Pitcher Confidence

[Steven78]

Re: Pitcher Confidence

It adds up over the course of a game.

[sydrogerdavid]

Re: Pitcher Confidence

What I hate about individual pitch confidence is a strike raises it and a ball lowers it even if you dont aim there.

Like if I aim low and away out of the zone and I miss my spot badly and it ends up over the heart of the plate, a strike still raises my confidence in that pitch. And if I nail that low and away pitch but the batter doesnt swing I lose confidence even if I nailed my intended location.

Individual pitch confidence should be tied to how close you are to your intended location, not just if it's a ball or strike.

Kind of goes along with another thing that bugs me.

When warming up a pitcher, you must throw the pitch for a strike to gain pitch confidence. It should be okay for a slider to tail out of the zone or a change to drop out. While it's fine and easy to move the the cursor to make the pitch become a strike, it's still annoying.

[KBLover]

Re: Pitcher Confidence

I get what you're saying, but as a former pitcher, I can see it the other way as well. Even if you're hitting your spots and feeling "on," the opposing team can still impact your confidence by (exactly what you said), sticking the bat out on a perfectly spotted outside pitch and blooping it into right field for a two-out single. That can get in a pitcher's head, and thus, have a negative impact on confidence. Conversely, let's say you miss with a pitch and you inadvertently throw a center-cut fastball down the middle of the plate that the hitter belts hard to the center fielder for an out. As a pitcher, you're thinking, whew!! I got away with one there! And, thus confidence increases as you approach the next hitter as you tend to be more careful and you realize you have a great defense behind you. Make sense?

So, I guess there's two ways of looking at it.

Yeah, definitely more than one way to look at things.

I hear you, and I understand what you're saying. I think that's something where experience or "clutch" (better mental make-up) or such could get represented, give us something else to look at/consider when drafting, promoting, signing FA pitchers, etc.

I would think something like that would be more apt to shake up a 2nd year pitcher than someone like Clayton Kershaw or a 12-year pitcher that's seen who knows how many bleeders and such happen and seen things cut both ways. The experienced pitcher knows that baseball can be a ***** sometimes, while the young guy might wonder how he can get guys out even if his perfect pitches don't that night.

Of course, some guys might just let that bother them, and some yell "COME ON!" at that half-awake SS or might think "screw it, I have to get everyone myself" no matter how much it happens. That's why I would love a rating/trait/something (even if hidden and we have to watch for it during play by noting how he responds, etc) to give some individuality.

Some visual play out of that and some commentary (like in MVP where you could see the reactions to the pitching coach and the commentators would talk a little about it) would be fun as well.