Josh Beckett

[jacksonianmarch]

I think Clemens get passed over for the hall on the first ballot just as a punishment. I doubt people can overlook his whole career, though, and will get in with ease his second time around

[redsoxrules]

I think Clemens get passed over for the hall on the first ballot just as a punishment. I doubt people can overlook his whole career' date=' though, and will get in with ease his second time around[/quote']

 

I doubt it , Look at Mark Mcguire , he should be in the hall of fame

[User Name]

He pitched a great game. No doubt about it. I watched the whole game and he hit his corners all night. His location was near perfect.

I am concerned that his velocity still maxed out at 91, the same as in the Detroit game. If he has to keep pitching there then there is very little room for error. It would indicate to me that he is not completely healthy.

 

Beckett topped out at 93 yesterday. I was curious after you said this because i thought i saw him hit 93 but then saw you post this, so i confirmed it using PitchFx.

[FredLynn]

Beckett topped out at 93 yesterday. I was curious after you said this because i thought i saw him hit 93 but then saw you post this' date=' so i confirmed it using PitchFx.[/quote']

 

I must have missed that. I was looking at each pitch for which they announced the velocity via the gun. I don't remember anything that fast, but its good to know that he can do that. He has to pitch at least that fast consistently to be effective consistently IMO-unless he somehow morphs into a control pitcher unexpectedly.

Lets see where he is at his next outing. If, as Valentine stated, his velocity is down because its early in the season, then it should gradually increase to the 92-93 range with an occasional pitch faster than that.

[FredLynn]

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?month=4&day=13&year=2012&game=gid_2012_04_13_tbamlb_bosmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=277417&prevGame=gid_2012_04_13_tbamlb_bosmlb_1%2F&prevDate=413

 

Here, for anyone interested, is the link to Beckett's data from yesterday's game. He topped out at 92.4mph, but his average fastball was 91.1. In Detroit his max speed was 92.5 and his average velocity was just over 91. Very similar data.

Maybe he can pitch at that velocity, but I would like to see him a little faster.

[MNSoxChief102]

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?month=4&day=13&year=2012&game=gid_2012_04_13_tbamlb_bosmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=277417&prevGame=gid_2012_04_13_tbamlb_bosmlb_1%2F&prevDate=413

 

Here, for anyone interested, is the link to Beckett's data from yesterday's game. He topped out at 92.4mph, but his average fastball was 91.1. In Detroit his max speed was 92.5 and his average velocity was just over 91. Very similar data.

Maybe he can pitch at that velocity, but I would like to see him a little faster.

 

I'm okay with him pitching at a lower overall velocity if his location is on. Against the Tigers, it wasn't and he got killed as a result. Yesterday he was painting corners and pitching to contact, which created easy outs.

[User Name]

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?month=4&day=13&year=2012&game=gid_2012_04_13_tbamlb_bosmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=277417&prevGame=gid_2012_04_13_tbamlb_bosmlb_1%2F&prevDate=413

 

Here, for anyone interested, is the link to Beckett's data from yesterday's game. He topped out at 92.4mph, but his average fastball was 91.1. In Detroit his max speed was 92.5 and his average velocity was just over 91. Very similar data.

Maybe he can pitch at that velocity, but I would like to see him a little faster.

 

92.4 was the top speed FYI, so you're right. I must have glanced over it and seen 93.4 instead of 92.4. Higher than 91 anyways.

 

Also, brooks baseball IS PitchFx. PitchFX is just the name of the tool developed by them iirc.

[ORS]

92.4 was the top speed FYI, so you're right. I must have glanced over it and seen 93.4 instead of 92.4. Higher than 91 anyways.

 

Also, brooks baseball IS PitchFx. PitchFX is just the name of the tool developed by them iirc.

PitchFx was created and is maintained by a contractor for MLB. PitchFx is high speed cameras that record the data for each pitch thrown. It is accurate to less than one mph in velocity measurements, and less than one inch for location. Spin is determined how much the trajectory varies from a no-spin projectile via physics, at least I think it is.

 

Brooks just mines the data from MLB, and puts it in a nice table/graph form for us all to enjoy.

