March 23, 200521 yr AJ has once again decided he has nothing to learn. Before his first outing, he was happy with his delivery and control Burnett, who will start today against the Dodgers, has worked on a delivery with less turn in his body. Wiley said the old delivery made it more difficult for Burnett to pitch to the opposite side of the plate. "He'd turn so much he'd lose sight of (the plate) and his body wasn't squared soon enough to where he could get downhill, he'd come around,'' Wiley said. "If you come around, the hitter sees the ball longer and (can) lay off it. They see it's starting to spin, they say, 'it's a breaking ball, it's not going to be a strike.' " Burnett made the change after talking to the coaches and fellow pitchers. "I'm a lot more under control,'' Burnett said. "It allows me to have good direction toward home plate, stay on balance and drive toward home plate with a nice smooth effort.'' March 2nd article He had a good first outing Marlins' Burnett is taking it `nice and easy' VERO BEACH -- Don't be surprised to see some scouts tapping and rattling their radar guns this spring while A.J. Burnett is on the mound. No need to get them recalibrated. Burnett really is throwing in the low- to mid-90s. At least that's the plan. Burnett made it through his Grapefruit League debut Wednesday against the Dodgers at Holman Stadium without busting Paul Lo Duca's catcher's mitt. Set on pacing himself this spring, Burnett characterized the three-inning, 49-pitch outing as "nice and easy." "He didn't overthrow," said Lo Duca, after the Dodgers' 4-2 victory. "He's learning he doesn't have to overthrow." Tossing mostly fastballs and changeups, Burnett pitched a pair of scoreless innings before surrendering a game-tying, two-run homer to Ricky Ledee on a 3-1 fastball. That was one of two hits Burnett allowed. He struck out four and walked two. "[Wednesday] was perfect," Burnett said. "I don't think I overdid it. In the past I've been almost completely ready the first day of spring training, and now I'm almost ready and using spring training to get ready, learning how to pitch at 92, 93, 94 and save the hard stuff for when I need it." Last season Burnett saw for himself how effectively he could pitch at lower velocities. Coming back from a three-week hiatus after experiencing some elbow discomfort, Burnett said he pitched two scoreless innings in the season finale against the Phillies without topping 95 mph. That was the lone game Burnett did not start in 2004 after coming back from Tommy John surgery in June. Over his last 18 games he went 7-4 with a 3.14 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 1112/3 innings. "You can't work on too many things but throwing strikes right now, repeating my delivery and getting the ball over the plate early in the count and getting early contact," said Burnett, who also singled in his lone at-bat. "I was a nervous, a little anxious at first and after that I was just fine. It was good to get back in a game situation." Burnett's off-field situation improved earlier this week when Tim Hudson signed a four-year, $47 million extension with the Braves. That will likely propel Burnett to the top of the free agent starting pitching class after the season. "We'll see after this season," Burnett said. "I'm not worried about it right now. I'm worried about going home and maybe doing a little fishing, having a meeting with [pitching coach] Mark Wiley in the morning and talking about what we did [Wednesday]. We'll worry about that stuff when it happens." March 3 His second outing, he's overthrowing again. "He was up,'' Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. "It looks like he was overthrowing a little bit. He wasn't fluid like he was the last time out.'' .... Burnett was "just frustrated and mad at himself and he felt fine,'' said agent Darek Braunecker March 7 So, instead of trying to improve himself, he blames everyone for tinkering with him and goes back to his old ways. He did have a good outing against a bunch of guys who won't make it this year. A.J. Burnett is trying to turn back time. After studying tapes of his 2002 season, when he went 12-9 with a 3.30 ERA, Burnett decided to go back to his Kevin Brown-like delivery -- one with a pronounced hip swivel -- before going out to pitch Friday. Burnett pitched five shutout innings, allowing just one hit, in a victory against the Orioles. ''No more tinkering,'' said Burnett, who had scaled down his body turn with the idea it would lessen the strain on his surgically repaired right elbow. But Burnett said his arm now feels great, and he felt more comfortable with his original delivery. Manager Jack McKeon said he could care less what delivery Burnett uses. ''Just get 'em out,'' McKeon said. ``If you swivel or want to stand on your head out there, I don't care. That's fine. March 12 This reminds me of how stupid I am playing golf. I have a lousy grip that is way to strong, and it causes me to pull everything. With a proper grip, I can hit the ball longer and straighter, but it's not comfortable, so I don't use it. Instead, I aim about 30 degrees to the right of where I want the ball to go. I get by with my lousy grip, and remain a mediocre/poor golfer, which is good enough to compete with the guys I play with. If I would bother to learn the correct grip and have it feel more naturual, I'd probably knock 5-10 strokes off my game. If AJ would grow up and realize he doesn't know it all, he'd win a few Cy Youngs.
