June 30, 200421 yr thanks for backin me, but i really didnt know how to spell his name first time ive really gotten defense YASNY... so thanks again No problem, but your damn lucky the "t" key is right above "g" key or you woulda been on your own.
June 30, 200421 yr Author No problem, but your damn lucky the "t" key is right above "g" key or you woulda been on your own. its all good, im pretty sure that all the people here like me... aside from 1 or 2 who i wont point out
June 30, 200421 yr its not like takatsu is the first pitcher to throw this style...dan quisenberry and kent tekulve both threw exactly like takatsu and both were sucessful closers for years..chad bradford has been pretty sucessful in oakland the last 3 years as their set up man... takatsu has been pitching long enough to know he has to vary his patterns regularly to keep hitters off balance...and while im sure he wont carry an era under one all season long, he's not going to implode either..he'll be fine...its the rest of the pen i worry about
June 30, 200421 yr Shingo has pinpoint control, and extremely nasty stuff. If they ever hit him hard, it'll be because he didn't have his stuff on the said day. And for his frisbee, they can sit on it all they want. They will not hit it. A few Twins hitters sat on it today and they either popped out or grounded out. If they really want to hit Shingo, their best bet would be to sit on his fastball, because the frisbee is unhittable.
June 30, 200421 yr Shingo has more than just a vast difference in velocity. He has some wicked movement on his pitches.
June 30, 200421 yr I would be more concerned with the fact that never threw more than 50 innings a year over there in Japan. He's closing in on 30 with more than half the season remaining and I'm sure a lot more innings to come. that should be interesting. if your worried about that, worry about shoeneweis. He's putting a much greater load on his arm this year, than he has in the past two.
June 30, 200421 yr if your worried about that, worry about shoeneweis. He's putting a much greater load on his arm this year, than he has in the past two. Right now he's injured because of his shoulder, and I'm sure some of it is because of fatigue.
June 30, 200421 yr once word around the MLB gets around about him and his style... will MLB players be instructed to sit on a slow pitch by shingto and belt it on a rope like Mauer did? i think this maybe something to worry about.. because aside from him we have no closer.... if everyone he faces just sits on his slow stuff to hit on a line drive rope.... i think we're in trouble whatda u think? I think as long as he keeps changing speeds like he has the differential alone will be enough to make most hitters look stupid. Most MLB hitters simply dont see anything as slow as Shingo's off speed stuff the rest of the season and it's not like they're facing him 3-4 times a game as if he were a starter. When Shingo comes in its the 8-9 inning and they have been dealing with off speed stuff in the high 70's and fastballs in the 90's. Shingo coming in with the slower stuff screws up their timing and that's why they look as silly as they do.
June 30, 200421 yr Shingo has pinpoint control, and extremely nasty stuff. If they ever hit him hard, it'll be because he didn't have his stuff on the said day. And for his frisbee, they can sit on it all they want. They will not hit it. A few Twins hitters sat on it today and they either popped out or grounded out. If they really want to hit Shingo, their best bet would be to sit on his fastball, because the frisbee is unhittable. Obvious question here so pardon me if it has been discussed before: Exactly how does the frisbee pitch work? I know it is very slow and sidearm, but what about it inspires comparisons to a frisbee? Just wondering.
June 30, 200421 yr Obvious question here so pardon me if it has been discussed before: Exactly how does the frisbee pitch work? I know it is very slow and sidearm, but what about it inspires comparisons to a frisbee? Just wondering. my son and i have been fooling around in the backyard trying to throw like takatsu..and surprisingly my son , who is 14 has been throwing the ball real well that way... one thing i noticed when you drop down like takatsu you get a lot of underspin on the ball along with throwing it on an upward plane...making the ball rise...giving it the frisbee effect...a couple of times when my son really gets it right ill go to catch it and it will go right over the top of my glove and hit me in the stomach (thank god it didnt sink a little )...it really does rise some...just like a frisbee try it out for yourself..it really isnt that hard to learn...you can make the ball do some funny stuff throwing that way
June 30, 200421 yr If it was that easy as sittng for the slow stuff and hitting it on the rope, do you think junk ballers (like the startin pitcher in Boston, I forget his name) would survive? They never pitch anything in the 90s and still manage to pitch successfully because of movement, location and chaneg of speeds from slow to slower to even slowest
June 30, 200421 yr If it was that easy as sittng for the slow stuff and hitting it on the rope, do you think junk ballers (like the startin pitcher in Boston, I forget his name) would survive? They never pitch anything in the 90s and still manage to pitch successfully because of movement, location and chaneg of speeds from slow to slower to even slowest Wakefield?
