Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Farnsworth's New (old) Pitch

I couldn't really tell on TV, but According to Tyler Kepner, Kyle Farnsworth is now throwing a cutter. The pitch is actually something Farnsworth has had for a while, he just hadn't used it all that much.
“I’ll throw it whenever [Jose] Molina puts it down,” Farnsworth said. “It’s like my old slider that I had when I was starting, my first couple of years. I was inconsistent with it, so I stopped using it. But I was working on it with Bruney, playing catch with him with it.”
Thank you Brian Bruney. I don't know how long he's be using it, but he's been great his last four appearances. And besides that solo HR off the bat on A. J. Pierzynski in what was a 9-4 ball game last week, he's been very good since the series in Tampa lowering his ERA from 5.68 to 3.65.

Maybe Farnsworth has finally figured out how to be a consistent reliever. If so, he can be a very useful 7th inning man, getting the ball to Joba.

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...

"Maybe Farnsworth has finally figured out how to be a consistent reliever."

I'd say part of it is he feels more relaxed this year. Love Joe Torre, but I think he messed with Farnsworth's mind the past couple of years.

Greg Cohen said...

That could be the case, I'm sure he feels like if he fails he will still get another shot in a few days. Where with Torre he may not have felt that way. But I do think his new pitch has helped his as well.

Anonymous said...

This is what we have been waiting for: Farnsworth finally comes around. However, still have to wait and see for couple weeks.

Anonymous said...

Mike Mussina made a note of the new pitch, as well...

He didn't mention what it was, but in his post game comments Mussina talked about how good Farnsworth looked and that's he's "throwing a new pitch."

To me, the biggest thing with Farnsworth is that he looks so free and easy now... Perhaps it's the windup, I don't know... But he is SO much smoother now with his delivery.

Personally, I think a lot of the credit goes to Eiland... Nothing against Louisiana Lightning, but Eiland's background lends itself to working with pitchers and fixing (for lack of a better word) things that prevent them from realizing their full potential, whatever that may be.

I really believe Eiland is going to the next big name among pitching coaches within the next 2-3 years.

Greg Cohen said...

You're right Crazy, as Tyler Kepner said; "he's fooled the Yankees (and their fans) before"

Larry,

You're absolutely right about his delivery, it is much smoother. He started to change it at the end of last year, and it seemed to help him a little bit.

You may be right about Eiland, I just worry that he's taken Hughes and Kennedy away from attacking hitters, but that could also have been Mike Mussina in their ears this spring, or that they're just scared. But all we've heard about him is how good he is, so again, maybe you're right.