JUSTgottaBELIEVE

Stay hot Yo Yo

Tilson has been a really tough out since his callup

I wish McCann could catch every game. He’s been the real MVP for the Sox this season. It’s a completely different team with him at catcher compared to Castillo.

Robert has 15 SBs in 39 games this year. Seems like he has legitimate 30/30 potential in the big leagues early in his career. I can’t think of many center fielders that have done that over the past couple decades. Looks like Trout has only done it once in his career, back in 2012 his first full season in MLB.

Great to see the Sox offense take advantage of the error. Something they haven’t done well in the past. Error led to 3 unearned runs.

Dude, Sox are winning 4-1 on the road against the Twins’ best starting pitcher and you’re sitting here obsessed with last winter repeating the same shit in the game thread you repeat in every other thread. Please take it to the other threads dedicated to that shit. Thank you

^

Nope, didn’t say that. It was lack of control (mechanical issues) compounded by mental issues. Simply pointing to advanced metrics and saying his stuff was terrible is too simplistic. Why was his stuff bad? It was clearly very good just 2-3 years ago. Where did it go? He’s not even 25 years old yet. Did his stuff suddenly vanish with no hope of returning? It seems that was your position a few months ago...

If true, then you are severely underrating the mental aspect of the game and how that can affect performance, something Giolito was clearly struggling with last year. These are human beings, not robots. His mechanical issues compounded with his mental issues and resulted in the mess we witnessed for much of last season.

😂 😂😂

And neither does simply pointing to advanced metrics. If you played baseball at a high level, you understand how fragile the mental side of the game can be. You say Giolito’s stuff sucked last year but why did it suck? I believe much of it was tied to his mental state/lack of confidence and conviction in executing his pitches. This was a direct result of working through mechanical issues and diminished control/command. It’s all related and a domino effect.

You’ve played baseball at a high level right? Anyone that has knows how much of a mental game it is. And Giolito is clearly very intelligent and likely an over thinker when he’s struggling. If he’s overthinking his every movement and “aiming” the ball in an attempt to throw more strikes it absolutely has a negative result on his pure stuff.

Absolutely it does. If you are hitting corners instead of throwing the ball over the heart of the plate, your chances for a swinging strike is exponentially increased. Also, if you are ahead in the count 0-2, 1-2 rather than 2-0, 3-1 again your chances of a swinging strike are exponentially increased because the hitter can’t sit dead red. They have to be ready for anything and in defense mode with anything close to the plate.

Recent quotes from Giolito from a Sporting News article: "I put a lot of pressure on myself to live up to those expectations," he told SN. "And then when I didn't do it, instead of taking a step back, I just kept pressing more and more." "Last year, I was having a bunch of blow-up games. Having games where I'd lose control emotionally, mentally," Giolito said. "Now I'll be in a similar situation, and it's like, 'I've been here before, I've already done all that. That doesn't help.' Let me choose to go this other direction, where I got back to my breath, reset, focus on the next pitch." Regarding his new arm action: "It makes the misses smaller," he said. "I miss more to the side of the plate that I'm going to instead of missing over the middle. It's cleaned up a lot of things." From McCann: "That's a different guy than last year," McCann said. "This year, mentally, he's able to focus on each pitch for what it is and not allow that rough start to affect his whole outing." The physical and mental aspects of the game are intertwined. You could see the lack of command and control last year was affecting him mentally. Now that he’s been able to harness that side of his game, he’s pitching with much more confidence and pressing less as a result.

I disagree. All of Giolito’s problems stemmed from his lack of control, just like Glasnow. 2016 and prior is relevant because it shows the natural talent was always there. Unless he was injured in 2017/2018, where did the natural talent go? Did it just disappear at the tender age of 23?