I went to bar yesterday to watch the Vikings play the Bucs.

 

Skooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooollll!!!

 

But I digress.

 

Back at home I found out that Tyler Duffey had pitched a relative gem over six innings. Had to see that, so I went to mlb.com and watched mostly just the half innings where Duffey pitched. It was very revealing. I had no idea that Duffey was a curve ball specialist. Nothing in the Twins pipeline bio snippet said anything about it. The tool list said, "Curveball: 50."

 

Really????? Duffey has the best curveball for a Twins pitcher that I've seen since Bert Blyleven, who for some inane reason kept insisting that Duffey was throwing a slider. Not a curve? Not a vertical drop? Are you kidding? And a rating of 50?

 

Tyler Duffey is a freeeking curveball ARTIST. He is fundamentally a backwards pitcher, using that jug-handle hook to set up everything else, including his fastball, which by the way is not just a 91 mph nothing pitch. In fact, Duffey has a pretty good assortment of non-curve pitches, and he's able to spot them around the zone pretty darn well.

 

Mainly he threw curves and heat, drawing a huge number of whiffs from a team that supposed to have a seriously good bunch of hitters. But here's the thing: Batters weren't merely whiffing; they were missing the ball by half a foot. That's what Corey Kluber was doing to Twins batters one game earlier. Duffey may actually have the same potential to dominate that Kluber does. On a good night, of course.

 

Obviously teams will build up a book on Duffey and try to adjust. Maybe they'll learn to lay off the pitches he had diving down out of the zone. Maybe. Thing is, it could be a fast ball riding the same plane, I saw him do that, too. Indians hitters clearly were having a tough time reading pitches out of Duffey's hand.

 

That said, if we're going to be honest about how much of a weapon Duffey's curve is, I'd rate it a 70. Not on speed, like a fast ball, but on effectiveness. He can do just about anything with that pitch. Huge late break, and he can bounce it six inches behind the plate, nip the right corner, or anywhere else. I'm assuming that teams will try to lay off it in the future. What will Duffey do then? I will definitely want to see.

 

Tyler Duffey's got the weapons to be a much better pitcher than I realized. What will he look like once the last remaining rookie nerves are gone? Better than last night?

Edited August 16, 201511 yr by jimbo92107

Congrats to him on a great game.

I just watched the highlights. Some of the pitched were straight filthy. The third strike to Aviles in the 3rd amazing.

And congrats to the Twins for drafting a relief pitcher and successfully converting him into a starter.

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 201511 yr by birdwatcher

 

And congrats to the Twins for drafting a relief pitcher and successfully converting him into a starter.

 

Give it a year or three to proclaim success

 

2 starts. 6.75 ERA, 6.99 FIP.  Doesn't smell like a total success here.   Joe Nathan after his first 2 career starts (15 IP) was 2-0 with an 1.20 ERA.  Glen Perkins was 0-1 and 3.75 ERA (12 IP) after his first 2 starts, for example.

Give it a year or three to proclaim success

 

2 starts. 6.75 ERA, 6.99 FIP.  Doesn't smell like a total success here.   Joe Nathan after his first 2 career starts (15 IP) was 2-0 with an 1.20 ERA.  Glen Perkins was 0-1 and 3.75 ERA (12 IP) after his first 2 starts, for example.

Gee, Thrylos, you're just a Debby Downer today, buds!

Sam Holbrook helped him out quite a bit IMO.

 

Give it a year or three to proclaim success

 

2 starts. 6.75 ERA, 6.99 FIP.  Doesn't smell like a total success here.   Joe Nathan after his first 2 career starts (15 IP) was 2-0 with an 1.20 ERA.  Glen Perkins was 0-1 and 3.75 ERA (12 IP) after his first 2 starts, for example.

 

 

OK, no problem, as long as we give it a year or three before proclaiming failure too.

 

Perkins was a starter in college though, right? And wasn't Nathan a shortstop?

Edited August 17, 201511 yr by birdwatcher

I've read a couple of places about Duffey's curveball... 

 

It's always been his pitch. He normally has really good control, and even on Saturday night there were several times when he was overthrowing. He can be a solid MLB starter. I think hi's about the same place that Trevor May was when he was called up a year ago. 

 

Will he be a starter in the long-term? I don't know. The fact that there are Hughes, Santana, Gibson, maybe Nolasco, possibly Milone, May, Berrios around as well may push him to the bullpen with the Twins...

Looked pretty good last night.

What I noticed about the curve is that he can change the tilt too. Sometimes is 12 to 6, sometimes comes in an angle. It looks like is going to be in the middle of the plate, and all of a sudden, it is not there.