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NFT: Sonny Gray rant

blueblood'11 : 10/6/2017 11:42 am
I realize the Yankees didn’t do shit with the bats last night but this Sonny Gray is hard to watch pitch. He’s slow as molasses for one. There’s no doubt he has a lot of movement and is hard to catch. With that said he throws too damn many pitches.

I have never seen a guy who will get ahead of the hitter then throw pitch after pitch in the dirt or so far off the plate the batter would have to be blind to swing at it.

The guy is nothing more then a six inning pitcher if he’s lucky to get that far because he wastes so many pitches. I don’t understand his pitching strategy. If the hitter can’t make solid contact on strike one strike two what makes him think the hitter is going to have the upper hand on strike three. The hitter is now in protect mode and can’t really sit on any one pitch.

Yet, he has a way of getting the hitter back into the count and now he has to put it over the plate or walk him. And he walks a lot of hitters after getting ahead. He has not shown to be the pitcher as was advertised when the Yankees traded for him.
He certainly needs some work...  
jcn56 : 10/6/2017 11:57 am : link
and his last few starts haven't been pretty, but we didn't exactly fork over a truckload for him, and Cleveland has been really f'n good for some time now. Some patience is warranted here.
Patience  
blueblood'11 : 10/6/2017 12:01 pm : link
The guy is an established major leaguer. He comes with a reputation and has not come close to living up to it.
Two poor starts as a Yankee  
Kyle in NY : 10/6/2017 12:10 pm : link
Unfortunately one has now come in the playoffs. He was certainly living up to his reputation before that. I can't really disagree with any assessments about his performance last night. But the big conclusions about what kind of pitcher he now is are a bit much

He also had a single run scored for him in his three playoff starts. To go along with the awful run support in general that he's gotten since coming over. Pretty strange
Not a Yankees fan  
Rflairr : 10/6/2017 12:11 pm : link
But he doesn’t seem to pitch with confidence with Sanchez behind the plate. Seems reluctant to throw that hard slider. Not sure if Sanchez would actually catch it or block it
My main concern with him  
B in ALB : 10/6/2017 12:14 pm : link
Is that the team seems to get stale in the field behind him. They're out there standing around forever. Then they're cold when they're at the plate. Not sure if that makes sense, but he either needs to throw more strikes or work faster. It's a bit painful to watch at times.
.  
winoguy : 10/6/2017 12:16 pm : link
Sanchez is one of the worst defensive catchers Ive ever seen. Dont know how any pitcher could feel overly confident throwing to him.
Gray pitches like a finesse guy  
mac attack : 10/6/2017 12:19 pm : link
when he doesnt have to.

He tries to paint corners. The movement on his pitches should be enough to get hitters out. He ends up throwing more balls out of the zone than intended because of it.
My biggest issue with him is the frequency that he misses the strike z  
robbieballs2003 : 10/6/2017 12:25 pm : link
and by how much he misses the strike zone. I cannot remember another starting pitcher consistently bouncing balls before home plate or just missing outside by about 3 feet. You cannot consistently be effective that way.
robbie  
blueblood'11 : 10/6/2017 12:46 pm : link
My point exactly. His stuff is good enough and has so much movement he wouldn’t have to consistently bounce pitches in the dirt or throw it so far off the plate trying to get the hitter to chase. It’s like his mind set is that okay I have two strikes let’s get him to chase a bad pitch and don’t throw anymore pitches in the strike zone. It’s maddening watching this guy pitch.
even when he's "on" you can't count on him to go more than 5 or 6  
Victor in CT : 10/6/2017 1:37 pm : link
I think the only game he went 7 or more here was the 8 inning complete game loss at BAL. He nibbles too much and throws too many pitches. 3 and fucking 2 on EVERYONE. Slow, 28 seconds avg between pitches, boring as hell to watch, and it must be torture to play behind him in the field. He's one of the minions in the fat part of the bell curve of pitchers. 5-6 innings, some days 1 or 2 runs, others 4 or 5. Not a bad pitcher, but certainly not a great pitcher.
I can tell you as a former INF.....  
BillKo : 10/6/2017 1:43 pm : link
we like pitchers who throw strikes, and work fast.

Nothing worse than a guy who nibbles, walks batters, then looks at you like you have two heads when you make an error and runs score..............
his problem  
Dankbeerman : 10/6/2017 1:48 pm : link
is he tries to go outside the zone but he almost over throws so his piches start out and stay out. last night the ump was calling anything close a strike but he was way off. He needs to start better and let the ball move.

He stinks  
RetroJint : 10/6/2017 1:52 pm : link
He reminds me of what Bill Walsh once said about his first QB with the Niners. Steve Deberg: "He's just good enough to get you beat." Screw the quality starts & rest of the cheap shit. Ponder what the Professor meant & you will have the scoop on Sonny.

