The worries about Michael Pineda‘s velocity seem to have been misplaced:
More than throwing more changeups, it’s the concept that Spring Training is just that — practice — that might be behind Pineda’s velocity “woes.” The fact he was up a tick or two on Sunday does provide some evidence that Pineda is starting to ramp it up incrementally.
“It was a good fastball; 93, 94 is no easy fastball,” Pineda said. “That’s a pretty good fastball. I have more. Last year, I knew I threw hard. This is Spring Training — the power is coming back, coming back, coming back.”
Pineda signaled with his hand as if climbing a ladder. Whether he can throw consistently in the mid-90s, as he showed during his electric first half last year, remains to be seen. But there are no alarms going off anywhere in the Yankees clubhouse about how hard Pineda had been throwing to date.
Sometimes pitchers don’t like showing off their best stuff in spring training. Michael did burn out a bit in the second half of 2011. Taking it a bit easy in spring training might help prevent that in 2012.
He may have hit 93-94 a few times, as he did in the last 2 previous starts, but in the first 3 innings he was mostly at 91. The game playing with the numbers smacks of deception by the author.
The guy the Yankees traded for was the 2011 1st half Pineda who was usually around 94 and topped out at 97. He also had a low ERA (unlike the 2nd half when his velocity dropped)
Until Yankee fans see signs of the 1st half Pineda, they have reason to be concerned. Pitchers/teams have been known to hide injuries.
Usually a young pitcher coming to a new team tries to impress. Worrying about maintaining velocity in the 2nd half is generally not a consideration unless their arm is not right.
Pineda was very lucky today in the runs department, a double play, line out and a runner thrown out at home helped, and he was facing the Tigers C lineup.
“The game playing with the numbers smacks of deception by the author.”
It’s not the author who says “93, 94”. It’s Pineda.
Some guys crank it up and let loose in March; other guys ramp up. It’s always been that way. It’s just that writers have only been writing about it as if it mattered for a few years.