Shawn Haviland continues to pitch well at A ball, and at his blog he discusses facing power hitters and slappy speedsters:

I mentioned before that Great Lakes had the league leader in home runs and stolen bases. Before the game someone asked me which guy I was more worried about facing. For me it is hands down the base stealer. The Loons lead off hitter Dee Gordon (son of former Yankee Tom Gordon) is a burner (24 steals in 38 games) and his swing played directly into his strengths as he was looking to slap something on the ground the other way. Hitters like Gordon for me are harder than power hitters because with a power hitter you can force weak contact with good pitches and you can keep them in the ball park. With speedy slap hitters if you force weak contact they are often more likely to get a hit. Last night in a 0-1 I threw a splitter low and away to Gordon and he weakly chopped it over the mound for a base hit. Frustrating because I executed my pitch forced him into weak contact and now I have to deal with him on the base paths. Two pitches later we pitched out and Gordon stole 2nd base anyways, with the throw being off line. Two pitches after that a bloop into left center led to a run. Speed kills. For me I would rather face A-Rod then Ichiro any day of the week.

I enjoy reading Shawn’s blog because he’s still learning the game, and he does a great job of explaining what he’s learning.