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

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I didn't see the game today, but I don't know that I agree about the comments on his fastball straightening out as he adds velocity. here's what I posted when he pitched in Spring training some time ago:

 

Jeff started with 13 straight fastballs to start the inning. The slowest was 92 mph and the fastest was a four seamer up in the zone at 96. The majority were two seamers around 92-94 mph. The ones down in the zone all had great life to them, sinking and tailing to the arm side. The four seamer up in the zone was naturally much more straight. He showed great command of the pitch, throwing to all four quadrants at will and was never in danger of walking anyone.

 

After Bonds (and completing those first 13 straight fastballs), he threw sliders more than fastballs and worked those at around 83-85 mph. He had a large amount of two plane break to the pitch, but it probably breaks early enough for hitters to pick up on the movement if not the spin. He'll have to tighten that up to get a whole lot of strikeouts with the pitch.

 

He never showed a change during the sequence.

 

Overall, it's easy to see what people like about him. If he can tighten up the slider and add a change, he'll be an absolutely fantastic pitcher. The fastball is already there for him to have a great base for success.

 

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Oh, hey, a second inning of work!

 

Some more detailed notes this time:

 

Batter 1 (didn't pay attention who, but a righty)

 

Pitch 1: fastball 94mph low inside corner, called strike

Pitch 2: slider 81mph high inside pitch, swinging strike

Pitch 3: fastball 94mph low outside corner, fouled off

Pitch 4: slider 85mph thigh high, outside corner, swinging strike

 

Nice combination of working inside, then outside. But both sliders were up and a better hitter could have done some damage.

 

Batter 2 (again, don't know who, but a lefty)

 

Pitch 1: fastball 95mph huge tail, ends up low and outside but great pitch

Pitch 2: fastball 94mph right down broadway, watched for a strike

Pitch 3: fastball 94mph top, inside corner of zone, called strike

Pitch 4: fastball 97mph huge tail, ends up low and outside, but wow

Pitch 5: fastball 93mph low zone, hit foul

Pitch 6: fastball 95mph upper inside corner, perfect backdoor sinker for strikeout. absolutely beautiful pitch. Maddux special at 95mph.

 

Batter 3 (Frandsen, a righty)

 

Pitch 1: slider 85mph way up and in (didn't slide at all)

Pitch 2: fastball 94mph way up

Pitch 3: fastball 93mph way up

Pitch 4: fastball 91mph down the middle for called strike 1

Pitch 5: fastball 92mph high

 

Batter 4 (Scheurholtz, a lefty)

 

Pitch 1: fastball 91mph middle in, singled on ground to right

 

Batter 5 (Niekro, a righty)

 

Pitch 1: slider 83mph way low and outside

Pitch 2: fastball 92mph way outside

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Pitch 3: fastball 93mph low inside zone, grounder to third for 3rd out

 

 

Overall, a very impressive performance. He lost his release a little bit after two outs, but looked really, really good for the most part.