Seattle's plan of attack was pretty clear as you note and the outcome speaks for itself. Casas is likely going to see a steady diet of sliders going forward too. He will have to adjust . I'm betting he will but it may take longer than he or we like.
Like @Salem's Lot has noted, it's easy to see how a good pitcher can beat you, but expecting every pitcher on every team be able to mix multiple high quality breaking pitches and keep them all in the zone enough to not walk a batter with as good an eye as Casas is asking a lot. Others will mess up, hang balls, walk him, etc.
Boyle is known for having big stuff but absolutely horrendous control. On any other team he probably wouldn't have gotten a shot at starting. If Casas walks three times tonight and is never even tempted to swing the bat, I wouldn't be surprised.
93 walks in 117 innings last year in the minors. Thats taking free passes to the level of performance art.
I don't think that $150M is going to get it done. In any case, I hope to see him in Boston for the rest of his career.
Without signing an extension, Casas is probably looking at $30-40M over the next four years (call it $900K, $5M, $10M, $15M on the low end). Which means a 10/150 offer would pay him $22-24M per year for the remaining years. It also means he's not a free agent until at least his age 34 season. None of that seems like something a player will agree to at this stage. I'm thinking he's either looking for a 7-8 year deal so he hits free agency at 31 or 32, or he needs something in the range of a 12-13+ year "career" commitment.
It should be cheaper; both those guys got extended when already arbitration eligible and both had demonstrated a capability of performing at a 5+ WAR level.
Please tell me that there is 0% chance that one of those balls break inside and catches Casas in the ribs. PLEASE TELL ME!!!!
This kid is amazing. He's just in a completely different headspace, and I love to visit it now and again through his quotes.
Visualization training has long been a thing. . .and there's pretty conclusive evidence that it has a positive effect on both skill growth and preventing skill degradation when you can't physically do the thing.
Visualization training has been a thing for decades, I did as part of training back in college almost 30 years ago and it was old by then. But this is more about the phrasing and how he lead them by breadcrumb. He didn't just say, "I was taking mental reps to stay sharp".
Ah. I had read that as you thinking this was a quirky thing to do. But yes, I agree it's kind of hysterical how he led McCaffrey.
I was a thrower on the track team in college (hammer and 35 lb weight), so we threw things, lifted weights, then watched video of us throwing the things, did dry runs of our footwork without the implements, and did visualization exercises running through our form in our head (and targeting a personal record, because as long as you're there you might as well). With a sport where there are a lot of discrete parts to the movement it's hard to think about things like where your weight is at each chunk while you're going full speed. So breaking it down on video in slow motion helps you see what you are physically doing, the dry runs let you focus on each step, and the visualization is important for putting it together in your mind before you go and try to replicate at full speed. For some sports like weight lifting there is a really big mental barrier to break in order to set a personal record, someone can be stuck at a given maximum lift for years, so for them the visualization can be much more about erasing that barrier before they try a heavier weight. A baseball swing is probably a lot closer to throwing a hammer or discus than the weight lifting end of the spectrum.
A generation ago? More like two years ago. When he was a rookie, veteran red asses gave him shit (“We don’t do things like that around here” which is pretty rich coming from a team that was currently in last place) about how he’d walk the grass with no shoes on as well as other things that he did to get himself prepared for games.
not gonna lie. He keeps doing stuff like this and being his genuinely authentic weird self and it may catapult him to mancrush status.
That's pretty much where I am too. I love the mentality, attitude, and energy both these guys bring.
Too late over here. I LOVE this kid. His mental attitude is freaking awesome and his ABs are must see TV. Super exciting to see him come back.
I was a high jumper- and I would do the same thing before every meet, and then before every jump. If I couldn't see myself making it in my head, I knew there was no way I could make it when the spikes hit the rubber. It also took the "paralysis by analysis" part out-- I did all the thinking before hand, so when it was OGG on deck, all I needed to do was recreate the thought.
Yeah, it's nice to see that they can be friendly in any case. But Smith seems like a pro's pro; he knows the drill.
