His wind up ritual is so exaggerated and comical I have to look away from the TV when he pitches. The only concession is he gets pulled out of the game sooner than anyone else on team.
Bubic is an example off how far off the mark the Royals are in their minor league pitching development and evaluation. They moved this guy up to the major leagues when they should have known he had issues with fastball command. The Royals may have cut off the head of their pitching development staff, but the tail still stinks.
While I agree that I’m still skeptical about their development plans, I think it’s important to remember why he pitched in the big leagues (and decently) in 2020. There was no minor league season. The only way for a young pitcher to pitch meaningful innings was to pitch in the big leagues. As a cerebral pitcher, they felt he could handle it. And he was solid. The circumstance forced their hand.
I've been saying this about all the young pitchers. They need to learn how to throw a good slider. Singer finally got it. I hope he can keep it up this season. Bubic throws too many curve balls and change ups and hangs both of them. All of this is amplified by the fact he has trouble getting the ball over the plate. He walks too many. Establish a good slider and fastball and work off those two pitches. Once he can control those pitches and get hitters swinging at his slider then start mixing in his curveball and changeup. Almost all of KC's pitchers had trouble getting the ball over the plate. If they can correct that then everything should fall into place. I still think a new pitching coach will help. I find it strange that almost all of their pitchers had trouble with walks. Even Keller and he's never had that happen before or at least as bad as last year. You get these starters so they can throw 7 or 8 innings then a lot of your bullpen problems go away
Well, they're going to need to get innings from SOMEBODY this year. Greinke is appearing more and more unlikely, and we can only hope that Singer stays healthy. Keller is a human question mark. Lynch... I know of no reason to count on him for anything. Ditto for Hernandez. Why not Bubic? Maybe he'll turn out to be the best bad option out of a bunch of bad options.
No bullpen has ever topped 1,000 innings in a season before. We may see it this year, right before all their arms fall off.
The only way the bullpen gets even close to 1,000 inning is if they go full opener for just about everyone like the 2018 Rays who had 800+ innings from their bullpen even though there's no easy way to track how many were "bulk" innings. It may not be the worst idea for everyone but Singer, honestly.
That said, I'd bet on Lynch taking a step forward before anyone and if you tell me right now that he has a better 2023 than Singer, I'd be a little surprised, but it wouldn't knock me off my chair. He's adaptable, he threw strikes in the second half and he has a legitimate strikeout weapon with his slider. If Brian Sweeney and Zach Bove can get him to locate a fastball that *should* be better in a better way, he could have a really good season.
I should have posted a sarcasm alert before I made that 1,000 inning comment. I really don't think their bullpen will get there unless they use an "opener" in almost every game, which strikes me as extraordinarily unlikely. Gawd, I hope they don't get there!
I’ve noticed that some of the pitchers acquired this offseason use a cutter. This is a pitch that has not historically been used, taught, or sought after in trades during the Moore era. Royals even got rid of Junis after his brother taught him the pitch . Could this be a useful pitch for some of our youngsters? It certainly worked for Mariano Rivera for a long while.
First, I’d say the Junis situation had very little to do with a cutter, but it is true they didn’t use many cutters at all over the last few years. I think that would be fine too, but the reason I lean to the slider with Bubic is it’s a pitch he already learned and developed. But any additional weapon a pitcher can add is helpful.
Good read
His wind up ritual is so exaggerated and comical I have to look away from the TV when he pitches. The only concession is he gets pulled out of the game sooner than anyone else on team.
Yeah, anything he can do to shorten that wind up would probably help him. He's not at the Johnny Cueto level yet.
I agree and I forgot to mention that. I don't know how many times I watched him and said just throw the ball and stop with the stupid windup
This was excellent. I hope he grows more confident and succeeds! Thanks for this article, David.
Bubic is an example off how far off the mark the Royals are in their minor league pitching development and evaluation. They moved this guy up to the major leagues when they should have known he had issues with fastball command. The Royals may have cut off the head of their pitching development staff, but the tail still stinks.
While I agree that I’m still skeptical about their development plans, I think it’s important to remember why he pitched in the big leagues (and decently) in 2020. There was no minor league season. The only way for a young pitcher to pitch meaningful innings was to pitch in the big leagues. As a cerebral pitcher, they felt he could handle it. And he was solid. The circumstance forced their hand.
I've been saying this about all the young pitchers. They need to learn how to throw a good slider. Singer finally got it. I hope he can keep it up this season. Bubic throws too many curve balls and change ups and hangs both of them. All of this is amplified by the fact he has trouble getting the ball over the plate. He walks too many. Establish a good slider and fastball and work off those two pitches. Once he can control those pitches and get hitters swinging at his slider then start mixing in his curveball and changeup. Almost all of KC's pitchers had trouble getting the ball over the plate. If they can correct that then everything should fall into place. I still think a new pitching coach will help. I find it strange that almost all of their pitchers had trouble with walks. Even Keller and he's never had that happen before or at least as bad as last year. You get these starters so they can throw 7 or 8 innings then a lot of your bullpen problems go away
Well, they're going to need to get innings from SOMEBODY this year. Greinke is appearing more and more unlikely, and we can only hope that Singer stays healthy. Keller is a human question mark. Lynch... I know of no reason to count on him for anything. Ditto for Hernandez. Why not Bubic? Maybe he'll turn out to be the best bad option out of a bunch of bad options.
No bullpen has ever topped 1,000 innings in a season before. We may see it this year, right before all their arms fall off.
The only way the bullpen gets even close to 1,000 inning is if they go full opener for just about everyone like the 2018 Rays who had 800+ innings from their bullpen even though there's no easy way to track how many were "bulk" innings. It may not be the worst idea for everyone but Singer, honestly.
That said, I'd bet on Lynch taking a step forward before anyone and if you tell me right now that he has a better 2023 than Singer, I'd be a little surprised, but it wouldn't knock me off my chair. He's adaptable, he threw strikes in the second half and he has a legitimate strikeout weapon with his slider. If Brian Sweeney and Zach Bove can get him to locate a fastball that *should* be better in a better way, he could have a really good season.
I hope you're right about Lynch!
I should have posted a sarcasm alert before I made that 1,000 inning comment. I really don't think their bullpen will get there unless they use an "opener" in almost every game, which strikes me as extraordinarily unlikely. Gawd, I hope they don't get there!
If it helps them win games, I don't care if they get 162 starts of one inning and the rest is bullpen.
I’ve noticed that some of the pitchers acquired this offseason use a cutter. This is a pitch that has not historically been used, taught, or sought after in trades during the Moore era. Royals even got rid of Junis after his brother taught him the pitch . Could this be a useful pitch for some of our youngsters? It certainly worked for Mariano Rivera for a long while.
First, I’d say the Junis situation had very little to do with a cutter, but it is true they didn’t use many cutters at all over the last few years. I think that would be fine too, but the reason I lean to the slider with Bubic is it’s a pitch he already learned and developed. But any additional weapon a pitcher can add is helpful.