I saw Samardzija's first outing on Sportscenter on Friday.

[badnews]

They way they showed it and hyped it and highlighted the radar gun readings it was like what they used to do with Joel Zumaya. I'm thinking to myself "Whoa, when did this happen?"

[laryan]

they even made it a point to highlight his 97 mph fastball in the dirt

[badnews]

They highlighted 98 against Jorge Cantu amd I'm thinking to myself "Even if you throw 98 straight as an arrow in High A you don't have a 4 or 5 K/9."

[weis21]

They highlighted 98 against Jorge Cantu amd I'm thinking to myself "Even if you throw 98 straight as an arrow in High A you don't have a 4 or 5 K/9."

Lucky for Jeff he doesn't throw straight as an arrow.

[badnews]

He had a 3.77 K/9 in Daytona, even if he had zero command I don't see how it could be that low, that's like Kirk Reuter and his 76 mph fastball.

[weis21]

He had a 3.77 K/9 in Daytona, even if he had zero command I don't see how it could be that low, that's like Kirk Reuter and his 76 mph fastball.

I'll be the first to tell you I've never seen him pitch before today. That said, seeing his fastball today, it was anything but straight. I cannot vouch that it was what he has done in the past or what he will do, but it was moving a lot today. His slider was about average IMO, but if he commanded his fastball, I think he has what it takes right now to be a very effective ML reliever.

[RedFlash]

He had a 3.77 K/9 in Daytona, even if he had zero command I don't see how it could be that low, that's like Kirk Reuter and his 76 mph fastball.

I'll be the first to tell you I've never seen him pitch before today. That said, seeing his fastball today, it was anything but straight. I cannot vouch that it was what he has done in the past or what he will do, but it was moving a lot today. His slider was about average IMO, but if he commanded his fastball, I think he has what it takes right now to be a very effective ML reliever.

 

Considering he has been a 2 sport star for so long, I think his development as a pitcher is still lagging abit. I see Shark as more then just an "effective ML reliever". Now that he is focusing on baseball, it wouldn't surprise me if he develops over the next couple of yrs into a #2 type starter, or at worst a #3.

[badnews]

I guess I don't (and won't) understand how his minor league K/9s could be so bad then. Even the football explanation doesn't make sense to me, it would barely even make sense if the guy had never stepped on a baseball diamond before.

 

If you throw hard in the minors, you will miss more bats than that. You don't even have to know anything about pitching, look at guys like Jason Neighborgall or Matt Lindstrom. Heck, you don't even have to throw hard, even if you have a goofy trick pitch like Steve Andrade or Josh Sharpless that gets pounded by major leaguers, minor leaguers will swing and miss at it.

 

I don't think a woman's softball pitcher would have a 3.77 K/9 in Daytona, let alone a guy that throws 98.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I didnt realsie that he wa getting that much hyp from outside the Cub nation. I thought he was one of those prospects only Cub fans really knew about.

[TruffleShuffle]

I didnt realsie that he wa getting that much hyp from outside the Cub nation. I thought he was one of those prospects only Cub fans really knew about.

 

he's getting hyped on sportscenter because he was a very good wide receiver for notre dame, not because he's some crazy-good prospect.

[radarluv1]

i was having a hard time believing the gun. all fastballs were above 95 iirc.

[Jon]

http://bp0.blogger.com/_mdh8Yg649Vg/SIpi_OEQ0lI/AAAAAAAABbI/dkD4AWoZgHU/s400/sama02.PNG http://bp3.blogger.com/_mdh8Yg649Vg/SIpjT4ogyaI/AAAAAAAABbw/q90ULETEbF8/s400/sama07.PNG

 

He's not throwing 98 when he starts. And he barely threw his splitter yesterday, especially in his first inning, which provided a glimpse as to why he has had a hard time striking guys out before a month ago, and that includes his college career, even with some movement on his fastball. It has been rather easy to sit on his fastball. That's also the reason why many wanted to see him stay at Iowa and let him get more work in on that out pitch, especially when he's only had success with it over the last month or so.

 

His career is still in a state of infancy regardless of the age, contract, and aggressive promotions. He needs time to develop and can't be viewed like most college pitchers two years removed from the draft.

[CubColtPacer]

I think the 97-99 was just a result of A) coming out of the bullpen and B) being a little too excited. I think we'll be happier with his overall pitches if his fastball is in the 92-94 range.