Told my nephew who is an aspiring pitcher. A good one. They would have been better off with Monty or Garcia in that start .
RE: He stinks  
Greg from LI : 10/6/2017 2:16 pm : link
In comment 13633101 RetroJint said:
Quote:
He reminds me of what Bill Walsh once said about his first QB with the Niners. Steve Deberg: "He's just good enough to get you beat." Screw the quality starts & rest of the cheap shit. Ponder what the Professor meant & you will have the scoop on Sonny.

Told my nephew who is an aspiring pitcher. A good one. They would have been better off with Monty or Garcia in that start .


Hey, does Didi still not have enough arm to play shortstop? Asking for a friend.
RE: He stinks  
Kyle in NY : 10/6/2017 2:19 pm : link
In comment 13633101 RetroJint said:
Quote:
He reminds me of what Bill Walsh once said about his first QB with the Niners. Steve Deberg: "He's just good enough to get you beat." Screw the quality starts & rest of the cheap shit. Ponder what the Professor meant & you will have the scoop on Sonny.

Told my nephew who is an aspiring pitcher. A good one. They would have been better off with Monty or Garcia in that start .


Wow. Just wow.
He pitches scared  
Peter from NH (formerly CT) : 10/6/2017 2:28 pm : link
then comes in with the pitch when he has to. Painful to watch..
Gray is OK  
Dave in PA : 10/6/2017 2:34 pm : link
I took heat for mild criticism of him yesterday, but I'm not too far off. This was a nice bounce back year for him after a disastrous 2016. In 27 stars he had 17 QS and pitched 7 innings or more 7 times. Not Earth shattering stuff there, but if he's your #3 and your 1 and 2 guys are definitively better than him, then you're in a pretty good spot. The Yankees problem is that their ace is a kid with no experience who couldn't handle the pressure in the WC game so who knows what he gives them in this series and the Yankees don't really have a #2, just 3 guys who on any given day are capable of beating most teams in the league.

When compared to the other current playoff teams, the Yankees have at best the 5th best rotation behind LAD, CLE, WSH and HOU. Sonny Gray is not a problem. Having only one pitcher who's definitively better than him and very raw in his own right definitely is.
Sonny Gray  
Kyle in NY : 10/6/2017 2:34 pm : link
out-pitched Justin Verlander in the playoffs as a rookie. He threw a complete game shutout to clinch a playoff spot on the final day of the season in 2014. He finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting in 2015

He is not "scared." He simply doesn't have his command right now. He's not throwing 58 foot curveballs because he's afraid to come into the zone. It's because he has no feel for his pitches right now and simply can't locate.
RE: Sonny Gray  
Heisenberg : 10/6/2017 2:38 pm : link
In comment 13633158 Kyle in NY said:
Quote:
out-pitched Justin Verlander in the playoffs as a rookie. He threw a complete game shutout to clinch a playoff spot on the final day of the season in 2014. He finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting in 2015

He is not "scared." He simply doesn't have his command right now. He's not throwing 58 foot curveballs because he's afraid to come into the zone. It's because he has no feel for his pitches right now and simply can't locate.


+1

Let's not overreact to a third of a season and one playoff start.
Gray OP  
Percy : 10/6/2017 2:57 pm : link
Totally agree. Yankees did not assess this guy properly (following in the Giants' footsteps), probably because their starting pitching was and is so poor overall. Gray has not improved that -- and won't. Result: not so ready for prime time after all.
Holy Shitfuck...  
JCin332 : 10/6/2017 3:37 pm : link
this is almost as bad as a game thread...
The Yankees  
PaulBlakeTSU : 10/6/2017 3:49 pm : link
were getting no-hit into the 6th inning and you're starting a thread to rant about Sonny Gray? He certainly had a better outing than Severino did in these playoffs so far.

Also, winoguy, Sanchez struggles blocking pitches in the dirt but he actually rates really well at pitch-framing with a very strong arm.
RE: The Yankees  
Dave in PA : 10/6/2017 3:55 pm : link
In comment 13633218 PaulBlakeTSU said:
Quote:
were getting no-hit into the 6th inning and you're starting a thread to rant about Sonny Gray? He certainly had a better outing than Severino did in these playoffs so far.

Also, winoguy, Sanchez struggles blocking pitches in the dirt but he actually rates really well at pitch-framing with a very strong arm.
Sanchez may have a lot of work to do this offseason with blocking balls, but he's got to have the best arm of any catcher in baseball.
ERA+ 122 in 11 starts for the Yankees  
arniefez : 10/6/2017 4:22 pm : link
Hopefully he gets 30 starts next year. An excellent trade for the Yankees.
Dave  
PaulBlakeTSU : 10/6/2017 4:23 pm : link
I wonder what is going on behind the scenes with the Yankees brass and Sanchez regarding how long they plan to keep him at catcher or whether they want to go the Joe Mauer / VMart route.
RE: Holy Shitfuck...  
Stu11 : 10/6/2017 4:29 pm : link
In comment 13633208 JCin332 said:
Quote:
this is almost as bad as a game thread...

Naaa this is better. Stick all the friggen Sony Gray whiners in one place and we can get on with intelligent discussion of the series in the other threads.
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