Laurila: Q&A with Oakland A’s manager Bob Melvin
From SABR member David Laurila at FanGraphs on December 10, 2012:
Bob Melvin was named American League Manager of the Year after leading the overachieving Oakland A’s to a playoff berth. It was an honor well-deserved. The 51-year-old former big-league catcher knows how to nurture young talent, and the squad he skippered was laden with first- and second-year players. Melvin discussed five rookie members of his pitching staff during last week’s winter meetings.
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David Laurila: Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin all had relatively low strikeout rates. What does that mean for their success?
Bob Melvin: It means they can get deeper in games, and with younger guys, you really want them to cut down on their pitch counts.
As far as Tommy Milone, he’s more touch-and-feel, put the ball in play and keep it in the big part of the ballpark. He’ll use his changeup. He’s not really a strikeout guy, even though he has the ability to strike guys out.
A.J. Griffin has four pitches and he’s very unpredictable about when and where he is throwing them.
I think you’ll see Jarrod Parker potentially strike more guys out. His changeup is a strikeout pitch. He’s getting much better about the command of his fastball and where he wants to throw it. His velocity was 89-92 at times last year. Other times it was 92-95 and when it was 92-95 he was striking guys out.
Read the full article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/qa-bob-melvin-on-five-rookie-pitchers/
Originally published: December 10, 2012. Last Updated: December 10, 2012.