[User Name]

PitchFx was created and is maintained by a contractor for MLB. PitchFx is high speed cameras that record the data for each pitch thrown. It is accurate to less than one mph in velocity measurements, and less than one inch for location. Spin is determined how much the trajectory varies from a no-spin projectile via physics, at least I think it is.

 

Brooks just mines the data from MLB, and puts it in a nice table/graph form for us all to enjoy.

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I thought it was the other way around, and the system gameday uses was created by them.

[SoxSport]

I'm okay with him pitching at a lower overall velocity if his location is on. Against the Tigers' date=' it wasn't and he got killed as a result. Yesterday he was painting corners and pitching to contact, which created easy outs.[/quote']

 

Small things make big differences. When a good pitcher gets hit, it means his pitches are seeing too much of the plate. He also didn't mix his pitches up enough against the Tigers early in the game. Not enough curveballs.

[jung]

The biggest change Beckett made against the Rays came at the beginning of the third inning. He had been trying to start hitters off with that 91-92 FB in the first two innings. That pitch was the same against the Rays as it was against the Tigers....flat with middling velocity and right in the heart of the plate. He threw 33 pitches through those first two innings struggling with the use of that pitch early in counts trying to get ahead of the hitters. The weak hitting Rays fouled off a good many of those pitches where a better hitting team would have hammered them.

 

In the third inning Beckett went to plan B and began to offer off speed stuff early in counts and the Rays never picked up on it. They continued very aggressive at the plate and swung at that s*** instead of laying off of it. Beckett only threw 61 pitches in the remaining six innings of work for an average of just over 10 pitches per inning as the Rays kept swinging at that stuff early in counts and did nothing with it except hitting it weakly for the most part.

 

Have to credit Beckett for finding a way to get through that game. However the Rays are a pretty weak hitting team and the Sox OF defense actually did make some plays on the few balls the Rays did hit well.

 

The problem is that Beckett's FB was really no better in location or velocity than it was against Detroit. He put it away after the first two innings throwing cutters more often.

 

Josh has grown more and more dependent on the cut fastball in the last two seasons. The cut FB is a very tough pitch to hit if thrown well and at the right time.

 

The problem I see for Beckett is that once the league's advance scouts begin to report out what he is doing and how he is throwing the FB, you will not see teams do what the Rays did. If Josh is forced away from using the FB the way he has used it for the bulk of his career, they will lay off that off speed stuff thrown early in counts forcing Josh to prove he can consistently throw off speed for strikes. That has also been an issue for Josh throughout his career but the Rays never exposed it choosing instead to swing at those pitches thrown early in the count, never giving themselves a chance to get ahead.

 

If the hitters lay off that junk Josh will be forced back to that nothing FB he has been throwing so far this year and the good hitters will tag that. In fact, mediocre hitters will hit that pretty good.

 

I do think that Josh will someday be a reasonably effective pitcher with a 91-92 FB especially since he has developed such a good cutter. However I don't think that is this year. Using off speed stuff early in counts is still plan B for Josh because he does not have much faith in his ability to throw off speed consistently for strikes and hitters will usually not swing at that stuff from Josh if thrown early in counts when they can wait and pick on that nothing FB he is throwing this year. As I said early, all it will take is for the advance scouts to report out how Josh is throwing that FB and when he again makes the conversion he made against the Rays, hitters will just lay off of the off speed stuff thrown early in counts and sit on that nothing FB.

[SCM33]

Josh Beckett and the Disabled List.

 

.....its like Peanut Butter and Jelly.

[Palodios]

Looks like Josh is going to only miss one more start, and pitch again on the 27th.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2012/06/20/josh_beckett_has_positive_report_on_his_shoulder/

[FredLynn]

Looks like Josh is going to only miss one more start, and pitch again on the 27th.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2012/06/20/josh_beckett_has_positive_report_on_his_shoulder/

 

I will believe that when I see it.

I remember Beckett pitching in the playoffs a few years ago, clearly injured and throwing fastballs under 90 vs the Rays, and all the while telling the media that he is fine, that nothing is wrong.

[BornToRun]

Maybe he didn't want to make excuses?

 

It's great news that he's coming back so soon though. Only missing 2 starts.

[SCM33]

Josh Beckett....LOL!!!!

 

Where are the apologists tonight????

