTribeFan]

Any idea What Chuck Nagy is up to? Seems like Nagy would be a great guy to go drag Fausto somewhere and show him a little more about becoming a finesse pitcher with the sinker...in other words, developing a great change-up to go with it, as opposed to a 92 mph fastball.

Fausto needs someone who can relate to him (not that Silent Chuck has any similarities with FC, but he also struggled with command of his sinker). Just a thought.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Same situation with the Tribe bats and the hitting coach. All the instruction in the world won't make the person make the adjustments when they get on the field, and it's not like the pitching coach we have wasn't a major league pitcher.

Sometimes the lessons just don't stick, or aren't even taken into account.

If this season plays out as it seems, Fausto will have had twice as many bad seasons as good ones as a major leaguer. Maybe the fluke season was the one where he won 19, not the ones where is ERA is closer to 6.

[Am I Here Again?]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Same situation with the Tribe bats and the hitting coach. All the instruction in the world won't make the person make the adjustments when they get on the field, and it's not like the pitching coach we have wasn't a major league pitcher.....

I listened to the Padres feed of the Bahstun game yesterday afternoon (because it's so much fun to listen to the Red Sux lose ) and one of the announcers made an interesting statement about hitting. He said that once a guy makes the majors it really hard to get them to change anything about the way they play. That the best time is low-A and as someone moves up they get more deeply ingrained in their own approach. I would think the same could be said for pitchers. Fausto showed some adjustments when he returned from his Exile of Shame in 2009 but since that time he's reverted to HIS way of doing things.

[Dnthateonthepronk]

He throws a heavy sinker.

The problem is team just dont swing at it anymore, as he hardly throws it for a strike. It always bites to hard and drops way low. He's got better stuff than Jake Westbrook, but half the command. As they have very similar sinkers. In 07, nobody had seen him, thus teams didnt know what to make of that pitch. The league adjusted. And he hasnt been able to command it enough to be effective. It's pretty simple actually.

I agree .......but he adjusted back last year. I mean he had a pretty good year. He just had better command last year. His command this year in the last month has dissapeared and he becomes unhinged at the slightest sign of trouble. So while he will never repeat the success of 2007, due to what was stated above which is spot on, he has proven to have made some adjustments, evidenced by last year, It just all hinges on his command and having mental fortitude which he doesnt have.

[Symbolic47]

Yea he was MUCH better last year. But as some stated, he was able to control that sinker last year with some consistency. This season, its gone, almost 100%. Until he can throw that sinker in the zone with regularity, hes gonna struggle. Which is why Carmona frustrated me more than anyone on the team. He has the ability, but can never put together back to back good seasons. Its all command to beat the dead horse.