The results were lousy but I was still impressed by his stuff. 92-94 velocity is better than we're used to seeing and his slider looked good to me. Not sure about the cuverball or changeup. He was wilder than I expected but that might be due to post-TJ recovery. Certainly he had decent command in the minors so I would bet on that improving.

Per the time he was removed from TJ I feel he was ok. His control should be better this year and I expect we will see good stuff. Regarding the hype, I think people on this site were more or less level-headed about it. The mainstream media was much more hyped. They have to hype up something.

When he was brought up he had pitched near top of innings for pitcher recovering from Tommy-John surgery. I think he was worn down and his control and pitch movement had been effected from being worn down. I bet when we see him again were going to see much more polished pitcher who has better control of his pitches. I also think it was good learning experience for him to know what he had to work on. I think this why Twins did bring him up last year it was teaching experience and also reward that he is in their future plans. I think he will become effective middle of road starter that could have few real quality years for the Twins barring any further injury.

I felt watching him that:

1) his sinker was outstanding

2) the ball broke more than the umpire was expecting and he got screwed in ball/strike calling

This was backed up by Inside Edge - Gibson was the fifth most-victimized pitcher in MLB in % of called strikes on pitches taken in-zone. (This was also explained by Parker - http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php/4458-Have-the-Twins-been-screwed-by-umpires)

I don't know if the umps will start calling his strikes, but I am confident he will be a decent starter for the Twins.

I still think Gibson will follow the path of the previous Kyle (Lohse). We will never know which one will show up. What we saw last year in his stint here, or a pretty good prospect some project him to be.

He does need to start at Rochester this year and work his way back. If Hughes, Nolasco, etc pitch well, then Gibson becomes excess. I do think between injuries and lack of effectiveness from one of the projected starters, Gibson will get a shot. IMHO he wont show much.

I felt watching him that:

 

1) his sinker was outstanding

2) the ball broke more than the umpire was expecting and he got screwed in ball/strike calling

 

This was backed up by Inside Edge - Gibson was the fifth most-victimized pitcher in MLB in % of called strikes on pitches taken in-zone. (This was also explained by Parker - http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php/4458-Have-the-Twins-been-screwed-by-umpires)

 

I don't know if the umps will start calling his strikes' date=' but I am confident he will be a decent starter for the Twins.[/font']

 

Nice post. I remember reading that article after reading it again. No way I could remember it off the top of my head. I guess he'll get more calls after he has been more successful, but we are getting into a chicken or the egg argument at that point.