 

Hes a stopper alright, too bad hes stopping the wrong team.

 

Please trade him. Ive been begging for Beckett and Salty's trades for 2 years now. PLEASE GET RID OF THEM.

[example1]

Are there still apologists? He's been mediocre at best and bad at worst. Inexcusable.

[SCM33]

Are there still apologists? He's been mediocre at best and bad at worst. Inexcusable.

 

You would think not, but I fought this battle for a long time........and its not like this happened over night...and I am not talking about performance only. He wore out his welcome 3 years ago.

 

He was great last year statistically speaking as a whole, and I still wanted him gone.

[example1]

Well, apologists are warranted if his performance is good. That's what matters most. Being a douche doesn't equate with being a bad baseball player.

 

Beckett single-handedly crushed the Sox momentum tonight. Baseball is a team game, but goddamn if a single starting pitcher can't negate the good work of a team.

 

It's a pathetic sign when I'm relieved that Aaron Cook is starting a game rather than Lester or Beckett.

[jung]

Sox starting pitching has been and is terrible but in truth all of the Sox many issues were on full display in Friday's Jays game, lousy starting pitching, lack of timely hitting, inability even to adapt to the opponent pitcher, the most rudimentary aspect of professional hitting and spotty defense. All of these issues have been evident at one time or another during this season, rarely all at the same time as they were in the Friday Jays game.

 

As many have said from the start even before spring training, the 2012 edition of the Sox simply have to many holes to be taken seriously in any context. If they make the WC, they will be fortunate to win the play-in and if they win the play-in, I would not be surprised to see them bounced out by way of the broom in a short series. Imagine this team playing in the intensity of a post season series....if anything they will end up looking comical, ridiculous actually....their kind of offense likely falling flat on its face in the white heat of post season intensity and they will end up beaten by teams that either have better starting pitching (not hard this year) or actually do know how to hit behind runners, teams that play as teams and mount their offense as a team effort as opposed to the cumulative result of a bunch of individual efforts.

[mvp 78]

Should have sold high on him in November.

[Bellhorn04]

The Sox are now 13-22 in Beckett and Lester starts, 35-24 in other games. Our biggest problem has now been clearly isolated. It's Beckett and Lester. Somehow we're going to have to replace at least one of them in the rotation.

[Youk Of The Nation]

I have been optimistic about everything as much as possible, but even I am starting to wonder if perhaps Beckett might be done as an ace. Obviously he hasn't pitched like one this season, and it seems unlikely that he'll suddenly start now. Its incredibly disappointing. I really like the guy (I have a soft spot for my fellow arrogant douchebags, as long as I don't know them personally), and he will always be great in my book simply for 2007. But perhaps it's time to start figuring out what to do about his performance.

 

Lester, on the other hand, I still believe will be back to form for the Sox, if not in the second half, then next season. He's shown flashes of his past brilliance this season. It seems more like he's gotten unlucky a lot and then started pitching badly to reflect it. I'm not sure, I don't know all the stats. However, I think letting Lester go at this point would be a huge mistake, we could end up watching him flourish somewhere else for years.

[mvp 78]

When a pitcher is noted for having a down year every even numbered year, they should never be called an ace.

[mvp 78]

Oh, and Lester is just "unlucky."

<_>

[SoxSport]

This guy is wearing a sign on his forehead that says "trade me, please."

[SoxSport]

The Sox are now 13-22 in Beckett and Lester starts' date=' 35-24 in other games. Our biggest problem has now been clearly isolated. It's Beckett and Lester. Somehow we're going to have to replace at least one of them in the rotation.[/quote']

 

Send this stat by express mail to the Red Sox front office.

[Laser Show]

Get rid of Beckett, I think it'll send a message to Lester. Get rid of him for $0.25 on the dollar if you must, just do it.

[ibot2much]

You have to wonder what was going through John F's mind when he was pictured standing in his dugout, just staring out. My thought "You were always an ******* JB, but at least I could keep you under control".

[Brennan]

Two glaring things that Beckett has yet to do effectively in a Red Sox uni so far:

 

 

1) pitch well against the bankee$

 

2) pitch well against the Jays

 

 

Both teams are in our division, you would think after watching him fail at both for six years yet still be our "ace" that the FO would catch on soon.