Trevor May States His Case

Whether it is Milone or May, I won't get too upset as both can be a part of our future if they pitch well.  Pelfrey on the other hand.......

Trevor May seems to be ready. I sure hope Paul and Terry find a spot for him when the team heads north next month.

“Out of the stretch, he started elevating. He got the strikeout on the high fastball but his pitches were changing,” said Molitor.

Bumgarner sure looked good elevating and then elevating more against the royals in game 7. Exactly what is wrong with elevating if the result is a strikeout?

I have been defending Millone but really want May to be the guy.   My own prediction is that he will be top three for  the year when all is said and done.    Nice move by Molitor though.   Nothing to be gained by leaving him out there.    Let him build strength and confidence but still notes that his pitches were maybe not being executed at the end. 

I want whoever is the best pitcher, and I have no idea who that is, but I will be a lot more excited if May makes the team.

“Out of the stretch, he started elevating. He got the strikeout on the high fastball but his pitches were changing,” said Molitor.

 

Bumgarner sure looked good elevating and then elevating more against the royals in game 7. Exactly what is wrong with elevating if the result is a strikeout?

There has been a lot of talk about that.    I guess my feeling is that some fastballs are designed to sink and those should be thrown low.     Up in the zone or even above the zone can be very effective.     I am guessing middle of the zone is the worst spot so if a sinking fastball is thrown there it is left up.   I wish Bert would distinguish between the two and occasionally say a tater pitch was left down in the zone if it was intended to be thrown high.     When watching May and Hughes last year it seemed a lot of the swing and misses were  above the waist.    I am guessing  in Mays case today he was simply losing command and that is usually preceded by throwing higher.

When a hitter golfs a pitch at his ankles over the fence, I know what Bert Blyleven's comment was even with the sound off. "He left that one up in the zone, and [your hitter's name here] dropped the barrell of his bat on the ball."

May is clearly the better choice than Milone. It isn't even funny at this point. 

The Twins look for reasons why a younger player is not quite ready for the Bigs.  After Kubel, Bartlett and Guerrier last year, and legions in the years prior, it's never the right time to bring young talent, but, it's always the perfect time to bring veterans -- who then go on to underperform and create a void that has to be filled by untested players.  Yeah, there's more talent in the system finally, but it is still irritating to see the Twins FO never quite take the bit in its mouth:  It's about rebuilding, not retooling with aged parts.

I think it should be May. He has the looks of a workhorse type pitcher, with some upside and stability. And hopefully he is part three of the next decent starting rotation. (The last one was a long time ago). Milone is what he is, a "crafty lefty". Crafty is good when your ball is darting just off the edge of the plate. Crafty turns to crappy when it's not! Even if he moderately succeeds as a starter he has no real value as trade bait. Now we turn to Pelfrey. I would put him in the bullpen. He throws hard, has not had a lot of success as a starter, I think is on his last contract year, and is owed a lot of money. I don't agree with the money issue as a determining facto but the FO does, and he is going to be somewhere. I just would not put Milone or May in the pen, and start him. I really think he has his future as a reliever.

pitches in the zone in my opinion is fools gold.  If you don't throw 95 those pitches are going to be deposited in the bleachers.  You can't live up in the zone, but i do think you need to take your shots.  Phil Hughes is a great example he is overpowering in the early innings and caan live up in the zone.  However, in the 4th-5th inning you usually lose 1-2 mph on your fastball so if you dont get the ball down your going to get hurt.  Another reason Hughes was so successful was deep F-7's at target field were homeruns at Yankee Stadium.  So he knew he could throw more pitches up and get away with them because of the ballpark.  So really it is a combination of things, velocity, location, ballpark.  The thing that I think Hughes learned last year when you start getting your fastball up then its time to mix in your breaking pitches more and just when guys are ready for that you sneak that fastball by him.  I know I am rambling, but I think Trevor May is far from a finished product and think he could use a little bit more time in Rochester to figure out the things that Phil Hughes figured out last year.  Just my 2 cents

Hughes learned in the big leagues.  There is only so much learning in the minors.  Let's start getting young arms in the bigs while they are still young.  We put up with Nolasco, Correia... because they were vets.  I want the Twins to get over that and start putting the young pitchers with major league coaches on major league mounds.

..... Another reason Hughes was so successful was deep F-7's at target field were homeruns at Yankee Stadium.  So he knew he could throw more pitches up and get away with them because of the ballpark.  

This is a bit off topic, but I see this claim a lot, and it needs to be addressed. This still doesn't appear to be true. Just as the Metrodome was bigger in virtually all dimensions than Target Field..... (but is commonly and wrongly referred to as more spacious............)

http://www.ballparkmagic.com/PlayingField.html

.....other than just down the left field foul line and maybe the first 20-25 feet in, new Yankee Stadium is more spacious in left field than Target.

http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/YankeeStadium_II.html

Nothing, if that's what you're trying to do as a pitcher... Scott Baker thrived on a rising fastball that was missed or popped up weakly.

 

If the pitcher isn't trying to elevate but does it on accident, that usually means he's throwing it right down the pipe.

By rising fastball do you mean a high fastball.  Physics tells us that a pitches don't rise. Sam Fuld's dad did a study on this, by the way :-)

There's only so much learning you can do in the minors.  I think Meyer still has things to learn.  I think May is ready and needs to be in the majors.  Millone, I'd trade him personally.  I think at the end of the day you can get him for cap space, which is still a pretty good return on Sam Fuld.

Agreed. However, the Twins seem to have a fascination with Mike Pelfrey and Milone.    

There's only so much learning you can do in the minors.  I think Meyer still has things to learn.  I think May is ready and needs to be in the majors.  Millone, I'd trade him personally.  I think at the end of the day you can get him for cap space, which is still a pretty good return on Sam Fuld.

Not saying you're wrong about Meyer and May, but I'm interested in knowing why you feel this way other than the fact the Twins sent Meyer down already and they haven't done so with May (along with May having a few games in the majors with wildly inconsistent results).

Also, cap space?  Please elaborate.

International signing cap space. With the Twins rumored to be in on what's-his-face (DR SS), they could use more international cap space.

and trading Milone would add to our international cap space?