Mike Pelfrey retired the first seven batters he faced last night, five of them on ground balls. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Then it unraveled for him as it usually does and you knew it would be one of those nights when Ian Desmond homered in the fifth.
I really don’t want to hear how Pelfrey has been distracted with by getting married and having a kid. The bottom line is Pelfrey has regressed dramatically this season to the point where you have to wonder if he’ll ever make it.
PELFREY: Another disappointing start.
Manager Jerry Manuel said he’s in the 2010 rotation, but it’s by default as the Mets are so pitching depleted that they have to run with Pelfrey’s potential much the same way they do with Oliver Perez.
The fact is, if the Mets had other options, Pelfrey would have been better off in the minor leagues. He’s done for the season with a lackluster 10-12 record, accumulated by the same old mistakes.
Pelfrey loses his concentration when things go wrong and starts to walk hitters. He’s also not been able to develop his secondary pitches and throw them for strikes.
When he’s on, his sinker is a brutal pitch, but when he gets in trouble he tends to overthrow the pitch instead of taking something off it. When a pitcher overthrows in an attempt to throw harder, the pitch flattens out and rises. It becomes a fastball that doesn’t move, and movement is far more important than velocity.
This is what happens to Pelfrey, and consequently, hitters sit on that fastball and he gets crushed.
The physical tools are there, but he’s not thinking like a pitcher. He’s become a thrower, and far too often what he ends up throwing is batting practice.
This post was written by John Delcos
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The single most disappointment of this miserable year is Mr. Pelfrey. He has set this staff back potentially for the next 5 years.
I’m not that surprised the he regressed. He never gave me a lot of confidence when I watched him. He doesn’t seem to have confidence in himself. He always looks a little bit nervous out there. He very rarely settles into a groove where he’s hitting his spots consistently.
Also his stuff is just good, not great. He’s not overpowering at all. The kind of pitcher that Peterson turned him into is Derek Lowe. Thats his upside. Sure Lowe’s good so if he gets there I’ll take it, but the promise of a dominating power pitcher seems to have faded.
John,
You say a lot that Bobby O said after the game. He wants Pelf to throw the other pitches because it will help his fastball.
The best thing for Pelf would be a trip to the minors where they would instruct him to use something other than a fastball 1/2 the time. Force him to be comfortable with 2 other pitches.
John –
“I really don’t want to hear how Pelfrey has been distracted by getting married and having a kid”
I’ve never heard that excuse from any player before, unless their child had some sort of medical problem like Posada’s son. This tells me that Pelfrey is more of a baby than his child. What he needs to do is Grow Up.
URGENT: Go to metsblog and take the survey. One quesiton asks what your favorite mets site is…. Lets put Delcos’ site on top!
Annie,
I think John was quoting some posts here, not Pelf himself.
harry
Did that yesterday.
By the way, John, a survey is something you should do too…
You’re a good man dave!!!!!
Kevin Burkhardt was talking about Pelfry’s baby during the broadcast. The gist that I got was that Pelfry thought it helped him because it gave more incentive to succeed.