Reason for Cotts' past suckiness?

[Jabroni]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...ack=1&cset=true

"Fixing flaw a relief for Cotts —and Sox"

 

By Mark Gonzales

Tribune staff reporter

 

June 9, 2005, 10:22 PM CDT

 

 

SAN DIEGO -- Neal Cotts' career is looking up, primarily because he no longer is looking down.

 

A correction in his delivery has helped transform Cotts from a middling middle reliever into one of the White Sox's hottest pitchers.

 

His role could become even more important this weekend against the San Diego Padres if fellow left-hander Damaso Marte needs more time to recover from a sore left biceps.

 

Cotts is coming off his best performance, Tuesday night at Colorado, in which he struck out four—including Todd Helton and Preston Wilson back-to-back—in two scoreless innings to help preserve a 2-1 victory for Jose Contreras.

 

That effort demonstrated the improvements he made last off-season while working at pitching coach Don Cooper's camps in the Chicago area.

 

"The biggest thing we talked about were his eyes," Cooper said. "Neal has a tendency to close off his delivery. And when his eyes aren't on the [catcher's] glove and picking up the glove soon, he throws high more and it becomes more difficult to control where he wants to get the ball, especially the fastball.

 

"We also talked about throwing on the opposite side of the plate—with fastballs in to righties and away to lefties. He has made a total commitment."

 

Cotts, 25, has walked only three batters in his last 141/3 innings, which he attributes to the adjustment in his windup.

 

"I had trouble keeping my eyes on the target from the time I got drafted," Cotts said. "Last year my eyes would fall off the target, and I would tend to rush the ball.

 

"I would look at the target before I would start my windup, then look straight down at the ground and pick up the target again too late. Now I'm just focused on keeping my eyes on the target."

 

Cooper has implored Cotts to keep his concentration solely on the batter in situations with a non-basestealer at first base. "He can still keep his visual contact with the runner and the target," Cooper said. "It's just a matter of keeping eye contact with the target."

 

Cotts' improvement is the latest step in his development since he came over in the December 2002 Billy Koch trade with Oakland, which selected him in the second round of the 2000 draft.

 

He has pitched well despite being often idled by the success of the Sox's starting pitchers. Cotts went stretches of nine days and seven days without being used in the first month of the season but since has dropped his ERA from 3.86 to 2.53.

 

"Three weeks ago I was thinking about him and said to him, 'Whether you realize it or not, you've made that step forward,'" Cooper said. "'You are a major-league reliever. But the next challenge is: Can you put yourself in that upper echelon of relievers?'"

 

Cotts nodded. Cooper, however, expanded on Cotts' belief that he needed to be more consistent.

 

"When you throw your first three pitches, give me strike one and two of the first three [for strikes]," Cooper said. "Then you'll be dangerous because your stuff is good. Get ahead and expand [the strike zone].

 

"For a young left-hander, strikes are the thing. Young, immature lefties, not [polished] lefties, throw the ball all over the place. With him, you don't see it. That is the thing that would give him the best chance of going to the next step."

 

In his last three appearances, Cotts has struck out eight and allowed no hits covering 51/3 innings. He also hasn't yielded a home run in 211/3 innings this season after giving up 13 in 651/3 innings in 2004.

 

With only one previous season of full-time relief experience, Cotts can get even better as a reliever.

 

"The newness is gone," Cooper said. "He's settling in, maturing and realizing that more isn't better. He has enough. If you're trying to do more, you're not trusting what you have in the first place.

 

"He's becoming the pitcher we thought he could be, and we're on our way now."

 

Cotts had a 12-6 record as a starter for Class A Modesto in 2002 and was 9-7 with a 2.16 ERA for Double-A Birmingham in 21 starts in 2003.

 

But he willingly has accepted a relief role that has taken on greater importance in the past month.

 

"Whatever they want me to do, I'm happy with," Cotts said. "Right now, starting is the last thing on my mind. I just want to keep this thing going."

 

mgonzales@tribune.com

Edited June 10, 2005 by Jabroni

[DBAHO]

The key word there is "PAST" for all of you playing at home.

[Capn12]

Always have been a Cotts supporter, but I'm glad that if this is the case, they corrected a flaw in his windup approach. Cotts has been unbelievably lights out last 3 games...just looked like one of those relievers other teams don't want to face.