June 30, 200421 yr cool, then after 2005 sign shingo to a 3 mil per year contract throu 2009 with insentives of 500K for 20+ saves, and 40+ saves for 1 million Shinto will be 37 at the end of next year. Let's all bow our heads and pray his arm is healthy enough to get us through 2005 two-year span. After that, Boras will take over and he'll be GONE.
June 30, 200421 yr Mauer hit a 87MPH fastball. And an 87mph fastball just below the knees, at that. Sometimes a hitter simply hits a decent pitch. Offerman seemed to be sitting on the frisbee, and Shingo dealt fastball after fastball and got him to swing late on a high one. Shingo is a crafty pitcher, and his pitches have good movement. I think he'll be fine.
June 30, 200421 yr Have you noticed that Shingo's first pitch to every batter is the 87 (or so) mph fastball. The frisbee isn't unleashed until he's ahead in the count. I don't think anybody is going to "catch on" to Shingo's stuff. Even the fastball has a lot of movement. Compare and contrast to Billy Koch's 94 mph straight line fastball. Now HIM, they caught up to.
June 30, 200421 yr And an 87mph fastball just below the knees, at that. Sometimes a hitter simply hits a decent pitch. Offerman seemed to be sitting on the frisbee, and Shingo dealt fastball after fastball and got him to swing late on a high one. Shingo is a crafty pitcher, and his pitches have good movement. I think he'll be fine. Exactly, it looks like he already is making an adjustment with all the fastballs he threw and he also has a nice 70 mph curve to go in between the fastball and that frisbee to boot. All I know for sure is that it feels great to once again look forward to the closer coming in to the 9th.
June 30, 200421 yr Sorry just had to stick my two sense in here... First off Mauer didn't hit a rope, he hit a low and away fastball to the opposite field by poking the bat out there. I don't even think it was a hard swing. It was a good piece of hitting while protecting the plate. Second....Shingo mixes up speeds. I have seen him vary his pitches from as high as 89 and as low as 63 and the ball jumps all over. Even if a batter is waiting on that frisbee....they aren't used to waiting on something that is low to mid 60's. That isn't even batting practice speed. I also thinks Shingo reads the batters well....It's almost like he knows if the batter is waiting on it....and he won't give it to him. Right now he is just flat out dominating guys and has me geeked about winning the game everytime he comes in. We haven't been able to feel like that in the 9th in a long time... Domo Arigato Shingo Takatsu
June 30, 200421 yr my son and i have been fooling around in the backyard trying to throw like takatsu..and surprisingly my son , who is 14 has been throwing the ball real well that way... one thing i noticed when you drop down like takatsu you get a lot of underspin on the ball along with throwing it on an upward plane...making the ball rise...giving it the frisbee effect...a couple of times when my son really gets it right ill go to catch it and it will go right over the top of my glove and hit me in the stomach (thank god it didnt sink a little )...it really does rise some...just like a frisbee try it out for yourself..it really isnt that hard to learn...you can make the ball do some funny stuff throwing that way Ahh, I think I see now. He throws sidearm but releases the ball "palm up" rather than "palm down" as most sidearmers do. As a kid I used to play around doing that and got great riseballs. Well ok, it was wiffleball that I was playing but I did see the effect
June 30, 200421 yr I think that Shingo will be a pretty good closer. Rivera is basically a two pitch pitcher (fastball and cutter) and nobody has "figured him out." Gagne can't blow anybody away with his stuff and he's got what, 81 straight saves? From Gammons's recent article about what makes a successful closer: 1. The ability to command the fastball on the outside corner, particularly down. 2. The ability to repeat both command and stuff, two and three days in a row. 3. Some kind of swing-and-miss pitch. 4. Heart. No fear of the ninth inning. 1. Shingo does a great job of painting both corners and really sneaking the ball in there. 2. Shingo has excellent command and location. I haven't seen him struggle to locate a pitch since we played the Yankees. 3. Frisbee and fast ball are swing-and-miss for him. 4. He shows no fear and I think batters are starting to get intimidated by him. We got us a good one!
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