I think the stuff is there, but he is not pitching - he is throwing. Too many fastballs, and his location was not very good. He needs more innings and until then (probably around the 40IP mark) he will be inconsistent.

Agreed

I agree.

 

He needs to start throwing more pitches besides the fastball. I mean the hitters know whats coming and thats not good for AJ.

It is alarming to me how little AJ has learned. You cant beat hitters at this level with a good fastball. You have to beat them by keeping them off balance. I would have loved to see him come back tonight and throw nothing but changeups and breaking balls while spotting his fastball. But then again, he doesnt have total control and is not all the way back (which is why I said he needs more time and more rehab starts).

 

But truthfully, we didnt lose tonight because of AJ's pitching. Our offense just didnt show up tonight.

But truthfully, we didnt lose tonight because of AJ's pitching. Our offense just didnt show up tonight.

Yes we did. If our offense scored 7 runs, we'd still lose. I'd say that's showing up. Indians' pitcher was on their game, ours wasn't. I'd still rather lose this way than the way they lost last night.

Our offense didnt show up but it stil woudlnt have mattered. We gave up too many runs. It would take ALOT to still have won. Dont blame the hitting, blame the pitching because even if we would have hit we would have lost.

I figured that AJ would have learned from Penny that you cant be a consistent pitcher, with only fastballs. Towards the end he dropped a few curves in there, so maybe he is just trying to get comfortable before going starting to rely on his breaking pitches.

what i learned from Oliver's starts is that he is only good for 3 IP

 

after that he lets the game go

 

so it is best to keep him in the 'pen.

 

Burnett is an idiot if he hasn't learned that he can't use his fastball all the time.

The lesson is that you should do your rehab work in the minors. The reason AJ's throwing so many fastballs is probably that he hasn't developed confidence in his other pitches yet.

 

It feels like the whole team is in kind of a maliase right now.

I figured that AJ would have learned from Penny that you cant be a consistent pitcher, with only fastballs. Towards the end he dropped a few curves in there, so maybe he is just trying to get comfortable before going starting to rely on his breaking pitches.

guys the kid is not there yet ... welcome to reality ... it might take him 5 or more starts before he feels comfortable up there, you have to remember that he has missed the past 12 months from an operation that takes time to get back.

 

about the fastballs? ... yeah he is throwing too many of them, but he threw the curveball better than the other night against the mets.

 

johnnylons if you think that he has to keep hitters offbalance with offspeed stuff than you are looking at the wrong AJ... fastball is his bread and butter

 

all I have to say is welcome to reality kids ... it might take a while before he is fully up there ... he looked much better than the other night, even though he allowed 5-8 runs whatever it was.

It took Kerry Wood a year and a half.

 

Let's save the complaining maybe, just maybe, for a month or two from now.

thank you juanky ... ohh yeah i just read your post AGAIN

Your one of the four

The man does not have confidence in all of his pitches yet or even the command of them hell he barely has command over his fastball right now. Lets work on getting his fastball 100% this is still spring training for him. I'm not worried at all. AJ can't throw anything else with any consistancy yet, but I liked the way he pitched in the first two innings. He will be ok, come back in August if he is still pitching like this

It took Kerry Wood a year and a half.

 

Let's save the complaining maybe, just maybe, for a month or two from now.

Bingo...did some of you expect AJ of old today? Do you expect AJ of old in September? Odds are we won't get AJ of old until mid-season 2005 at the earliest based on previous TJ surgeries.