http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/08/read-sox-yoan-moncadas-whiffs-clay-buchholzs-success-and-more/ Bringing BP-quality analysis to Boston Mon, 20 Aug 2018 04:19:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/08/read-sox-yoan-moncadas-whiffs-clay-buchholzs-success-and-more/#comment-8497 Thu, 08 Sep 2016 23:10:08 +0000 http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7482#comment-8497 Sure thing! I think part of the issue is that, at the moment, pitchers are throwing breaking balls for strikes against him partially because they’re not worried he’s going to do anything about it. Obviously, pitchers don’t always want to live in the zone with their off-speed stuff, but so far Moncada hasn’t made anyone pay.
In his first AB Tuesday, the first two pitches thrown to Moncada were breaking balls (taken), the count 1-1. Three fastballs worked the count full before he was caught looking at another curve for strike three. Fine. Getting a hook with a full count is tough to deal with. Second AB: he fouled off a fastball and swung and missed at a curve down and in (close to the plate). Took a ball on another curve before swinging and missing at a third one. If a pitcher can think “I can throw this dude the same breaking ball three straight times and get him to strike out,” there’s some work to be done. Third AB he struck out on a fastball, fourth AB he fell behind 1-2 on fastballs before being frozen by a slider.
More quickly: Monday’s first AB, he fell behind on slider’s 0-2, worked the count full, swung and missed at a fastball. Second: took a changeup for strike one, fouled off a slider, missed a slider for strike three. Third: didn’t even see a fastball, worked the count full (changeups and curves) before swinging and missing at a curveball. So, sometimes you’re right and he’s taking breaking pitches early in counts. But if pitchers know they can get away with that and still wipe him out (swinging or looking) with more offspeed pitches, I’m not sure that’s any better.

]]> http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/09/08/read-sox-yoan-moncadas-whiffs-clay-buchholzs-success-and-more/#comment-8495 Thu, 08 Sep 2016 21:10:57 +0000 http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=7482#comment-8495 On Moncada – can you comment more on approach. Okay – 7 KOs in a row is bad, get it. But I would feel better if his approach was to properly take breaking stuff early in the count. It’s tough to consistently throwing breaking balls for strikes – so usually passing over “soft stuff” result in being ahead and waiting for FBs in + count situations. Are pitchers just throwing a lot of soft stuff for strikes against Moncada, getting ahead, and then striking him out with breaking balls?

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