McCarron stated: Pelfrey said, he threw "by far" the most off-speed pitches he had in an outing. He tossed 66 pitches (44 strikes) and "probably for the first time in my life, it might've been half off-speed pitches. I threw sliders for a strike, the split was good again and I threw the curveball for a strike. I thought it was a real positive outing."
Then, I checked in with my good friend, Joe D. over at metsmerized, and saw that he too read McCarron and had an opinion on Pelf:
When I look around baseball, there just aren’t that many major league pitchers with Mike Pelfrey’s physical attributes or talent. Mental toughness and baseball savvy and knowledge are what separate the bad and mediocre pitchers from the good and elite pitchers. Mental toughness is every bit as important as physical tools. For Mike Pelfrey to conquer the NL and learn the art of pitching he will need to harness the mental part of the game to enhance his excellent physical attributes.
No one was happier than I was when Mike was drafted. He was one of the top college pitchers and his last year stats at Wichita State were simply sick: 12-3, 1.93, 0.90, 7-CG, 2-SH, 143-K, 139.2-IP.
Everything went well in the minors... 4-2, 2.71, 77-K, 66.1-IP for the B-Mets in 2006... and, boy, was this kid rushed right into Queens the same year (2-1, 5.49).
And then, the coaches started screwing with his delivery.
Do this... don't do this... turn this way... stick your finger up your butt first...
And the result? 4 year MLB stats: 28-32, 4.58, 1.49, only 2-CG, no shutouts, only 275-K (181-BB) in 479.0-IP.
Why can't pitching coaches, especially roving ones, just leave college pitchers alone. These aren't kids playing in high school leagues against bad competition. They were spot on in college so, what do ya think... like, maybe they know how to fucking pitch?
Will Pelfrey ever return to the numbers he once produced. Sadly, the answer is probably not, especially as a Met. Half of pitching is up in your head and the Mets have totally screwed with that portion of Mike's body also.
Sad case of another phenom college pitcher.
Pelfrey's problem is mental, not that his mechanics were monkeyed with. He tends to melt down under pressure. Pelf also joked about becoming a pitcher;learning to mix up his pitches. With Boras as his agent, he is going to have to turn things around for the better real soon if he hopes to land a big contract one day. Otherwise, teams won't want to endure the brain damage of Boras in signing him. I wonder what Boras will put in his Big Pelf book?
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