What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

[OSUFan_88]

The last I remember of him, he was throwing bullets and had nasty stuff.

Now he's looking like a bullpen pitcher the past year or so. What the heck has happened to him? I mean, a mid 80's fastball just isn't going to cut it.

[SPTO]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

I don't know man, I've seen some action of his this year and a mid 80s fastball isn't necessarily a BAD thing but the way he pitches it is because he doesn't have the kind of sinking action or great command to place his pitches. He either has to be hurting or there's something mechanically wrong with him.

[Sandman42]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

I'm thinking he has to be pitching injured. No way you just drop 3 MPH from your fastball over the offseason.

[Beantown]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

[obligatory]

Steroids!

[/obligatory]

[Speedy]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

This gives a possibly good explanation:

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/article999551.ece

[rsox]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

Kazmir was banged up going into the All Star break last season and did not want to pitch in the All Star game but being that the game went on so long wound up in the game anyway.
The team may say there is nothing wrong with his arm but the numbers say other wise; His numbers pre-All Star break: 3.04 ERA, 31 BB, 91 SO, 8 HR allowed, in 83 innings, Post-All Star Break: 4.02 ERA, 39 BB, 75 SO, 15 HR allowed, in 69.1 innings (he made one fewer start in the second half). This year has not been much better. As Kazmir has pitched 4 or fewer innings in 3 of his 8 starts, opponents are hitting .302 against him (Lefties are hitting .313 against him) and he has already given up 7 HR's. Maybe the Rays need to shut him down for a while and turn the ball over to David Price.

[CMH]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

I'm thinking he has to be pitching injured. No way you just drop 3 MPH from your fastball over the offseason.

Just 3? I thought Kazmir was low-to-mid 90's. If he's throwing mid-80's now that's a huge drop. Maybe I just thought he threw harder.

[bkrich83]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

Just 3? I thought Kazmir was low-to-mid 90's. If he's throwing mid-80's now that's a huge drop. Maybe I just thought he threw harder.

You are 100% correct. He was a lot to mid 90's guy not that long ago. If he's topping out in the mid 80's something is up.

[Sandman42]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

Just 3? I thought Kazmir was low-to-mid 90's. If he's throwing mid-80's now that's a huge drop. Maybe I just thought he threw harder.

His average fastball before was 92 MPH, this year its 89.8. Maybe he's lost some more velocity in his recent starts though.

[bkrich83]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

His average fastball before was 92 MPH, this year its 89.8. Maybe he's lost some more velocity in his recent starts though.

I thought I had read he was closer to 86 and 87 his last couple of starts.

His average FB speed has dropped a little every year, but I chalked that up to gaining some command. But at this point he's got no velocity or command.

[Coug00]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

This was written by Dave Cameron earlier this month.

Scott Kazmir is broken, and it’s starting to get to the point where we have to wonder if he’s fixable. First, some graphs.




At the top, we see Kazmir’s walk and strikeout rate trends over the years. They’re not good. From 2004 to 2007, Kazmir was among the elite strikeout guys in baseball, averaging 10+ K/9 in three of the four seasons. He always has struggled with his command, but the overpowering stuff made up for it.
Last year, he famously “lost his slider”, as you can see in the third image. He cut his slider usage in half and saw his GB% sink accordingly, becoming an extreme flyball pitcher. His strikeout rate dropped some, but not drastically, and while he had definitely taken a step back, there was hope that he would rebound after rediscovering his slider this spring.
That hasn’t happened. The fourth image is a velocity histogram of Kazmir’s start last night. His fastest pitch of the night was 90.7 MPH. His fastball averaged 89.05 MPH, confirming the data in the third chart - his velocity is off by a couple MPH this year on all pitches, not just his fastball. He’s throwing a bunch of sliders again, but they’re of the 80 MPH variety, not the 84 MPH power slider that he used to throw.
Those missing MPH are having a pretty big impact. Batters are making contact with 84% of the pitches Kazmir throws this year, way up from his 75% career average. In turn, his strikeouts are down, but he hasn’t been able to offset the loss of dominance with a corresponding improvement in his walk rate. His 4.91 BB/9 is the highest he’s posted since his rookie season.
Not surprisingly, this version of broken Kazmir isn’t very good. His FIP is 4.78 and last night’s beating pushed his ERA to 6.00. The Rays have David Price waiting in Triple-A, and with Kazmir looking like he needs a stint on the disabled list and an MRI, they might not be able to keep him down on the farm much longer. This Rays team needs a boost, and until they figure out what’s wrong with Kazmir, it doesn’t look like they’ll be getting it from his spot in the rotation.

Nothing much has changed since the article was written. His average fastball the last two starts has been 88-89 and he topped out at 92mph against Boston a week ago. And he's still throwing his 81 mph slider way too much.

[CMH]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

Ok, that clears it up. When I read mid-80's fastball, I'm thinking 85, 86 max. But, he's in the high 80's just breaking 90. Still a drop is a drop and he's lost control. Not looking good.

[JBH3]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

This gives a possibly good explanation:

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseb...icle999551.ece

Given what Kazmir stated about his mechanics, delivery, torque, etc. I can definitely seeing that hampering his success on the mound.

He's a small guy and that was much the knock on him coming into the bigs. He needs every part of his mechanics working I'm sure, to deliver the ball w/ the velocity needed to be successful.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

Ok, that clears it up. When I read mid-80's fastball, I'm thinking 85, 86 max. But, he's in the high 80's just breaking 90. Still a drop is a drop and he's lost control. Not looking good.

FYI, his last game against the Indians, the gun was reading 86 pretty consistently.

[snepp]

Re: What has happened to Scott Kazmir?

FYI, his last game against the Indians, the gun was reading 86 pretty consistently.

88.87 MPH average on his 4-seamer that game, 2 MPH slower on the 2-seam variety.