[DBAHO]

Always have been a Cotts supporter, but I'm glad that if this is the case, they corrected a flaw in his windup approach. Cotts has been unbelievably lights out last 3 games...just looked like one of those relievers other teams don't want to face.

Hitters are being froced to take swings at his pitches, even if they are out of the zone. Then of course he can come back and pitch one right on the outside or inside corner that can just freeze a hitter. Preston Wilson's AB 2 days ago was a PERFECT example of this really.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Oh man. If Shingo and Luis can just get it going. This pen is gonna be so awesome.

[DBAHO]

Oh man.  If Shingo and Luis can just get it going.  This pen is gonna be so awesome.

Even if 1 of them can't, we've got Jeff Bajernaru down at Charlotte who definitely deserves a chance. And then of course, there's the trade deadline, you know KW will probably get somebody.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Even if 1 of them can't, we've got Jeff Bajernaru down at Charlotte who definitely deserves a chance. And then of course, there's the trade deadline, you know KW will probably get somebody.

 

 

I agree. Just feels so damn good to have a solid bullpen. We haven't had one since 2000.

[DBAHO]

I agree.  Just feels so damn good to have a solid bullpen.  We haven't had one since 2000.

And it's such a key part of a team's success. Look at the Indians from 2004. They had a great offense and even some good starting pitching from their front half of their rotation, but what killed them was the fact their bullpen was just so damn bad.

 

The Twins have been so successful for a number of years and a main one is their bullpen. If they ahead by 1 run going into 7th, you can almost say game over. If they are behind by 1 run going into the 7th, you know they have a very good chance at just coming back over the top.

 

The Rockies pretty much showed from the last series how bad it is to have a bullpen that well just ain't that good.

[3E8]

I agree.  Just feels so damn good to have a solid bullpen.  We haven't had one since 2000.

I wouldn't call us solid yet. We need an injury free Marte and both Shingo and Viz to stop being not good.

[southsider2k5]

And something like this is the EXACT reason why GMs and MGRs don't overreact to players who have bad games or even prolonged slumps. In a professional major league baseball player, the margin of error for Neal Cotts was the position of his eyes during his delivery. Think about that for a second.

[ZeroHour]

Its been a great business model with building a quality bullpen since middle relievers and "non-closers" have been so underpriced the last few years. The Twins and Angels are prime examples along with the Padres. Relative to what many average SPs are getting, look at Milton, Benson, and Wright's contracts, you could build yourself a very strong bullpen for the same amount of money.

 

I think Viz gets fixed before Shingo because Shingo might need to learn, or is learning, a whole new pitch to keep ahead of everyones video tapes.

[SnB]

Is neal cotts, a white sox pitching prospect, finally coming into his own?

this is like a once every 5 year thing people.

[Princess Dye]

lets not get carried away with articles like this.... i'm sure Cotts sucked for a VARIETY of reasons in past years.

 

he never went after hitters like he did now, and i doubt you can attribute all of that to a lack control

[southsideirish71]

I have said it time and time again. That he didnt look when he threw the ball. He would pick up the target way too late into his delivery. If he throws strikes he is fine. If he gets ankielesque then he is useless.

 

 

I give huge credit for Cooper and Cotts for working this out. If Cotts can locate in the strikezone, get ahead of hitters he will be fine.

 

 

Now if Cooper can only get Marte not to short arm and fly open on his delivery we will be set. Marte shorts arms his fastball, almost like he is rushing to get it released, he releases while he is still open, and the ball sails. This is bad mechanics and can lead to injury. If he gets on top of the pitch and releases and follows through to the other knee with his left hand like he did when he first came up, he can be dominant. That is when you get 94 mphs moving down in the strikezone. When he sails the ball a few times, then he tries to locate and takes some velocity off of his pitch. This is when he throws a meatball.

[thelatinoheat_30]

thanx for the article and good info.

[GoodAsGould]

Is neal cotts, a white sox pitching prospect, finally coming into his own?

this is like a once every 5 year thing people.

 

 

well if you take into account Buehrle, Garland, Kip Wells, Josh Fogg, Frankie Francisco, Cotts.... not that bad of a list... prob more but those are what come to mind.