The scary part is that they added to the unit by dealing Tommy Hanson for Jordan Walden. You could go on and on about how great Kimbrel was last year and post an endless list of crazy stats. Tenure is a beautiful thing. Both Hell Boy and Kimbrel this fellow needs a menacing, pee-your-pants-upon-hearing-it nickname seemingly have very bright futures ahead of them.
Today, I want to hear you opinions on a different question: which rookie pitcher minimum 50 IP in has the most long-term value? In other words, if you could only have one rookie hurler, which would you choose? However, he was playing in rookie ball.
Sale's delivery isn't the most violent delivery any of us have ever seen, but it's a delivery that puts a ton of stress on his left elbow. His whole body moves toward the plate, and then his left forearm cracks like a whip when he delivers the ball.
He's able to generate some pretty good velocity. Per FanGraphs , Sale's fastball is consistently crossing the plate in the low 90s. He's capable of cranking it up to the mid 90s. Sale made the transition from reliever to starter this year. That, naturally, means more fastballs, and that means more work for his left elbow. It doesn't help that his best breaking pitch is his slider, a pitch that is notoriously tough on elbows. Thursday's MRI may not reveal anything, but it may be just a matter of time before Sale does get some bad news.
Video: Max Scherzer punches out nine White Sox in seven innings. It's actually a little hard to notice just how violent Max Scherzer's delivery is. This has a lot to do with how he eases into his delivery very slowly, as if to lull hitters asleep. And then he absolutely explodes when he throws the ball. As you can see in the picture, his throwing motion is violent enough to send him head-over-heels in his follow-through.
Credit where credit is due, Scherzer hasn't shown any kind of warning signs that he may be falling apart over the last couple seasons. He topped innings in and , and his fastball has been coming in at right around 93 miles per hour since , per FanGraphs. According to The Arizona Republic , concerns over Scherzer's violent delivery helped convince the Diamondbacks to trade him to the Tigers in the first place.
He hasn't had any major health issues since the trade, but the Diamondbacks obviously figured that time would tell. If the injury bug does bite Scherzer, it will probably go for his shoulder. That's where a lot of the violent energy in his delivery is focused.
Video: Walden collects his first save of the season. Unlike Chris Sale, Jordan Walden is a big dude who also has plenty of girth. He fits the familiar mold of a major league power pitcher. With Walden, it's all about upper body strength. He does generate some pretty good power with his legs, but there's an odd sort of pause in his delivery where his main source of power is shifted from his legs to his upper body. This energy transfer gives him the ability to throw his fastball as fast as miles per hour.
The issue is how Walden delivers the ball. His delivery helps him hide the ball pretty well, but it also leads to a short-arm throwing motion. In the long run, this motion is going to put a lot of stress on his shoulder and elbow. They've already allowed runs in the month. They allowed less than runs in each April and May for the entire respective month.
It's only August 17, so the runs allowed are a major issue. The starting rotation -- other than Jered Weaver -- does have to shoulder some of the blame, but the bullpen has been awful. In the 15 August games, the Angels' bullpen has five losses, five blown saves, an 8.
Until now, the Angels hope. We and our partners use cookies on this site to provide a better experience with content, analytics, ads and to help improve security on our site. To accept cookies, close this box or continue to use our site, otherwise please do not use this website.
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