Alex Maestri

[Wrigley Rat]

After he'd started out as a reliever, the Cubs moved the right-hander into the rotation last year for multiple purposes, to have him work on all of his pitches as well as to see exactly what they had in the 23-year-old. He went 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA over 89 innings, getting shut down conservatively when he experienced some shoulder soreness.

 

"We put him in the rotation last year to get his command better," Cubs vice president of player personnel, Oneri Fleita, said. "When he's out of the 'pen, he throws harder and has more velocity on his slider. We wanted more pitchability.

 

"It's so hard to develop 200-plus-inning pitchers, so we really went back and tried to determine who they're going to be."

 

And they've determined that Maestri is best suited to be a reliever.

Interesting article on mlb.com about Maestri - he's going back to the pen this year.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090128&content_id=3779842&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp

[wvcbxl]

And they've determined that Maestri is best suited to be a reliever.

 

I thought that was obvious even before last season.

It'll be interesting to see where he starts the season, and how well he does.

[Guest]

And they've determined that Maestri is best suited to be a reliever.

 

I thought that was obvious even before last season.

It'll be interesting to see where he starts the season, and how well he does.

 

He should be at AA Tennessee.

[videographer]

I saw Maestri pitch a couple of years ago, his coming out year as a late inning reliever. I was impressed. His delivery was efficient and he showed good control in the strike zone. His FB was 91-93 mph, but what impressed me the most was his slider. It had a filthy late break that fooled all of the hitters. He consistently threw the pitch just off the outside corner and it never bounced in the dirt when I saw him. He looked like a future setup man in Chicago.

 

If his arm is sound and the Cubs return him to a late inning reliever, I can see Maestri projecting to MLB in two years.

[mhuber92211]

Sounds like a cross between Marmol and Lidge potentially

[craig]

Sounds like a cross between Marmol and Lidge potentially

 

Having a good slider relative to A- hitters is one thing; lots more sliders work in A- than dominate in the majors. But I agree that Parker seems to have the possibility of becoming a useful setup guy. Those are invaluable. That he had shoulder problems this year doesn't necessarily bode well for his arm, though.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

From what I can gather, he seems like another Wuertz in terms of stuff.

[Guest]

Sounds like a cross between Marmol and Lidge potentially

 

Having a good slider relative to A- hitters is one thing; lots more sliders work in A- than dominate in the majors. But I agree that Parker seems to have the possibility of becoming a useful setup guy. Those are invaluable. That he had shoulder problems this year doesn't necessarily bode well for his arm, though.

 

Are you taking about Parker or Maestri here?

[craig]

Oops, Maestr!

 

But the same concept, that lots of guys whose sliders look favorable relative to A- don't end up with outstanding make-a-successful-career-on-it sliders in the majors, applies to both. Obviously.

 

Hopefully both of them will end up making a successful career that way, though.

[Wrigley Rat]

Alex Maestri pitched in the WBC this evening. Here is a rundown of his pitches:

 

(Pitch Type, Speed, Result)

 

Miguel Cabrera:

FB 91 ball

SL 76 ball in dirt

FB 90 ground out 5-Unassisted (force out)

 

Magglio Ordonez:

CB 78 called strike

FB 93 ball

CB 78 swinging strike

FB 96 called strike (Wow! He really reached back for something!)

 

Inning Change

 

Carlos Guillen:

FB 93 called strike

FB 93 ball

SL 83 ball

FB 93 ball

FB 92 foul

FB 94 ground out 6-3

 

Jose Lopez:

FB 92 ball

FB 92 ball

FB 92 ball

FB 89 walk

 

Ramon Hernandez:

CB 78 ball

FB 93 ball

FB 91 ball

FB 91 called strike

FB 93 walk (in dirt)

 

Cesar Izturis:

SL 75 ball

FB 90 ball

FB 87 ground out 3-6 (Why did he swing? Oh yeah, it's Cesar Izturis!)

 

Endy Chavez:

FB 93 called strike

FB 92 ground out 6-3

[Wrigley Rat]

Final Line:

 

1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA

 

He seemed a bit nervous with all the pitches out of the zone, but his fastball ranged from 90-96 (consistently between 91-93). He pitched well against some tough hitters (Cabrera and Ordonez). I like that all of his balls in play were ground outs - that would be nice in Wrigley.

[wvcbxl]

I still hope (and think) Maestri can be an adequate ML reliever come 2010.

[Wrigley Rat]

I don't understand a lot of this stuff, but CubsFX has a breakdown of Maestri's WBC outing and all of his pitches:

 

http://www.cubsfx.com/2009/03/alessandro-maestris-wbc-debut-pitchfx.html

[Guest]

I don't understand a lot of this stuff, but CubsFX has a breakdown of Maestri's WBC outing and all of his pitches:

 

http://www.cubsfx.com/2009/03/alessandro-maestris-wbc-debut-pitchfx.html

 

More from HBT:

 

The Hardball Times[/url]"]Alessandro Maestri, Team Italy

 

While the Italian team is mostly composed of American-born players of Italian descent, Alessandro (Alex) Maestri was born and raised in Italy and has now become the first such player to make it to Double-A. Despite being just 23 last year, Maestri has been pitching for the Italian National team since 2006. The Cubs signed Maestri that year and he has been pitching pretty well in the minors since. Here is a look at his movement chart.

 

http://www.hardballtimes.com/images/uploads/Alex_Maestri.gif

 

Maestri's best pitch is his fastball, which he throws around 93 mph with solid movement. The confusing stuff is his off-speed pitches. My algorithm is calling the five pitches to the right curveballs and the one pitch in the middle a slider, despite the slider having more vertical movement down than the curve. The reason for this is the curves came in around 77 mph and the slider was thrown at 83 mph. We need more statistics on Maestri to straighten this out, but whatever you want to call his main off-speed pitch, it is slow and slurvy. Maestri likes to begin the at-bat with that pitch, throwing it three times in just seven batters.

 

Hei is still quite young and has a lot to work on, especially his off-speed pitches, but he has the talent to be a solid bullpen arm in the future.

 

That is interesting since he's known for his slider (which has been referred to as his best pitch by BA a few different times - and was considered the best slider in the system going into 2008). Both the f/x data and Wrigley Rat's PBP indicate Maestri must have been throwing a curve (his slider is harder than upper 70s). Who knew he had a curve that he trusted enough to throw in international competition?