The Jeff Samardzija Thread

[twothousandfive]

I choose to believe the Cubs just outscouted everyone on this guy.

Even if it isn't as simple as that, I think it is fair to say they have scouted and evaluated him well this year. Given some of the comments and his stats, I know I didn't exactly understand why he was the guy called up, and not Wuertz, Hart (is he off the DL?) Ascanio, or even Ceda. Maybe they were just hoping to catch lightening in a bottle, but they have.

 

 

 

The difference between Samardzija and Hart is that Jeff has shown better stuff in these first few innings. . . Kevin Hart is much more hittable.

In September last year, Hart gave up 7 hits and 4 walks in 11 innings. Samardzija has given up 2 hits in four innings. I think it is very possible that he puts 9 guys on in his next 7 innings, but even if he doesn't, the sample size makes it irrevelant.

[Soul]

It is what it is--4 good innings against a good hitting club. Keven Hart never had this good of stuff. That said, he hasn't pitched enough yet to even try to predict his future, but early returns are very good which is better than the alternative.

 

True.

 

It's a little maddening that Kevin can't translate his Iowa success to Chicago. I don't see the same thing for Samardzjia, but we'll just have to see what happens when the league adjusts and Jeff has to adjust back, and so on.

 

Right now I'm just happy to get a few games of not having to further burn our existing BP arms. It was especially valuable to have Shark out there with Kerry recovering. That's a big help to get us through.

[YearofDaCubs]

I think some of you are right, we may be jumping the gun a bit and calling him the next best thing but it is refreshing to see him go out there and pitch good in 4 innings. You can tell he obviously has the stuff to be pretty damn good.

[Little Slide Rooter]

What is his complete arsonal anyway? He seems to live and die by the heater, and he has a decent slider as well. What is his off speed stuff like?

[brinoch]

Much as I want all Cubs players to do well, I thought Samardjzia benefited from his newness. The Marlins probably don't have a great scouting report on him just yet and so I suspect they didn't fully know what to expect. The hitters might not have even been prepped.

 

His control was decent, but not great and a more patient team would do much better. His fastball looked very lively, if a bit out of control, and he might need to dial it back to win that control.

[Jon]

Much as I want all Cubs players to do well, I thought Samardjzia benefited from his newness. The Marlins probably don't have a great scouting report on him just yet and so I suspect they didn't fully know what to expect. The hitters might not have even been prepped.

 

His control was decent, but not great and a more patient team would do much better. His fastball looked very lively, if a bit out of control, and he might need to dial it back to win that control.

I know I posted it somewhere else, but actually, the Marlins would have had the best scouting report on him out of the other teams in the majors. Samardzija faced Florida's AAA affiliate in 3 of his 6 starts at Iowa, including his last 2 starts before being called up. While the Marlins' hitters have never seen him before and a scouting report on a starter at the minors who is going to pitch limited innings out of the bullpen in an upcoming series isn't going to be emphasized very strongly, they should still have received plenty of information on him from their scouts and AAA coaching staff.

[Soul]

Much as I want all Cubs players to do well, I thought Samardjzia benefited from his newness. The Marlins probably don't have a great scouting report on him just yet and so I suspect they didn't fully know what to expect. The hitters might not have even been prepped.

 

His control was decent, but not great and a more patient team would do much better. His fastball looked very lively, if a bit out of control, and he might need to dial it back to win that control.

I know I posted it somewhere else, but actually, the Marlins would have had the best scouting report on him out of the other teams in the majors. Samardzija faced Florida's AAA affiliate in 3 of his 6 starts at Iowa, including his last 2 starts before being called up. While the Marlins' hitters have never seen him before and a scouting report on a starter at the minors who is going to pitch limited innings out of the bullpen in an upcoming series isn't going to be emphasized very strongly, they should still have received plenty of information on him from their scouts and AAA coaching staff.

 

Yeap. I forgot about that. He did alot of pitching against the Isos. Their org has seen him plenty, if not the Marlins specifically.

 

So does that mean it's OK to annoint him the 2nd coming of Wood? :P

[Guest]

What is his complete arsonal anyway? He seems to live and die by the heater, and he has a decent slider as well. What is his off speed stuff like?

 

FB, split, slider >>>>>> change. He prob won't need to worry about the change in the pen but he needs it if he is going to start. The improvement of the split and slider is what led to his success his last 8 or so starts in Tenn and Iowa.

[Guest]

Jim Callis: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/ask-ba/2008/266582.html

[UK1679666180]

If Shark's FB is 95MPH with movement, that's a hell of a pitch. The slider could become pretty good too -- that's it, solid pitcher right there.

 

I'm also struck by this because the gun @ Principal had his FB at 90. So that's a pretty bad gun. I wonder if people are partially saying Shark didn't look as good down there because of that slow gun. A couple of us were sitting there laughing at the readings because what was coming out of his hand was so inconsistent with what was being posted on the scoreboard.

 

This guy's good -- I find it likely he's *always* been good. From what I've been hearing from Cubs people in the media, there's never been any real doubt in their minds, even on the day they drafted him.