 

That was always the really confusing thing in Daytona though. That fastball should still be able to have a decent chance of blowing hitters away at that level, and it simply wasn't. That's why many people said the Cubs were forcing him to throw his offspeed stuff a good percentage of his pitches, and that's why his strikeout rate was so low.

 

One thing I did notice was that Samardzija really didn't have any confidence in his breaking pitches in the first inning. There were several camera shots of him shaking off Soto multiple times, then throwing the fastball. He slowly started to incorporate it as he went along.

[Jon]

It's also worth noting that of his six starts at AAA, Samardzija faced the Albuquerque Isotopes, the AAA affiliate of the Florida Marlins, three times. His last two starts were against the 'Topes, in addition to one of his two 9 strikeout performances. The Marlins should have had a very good scouting report on him, although it doesn't help quite as much when he's pitching out of the bullpen.

[sneakypower]

wtf is with that 100 data point

[Little Slide Rooter]

I didnt realsie that he wa getting that much hyp from outside the Cub nation. I thought he was one of those prospects only Cub fans really knew about.

 

he's getting hyped on sportscenter because he was a very good wide receiver for notre dame, not because he's some crazy-good prospect.

 

If things dont work out, we can always send him to the Bears in the first ever intra-sport trade. Maybe Grossman would be a better ptcher than a QB.

[TruffleShuffle]

my view was that he had a good fastball, fairly straight but not farnsworth-straight. it certainly jumped out of his hand well and the hitters were having some difficulty catching up to it. it did look to me like he got a little more movement when he was in the low to mid 90s, while his high 90s fastballs were straighter and lacked in command a bit more. that's similar to carlos zambrano, who used to throw in the high 90s when the cubs stupidly flirted with him as a reliever in the early part of this decade.

 

his secondary stuff was actually better than i'd expected, given the reports on him during the offseason. but, his slider didn't seem to have a whole lot of bite to it, and too many of them sorta floated up to the plate. if he keeps doing that, those will start getting hit harder. i believe he flashed two changes, and they looked okay - the difference between the change and the fastball is 10-15 mph, which is plenty, although there's always the question of whether the change is deceptive enough (i.e., looks like a fastball when it's thrown).

 

all in all, he looked very good. i think he has to tighten up his command and throw his slider with better bite more consistently, but he certainly looks like he has a big-league arm. i'd like to see him keep starting in iowa the rest of this year, as he seems to have good potential. as a good athlete, one would expect that he could maintain his stuff over several innings, and also add some things with his hitting, bunting and fielding.

 

as a final note, i'll say that the cubs may end up being validated on what was a controversial move that was panned by many of us. he may have just been very green last season, which could explain why he seems to have improved by leaps and bounds.

[Wilson A2000]

You can get lit up in the big leagues throwing 98 if it is straight, over the plate, and if you don't have something off-spead to go with it. Bit I hear Jeff has a changeup and a splitter.

[Brett]

Don't all of the Samardzija apologists (and it's not as if I'm anti-Shark) say that the reason he had such low K/9 numbers last year was because he was told to work on certain pitches?

 

Seems to me you don't go from striking out NO one in high A, to striking out 9 per 9 in AAA unless things are being worked on.

 

Great point on his fastball movement, btw. When it tops 96, it's very straight. When it's under 94 or so, it has a lot of movement.

[cubweiser03]

He was throwing a lot harder than i expected. Good gas. He K'd a lefty(cant remember who) looking on fastball that started in and came over the plate ala a Greg Maddux cutter except Jeffs was 15mph faster. That pitch left an impression on me.

[YearofDaCubs]

Does anyone have his debut on vid? On the radio they had Lou recorded from yesterday and he was saying how impressed he was from him and if he can keep it up it would be like trading for a relief pitcher. Somebody asked him if he was here for the long-term and he said if he can keep it up there's no way he will be demoted. He wants power arms in the pen.

[javy knows my name]

Was gameday mistaking splitters for change-ups yesterday or does he really have three different breaking balls that he never throws?

[CubColtPacer]

Was gameday mistaking splitters for change-ups yesterday or does he really have three different breaking balls that he never throws?

 

He has a slider, splitter, and changeup.

 

He probably was having a hard time deciding which pitches to stick with yesterday due to the new situation. I don't think he's quite that fastball heavy as a starter.

[Guest]

I doubt he'd be throwing his change though (didn't watch so I can't say for sure) since it's the worst of his 4 offerings.

[javy knows my name]

I doubt he'd be throwing his change though (didn't watch so I can't say for sure) since it's the worst of his 4 offerings.

Gameday reported a handful of change-ups and no splitters fwiw