Stephen Strasburg’s AFL Surprise

Harry - Any comments about anything in the pitch f/x information that might be causing Strasburg’s lopsided reverse splits with righthanded batters hitting .357 against him with 3 home runs and left handers hitting .138 with 0 home runs?  I’ve tried to program my computer with a small sample size alert button but haven’t finished it yet, but this is where I would use it.

Throwing 100mph is impressive no doubt.
But should people be concerned with his sky
high 6.97 ERA as of Monday??

Drew Storen and Mike Leake look like they
are executing pitches better than Strausberg

am I sensing too much hype??

It’s funny my Parents-in-law live in Surprise literally 5 minutes from the stadium, and my father in law doesn’t care anything about baseball. Just kinda funny to me because if I lived there I would have unquestionably been at the game, front row taking it all in.  Makes me feel almost jealous, but he doesn’t care anyway, so is that really jealousy if he doesn’t give a sh*t? I’m confused…

I saw him at Peoria the previous time out and he was not impressive giving up long taters and with little control

It’s one thing to say that the Surprise PitchFX system isn’t hot in comparison to the one in Peoria. It’s another to declare that Strasburg sits at 98 based off this data.

If you look into the manor in which PitchFX data is gathered in contrast to radar guns, there’s a strong possibility that the two are not going to be in agreement.

Taking a scale that has been calibrated over decades of radar gun data and applying it to a piece of technology that reads differently is a risky venture.

Let’s not jump to conclusions. While PitchFX appears to be a better solution to reading velocity than radar guns in the long run, work needs to be done on the application of the traditional radar gun velocity scale in contrast to PitchFX. There’s clearly a void here. A lot of people are trusting data without really understanding what they’re looking at.

Thanks. I’m well aware of the accolades at SDSU.
I’m just worried that people see 100mph and
assume he’s the next Nolan ryan. I was just
following him (along with a highly touted Moustakas)
and stat-wise, granted, a short AZFL season, they seem to
be off to a slow start. I’m not downplaying Strausbergs
capability and skills, simply wondered that now
that he’s pitching to some of the best minor
league bats teams have to offer, he’s not as
good as we all thought. That’s all.

Strasburg’s last outing is a good example of why radar guns and PitchFX need to be looked at as different flavors of data. Readings are being taken from different points with both pieces of equipment.

We should probably compare the average AFL fastball with the average MLB fastball, too. Isn’t there a chance that both PitchFX systems could be reading “hot” in the AFL?

@Jason: Cool. To be clear, my comments weren’t addressed specifically to you. I’ve just heard the hype angle played up by many people who haven’t seen him and it always puzzles me.

Whether he is as good as we all thought… that depends on how good we all thought he was. I thought (and still think) he’s going to be pretty darned good, health permitting.