March 23, 200521 yr okay..so he went back to his original delivery..how is one hit bad? 718783[/snapback] His point has nothing to do with Burnetts performance -- just Burnetts inability to improve due to his own stubborn, arrogant, self If his flawed delivery is the reason for his arm troubles -- how is he every going to fullfill his potential? Every time he takes a step forward on the field -- he takes two steps back because of an arm problem. He claims he wants to be comforatable -- I wonder how comforatable he's going to be when they're opening up his elbow again. Hopefully I'm wrong...but I've seen it too many times where bad mechanics lead to SERIOUS arm problems...and I think this is the reason why the Marlins were willing to move Burnett this offseason and rather invest serious money into someone else(Hudson, Vazquez...etc)
March 23, 200521 yr Everlong -- I think you better give the user MarlinAddict credit for your posts. He frequents this site too, you know.
March 23, 200521 yr Everlong -- I think you better give the user MarlinAddict credit for your posts. He frequents this site too, you know. 718817[/snapback] nice detective work
March 23, 200521 yr didnt burnett get hit hard in yesterday's game? 718804[/snapback] Not really, just the balls went to the wrong places. There two hard hit balls all day by the Dodgers, those were fly outs. The runs scored on singles, and mostly idiot defensive plays (SEE: Miguel Cabrera)
March 23, 200521 yr I don't think AJ is immature. I do think he's an arrogant jerk but of course pitchers do tend to be a bit odd. It would be amazing to know how many injuries are caused by well meaning pitching coaches changing deiveries. If a guy has pitched the same way his whole life, like Dontrelle, and then they start screwing with delivery and stance and whatnot, how many times do these changes CAUSE the injury when a pitcher has never had problems before? We don't know because there is NO pitching coach in MLB or the minor leagues for that matter would admit that they might be responsible for a pitcher struggling or getting injured. The fans don't and can't see the other side. AJ will be just fine. I do happen to worry about them changing Dontrelle and intend to wait and watch what happens. Of course Dontrelle may have a fantastic year but it could catch up to him next year. You just never know.
March 23, 200521 yr Everlong -- I think you better give the user MarlinAddict credit for your posts. He frequents this site too, you know. 718817[/snapback] Good Lord! I've been plagarised! I guess I should charge a penny for my thoughts.
March 23, 200521 yr Wow. Are people really this sad that to get a self-esteem booster they have to copy other message board posts to look smart? jrHEMi is smiling somewhere...
March 23, 200521 yr Everlong -- I think you better give the user MarlinAddict credit for your posts. He frequents this site too, you know. 718817[/snapback] What happend? Where did he copy him from?
March 23, 200521 yr Maybe Eric liked MarlinAddict's post so much he wanted to post it here! :headscratch :hug I am guilty once in a while for copying peoples Quizzes on another site I frequent :confused :plain I am guilty :plain
March 23, 200521 yr If Dontrelle's delivery wasn't changed it was gonna cause injuries anyhow. 718864[/snapback] I'm not sure about that. It's an odd delivery, and that's enough for consideration it might put too much stress on his body and harm him. More importantly for Willis is to recognize what his mechanics are, refine them and stick to it over the course of a full, oh, I don't know, month.
March 23, 200521 yr Maybe Eric liked MarlinAddict's post so much he wanted to post it here! :headscratch It's allowed, as long as you provide a link to the source and/or give credit to the author.
March 24, 200521 yr okay..so he went back to his original delivery..how is one hit bad? 718783[/snapback] His point has nothing to do with Burnetts performance -- just Burnetts inability to improve due to his own stubborn, arrogant, self If his flawed delivery is the reason for his arm troubles -- how is he every going to fullfill his potential? Every time he takes a step forward on the field -- he takes two steps back because of an arm problem. He claims he wants to be comforatable -- I wonder how comforatable he's going to be when they're opening up his elbow again. Hopefully I'm wrong...but I've seen it too many times where bad mechanics lead to SERIOUS arm problems...and I think this is the reason why the Marlins were willing to move Burnett this offseason and rather invest serious money into someone else(Hudson, Vazquez...etc) 718803[/snapback] I don't know if Burnett necessarily has a flawed delivery. Kevin Brown seemed to do fine with it. Also, I don't think it is reasonable to say that he has bad mechanics. Sure it's not a textbook delivery, but that does not mean that it is flawed.
March 24, 200521 yr AJ just has alot of growing up to do. Hes probably been pampered all his life. One day he will learn. The people are only trying to help him out. Im with McKeon though, whatever way he does it, it doesnt matter as long as he gets them out.
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