The Range of Ability

Andy Ferguson: Another Day, Another Double Play

Baseball players, especially amateurs, are not robots capable of repeating physical movements exactly the same way each time. Instead, they are human beings that have to work and practice to try and achieve some level of consistency.

With most skills, we accept the fact that the difficulty of the game does not allow us to always be successful. Whether it’s at the plate, in the field, or on the mound, we realize that even the best and most talented do not perform to their potential every time.

However, when it comes to hot button measures of skills like running times and pitch velocities, most people think they are robots. Before we get more into them however, let’s look at a couple of other scenarios.

Hitters should be somewhat familiar with a back panel tee drill. Tee up a high strike in the middle of the plate, and take ten swings with the goal of producing ten line drives into the back panel of the cage net. If you haven’t done this before, you should. After working on it, think about how many you can get out of your round of ten. Assuming you don’t change the tee height or position, the only thing that changes with each pass is your swing. How well can you repeat it?
Pitchers should be familiar with throwing to very specific locations during bullpen sessions - fastballs low and away, in and off the plate, along with similarly appropriate locations for secondary pitches. Much like above, if you don’t push yourself in your workouts you never really get better. Think about your ability to throw up to five consecutive fastballs to a particular spot, then think about breaking balls or changeups. As long as the target stays the same, the only thing that changes from pitch to pitch is your delivery. How well can you repeat it?

Most players, and pitchers alike, will have varied success. Sometimes they can go 8 for 10 on the back panel drill, or throw 5 fastballs in a row low and away. Other times they back panel 4 of 10, or hit their spot no more than twice in a row. However, we accept this and try to get better. Hitting and pitching are both difficult after all.

Now, think about running times. What’s your best 60-yard dash? Do you think you run that time regularly? What’s your worst? Having stood at the end of the 60 track with a stopwatch and/or a clipboard many times, I can tell you that most players (and parents) are shocked if the time is less than what they know to be their (or their son’s) best. The timer must have started early, or stopped late, or the track is slow, or we ran into the wind…

Same thing with velocity. The radar gun must not be working right, or it was at too much of an angle, or it must have been read wrong…

Why? If we can’t repeat ten swings off a tee, why do we think we should run 60-yards the same every time? If we can’t hit a spot five times in a row with a fastball, why do we think we should throw it the same speed every time?

We need to realize that these things vary, just as everything else does. Just like with the back panel drill, or execution of pitches in a bullpen session, players will perform within a range of ability. Sometimes they will be at the top, sometimes at the bottom, but most of the time somewhere in the middle.


Andy Ferguson is currently the Senior Director of Baseball Operations with the Baseball Factory. Ferguson joined the North Carolina State baseball team as a walk-on, and went on to solidify his role on a team that participated in four consecutive NCAA Regionals. He later coached with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and then served as an Associate Scout with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres.

Investing in the Future…

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?
I recently read a great chat with Jayson Stark from ESPN.com and Baseball America about the worst baseball free agent signings in the history of the game. The conversation came up after the San Francisco Giants announced that they were moving Barry Zito to the bullpen. In other words, the Giants may be paying Zito approx. $14.5 Million dollars in 2008 to be a lefty specialist out of the pen. I guess they do need someone to fill that role after getting rid of Steve Kline. Lefties did hit .318 against Kline in 2007. Zito has to be able to do better than that, right?

I won't hold my breath. Lefties are hitting .348 against Zito so far this year.

So if Zito truly is this bad, what prompted the Giants to pay $126 Million over seven years? How did they not see this coming? They had to have some good reasons, right? Well, here’s what I’ve come up with as potential reasons, or as we would now call them…Excuses:

1. When they signed Zito, he was 28. Many experts consider the years between 28 and 35 to be a pitcher’s prime. They’ve been battle tested, but haven’t killed their arm. They now have the best of both worlds: pitching ability and pitching knowledge, which can be a lethal combination.
   
   
2. His career ERA after the 2006 season was 3.55 (and that was in the AL). San Fran was moving him to the NL and another pitcher friendly park. AT&T Park ranked last in 2006 for homeruns allowed (the Oakland Coliseum was 24th).
   
   
3. He won 23 games in 2002 and took home the Cy Young award with a 2.75 ERA, showing that when on, he can be un-hittable.
   
   
4. Between 2001 and 2006 he made at least 34 starts throwing more than 210 innings each year. Now that’s consistent! What team wouldn’t want a lefty they can count on to pitch every fifth day for an entire season? And not just for one season, but for the next seven years.
   
   
5. According to a few sources, Zito plays the guitar, travels with his pillow and is as mellow as Jack Johnson off the field. What a great fit for the Bay Area.
   

So, can you really blame the Giants? They saw these positives and jumped on board. Hey, they were looking for a new face to the organization. From Barry (Bonds) to Barry (Zito), but with a lot less negative press. They saw this as a step in turning around the image and performance of the ball club.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked out. With Bonds, they looked naïve, turning a blind eye to an unnaturally enhanced slugger with an edgy personality…but he was always “just their Barry.” With Zito, they look like fools who completely missed the boat on a “proven ace” that now tops out at 84 MPH, can’t even get lefties out and is headed to the bullpen. Which is worse?

I expect to hear this statement from Bud Selig next year: “With the first pick, in the 2009 Amateur Baseball Draft, the San Francisco Giants select…Ryan Leaf, Quarterback, Washington State.”