 

I choose to believe the Cubs just outscouted everyone on this guy. It happens -- the Cubs are actually quite capable of producing pitching talent.

 

They likely didn't outscout anyone as far as grading him or figuring out his demands, with that said, the relationship between the area scout that has Indiana and Hendry is a very close relationship, dating back to their Marlins days. The scout does have more authority/pull than most area scouts, which is why I'm willing to give to more credit to him than Wilken or the Midwest crosschecker as he did his homework, knew what it would take to sign him away from FB, and was the given the ability to sign him at that price.

 

With that said, the area scout the Cubs have in that area is an outstanding scout.

[UK1679666180]

I know I posted it somewhere else, but actually, the Marlins would have had the best scouting report on him out of the other teams in the majors. Samardzija faced Florida's AAA affiliate in 3 of his 6 starts at Iowa, including his last 2 starts before being called up. While the Marlins' hitters have never seen him before and a scouting report on a starter at the minors who is going to pitch limited innings out of the bullpen in an upcoming series isn't going to be emphasized very strongly, they should still have received plenty of information on him from their scouts and AAA coaching staff.

 

It wouldn't matter beyond just general notes of the manager of the Isotopes from those games, Marlins scouts would not have seen him anymore than other teams, pro coverage is basically the same across the board.

[nilodnayr]

Much as I want all Cubs players to do well, I thought Samardjzia benefited from his newness. The Marlins probably don't have a great scouting report on him just yet and so I suspect they didn't fully know what to expect. The hitters might not have even been prepped.

 

His control was decent, but not great and a more patient team would do much better. His fastball looked very lively, if a bit out of control, and he might need to dial it back to win that control.

 

It'd be interesting to find out how many of his pitches were actually in the zone. Seemed to me (I was at the game so its really hard to tell) that he got a lot of swinging strikes on pitches that ended up way outside the zone. Hes kinda reminding me of Juan Cruz.

[bukie]

Jeff Samardzija

[nilodnayr]

His blog

 

http://www.jeff-samardzija.com/blog.asp

 

No update since he was called up...

[Mizzou]

His blog

 

http://www.jeff-samardzija.com/blog.asp

 

No update since he was called up...

I read a post on BCB from someone saying that they say he had updated it letting people know he got the call (this was before it was public knowledge). I checked the blog after seeing that and there was nothing there. Either that person made it up, which would be very weird, or Jeff was told to take it down.

[Laura]

Jeff Samardzija

 

fixed :)

[Guest]

I posted this during the game thread but it probably got lost in there so I'll post it here.

 

This was the caption to a photo on AP of Samardzija from Sunday's marlins game:

 

Chicago Cubs relief pitcher and former Penn State wide receiver Jeff Samardzija delivers during the ninth inning of their 9-6 win over the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Sunday, July 27, 2008.

 

They changed the error later but it was still pretty funny when I first saw it.

[Elrhino]

From Bruce's article today, it sounds like Lou has a full blown man-crush on the Shark. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes on the closer role until Kerry comes back.

 

Looks like Howry will be exiled to the wasteland of Wuertz-ville when Kerry comes back.

[CuseCubFan69]

I thought the book on him was his Fastball was flat but I've seen posts here regarding it having movement? Which is it?

[nilodnayr]

I thought the book on him was his Fastball was flat but I've seen posts here regarding it having movement? Which is it?

 

I think a few pages back Jon posted some pitch/fx charts that showed his FB has about 11 inches of tail. For reference, home plate is 17 inches wide. So a FB could start in the middle of home plate and end up 2.5 inches inside to a RH hitter (note mad math skillz).

[brinoch]

I thought the book on him was his Fastball was flat but I've seen posts here regarding it having movement? Which is it?

 

I think a few pages back Jon posted some pitch/fx charts that showed his FB has about 11 inches of tail. For reference, home plate is 17 inches wide. So a FB could start in the middle of home plate and end up 2.5 inches inside to a RH hitter (note mad math skillz).

 

I saw his second appearance, and it appeared to me that his FB had some nice movement, but he was somewhat inconsistent with his control.

[anabiono]

i have never seen a manager be so fickle with their bullpen before

 

lou is maddening and hilarious all at the same time

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I thought the book on him was his Fastball was flat but I've seen posts here regarding it having movement? Which is it?

 

When I saw him at Mississippi his fastball didn't have the movement that it had in his two appearances at Wrigley.

[soapy]

Seriously, about a month ago Samardzija was a guy who many people thought probably didn't even deserve his promotion to AAA. Now he's K-Rod? Fantastic.

 

Some people are setting themselves up for some serious disapointment, namely Lou. I hope I'm wrong, of course.

[CuseCubFan69]

I thought the book on him was his Fastball was flat but I've seen posts here regarding it having movement? Which is it?

 

When I saw him at Mississippi his fastball didn't have the movement that it had in his two appearances at Wrigley.

 

Thanks to all for the info. I always compared him to the relief pitcher (L something) the Cubs got from the Tigers a couple of years ago.