Cover: Mike Pelfrey: The Next Cole Hamels Or The Next Gavin Floyd

[GaryG]

Mike Pelfrey: The Next Cole Hamels Or The Next Gavin Floyd?
By Matt Himelfarb
Published on Monday July 23, 2007

http://www.flushinguniversity.com/mo...ndecided.shtml

The Mets sent Pelfrey down because of terrible results earlier this year, and those terrible results were the residue of throwing nothing but his fastball. Pelfrey was than recalled from AAA because it’s easy to see that he eventually turned it on as the result of improved secondary stuff

Matt likes Mike Pelfrey's progress on his slider.

[Rob Karter]

Matt,

You're not getting much love today are you.

Good to see you're coming around with Pelfrey. The strikouts are your hook, which I understand, I'm looking forward for him to have more control and being able to pitch deeper into games too, in the future.

[Ed in Westchester]

Matt - Any thoughts as to why the Mets had Pelfrey give up his curveball for a slider? His curve may not have been a "plus" pitch, but he had at least thrown it for a while.

Also, there have been several stories of late where management for teams are annoyed with Boras, saying that he has his guys working with coaches on his payroll, who are telling players to do things that the teams do not want them to do. Texiera is mentioned, and someone said this could be what is going on with Pelfrey as well. Any thoughts on this?

I think Pelfrey was rushed. He spent little time in the minors, especially in light of the change to a slider, and I also believe he is changing his change-up to more of a circle change. To do that, and then not give him the time to fully develop in the minors is part of the reason I think he has struggled.

I hope he can give a good performance against the Nationals on Saturday.

[Matt Himelfarb]

Matt - Any thoughts as to why the Mets had Pelfrey give up his curveball for a slider? His curve may not have been a "plus" pitch, but he had at least thrown it for a while.

Also, there have been several stories of late where management for teams are annoyed with Boras, saying that he has his guys working with coaches on his payroll, who are telling players to do things that the teams do not want them to do. Texiera is mentioned, and someone said this could be what is going on with Pelfrey as well. Any thoughts on this?

I think Pelfrey was rushed. He spent little time in the minors, especially in light of the change to a slider, and I also believe he is changing his change-up to more of a circle change. To do that, and then not give him the time to fully develop in the minors is part of the reason I think he has struggled.

I hope he can give a good performance against the Nationals on Saturday.

While Pelfrey's CB was never great in college, but he used it effectively, and in 2006, he seemed to totally lose it. Once the AFL came around, he decided to ditch it and start working on developing a slider.

As far as him being rushed, I too believe he should've started the year in AAA- and that's me second guessing- because his secondary stuff clearly needed to be worked on. I hate when people say, however, that we shouldn't call up Philip Humber, (not that I believe he'll be an ace, as i said in my article, but he's a better option than some of the guys we've thrown ou there) because look what happened to Pelfrey. Different pitchers need more or less development time.

I'm honestly very confused about the subject surrounding Boras, and i wouldn't deal Pelfrey at this point because they'd be selling low.

His slider has improved though, no doubt, so all you can do is hope for the best Sat.

[*62]

Pelfrey hasn't shown decent location for more than two innings at a time in what I've seen. He's constantly behind in the count (only about a third of hitters see strike one), he misses with his out pitch when he is ahead, and he always has to find the middle of the plate when he needs a strike since his confidence level sucks and the umps don't give him an inch.

When someone can throw that hard, I like to see a curveball in the repertoire; call me old fashioned.

[writerhoward]

The Mets don't seem to be doing a good job of building Pelfrey's confidence in his ability to pitch in the big leagues. Who's their Triple-A pitching coach?

Howard

[DingoMets]

The Mets don't seem to be doing a good job of building Pelfrey's confidence in his ability to pitch in the big leagues. Who's their Triple-A pitching coach?

Howard

Some dude named Mark Brewer:

New Orleans Coaching Staff

[Nana7]

The Mets don't seem to be doing a good job of building Pelfrey's confidence in his ability to pitch in the big leagues. Who's their Triple-A pitching coach?

Howard

I don't know what the AAA pitching coach can do to build Pelfrey's confidence for the big time. Doesn't confidence come from experience and wins at the big league level?

If confidence is the issue, then IMO Pelfrey should be in the bullpen. Easier to build confidence 1 or 2 innings at a time in a non-pressure situation (like the last 2 innings of last night's game).

[MetsToday.com]

Pelfrey hasn't shown decent location for more than two innings at a time in what I've seen. He's constantly behind in the count (only about a third of hitters see strike one), he misses with his out pitch when he is ahead, and he always has to find the middle of the plate when he needs a strike since his confidence level sucks and the umps don't give him an inch.

When someone can throw that hard, I like to see a curveball in the repertoire; call me old fashioned.

Agree, agree, agree, and agree.

I like the curve too, for the simple reason that it is supposed to be thrown as a strike most of the time. The slider was never intended to be thrown for a strike, and few pitchers tried to until Leo Mazzone came along and said "a breaking ball is a breaking ball".

Unfortunately, most pitchers with an ounce of aptitude can learn a two-bit slider in about five minutes, while a curve can take years. And what choice do you think pitchers -- and coaches -- make in this microwave generation?