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Message
My take on Alex Lange
Posted on 3/18/17 at 9:59 am
Posted on 3/18/17 at 9:59 am
the man can pitch and LSU needs him to be consistently effective to reach it's goal of Omaha. the tendency of many is to "discard" him and push him down the rotation and use other guys. that's understandable based on some of his results but, imo, it's best for the team to let he and Dunn work it out even if it puts the team in tough spots; the season is still young and if he can work through this we will be much better off.
imo, his problem is control and he is getting behind in too many counts. he still rings up tons of strikeouts and those are substantially guys that he did not get behind the count. this is true with any pitcher. I think there are 3 reasons why pitchers struggle with location..
1-lack of focus. I don't think there's anybody that would suggest Lange of this. the man seems to be laser focused.
2-mechanics. not having the advantage of slo-mo film I can't honestly comment on this. I do hope this is it tho because I think it can be corrected by Dunn.
3-fear. it's possible he doesn't trust his fastball. that creates a reluctance to throw it. he has been giving up a lot of hits on fastballs. that makes it tough when he is behind the count and either has to throw a fastball or a strike with his curveball.
I saw this with Josh Beckett when he was with the Marlins and he had a 100+ mph fastball consistently. he either pitched a gem or was rocked and rocked early. later in his career when traded to the Red Sox he really developed into a super pitcher. he did it by throwing strikes with other pitches; mainly the change up and curve ball and not getting into too many "have to throw a fastball" counts. he still relied heavily on his fastball but the hitter wasn't sure it was coming.
Lange has a great curve ball but I think hitters have adjusted and will lay off that pitch because it's rarely a strike. he can still use it as an out pitch but he needs to get to 2 strikes before it's effective.
my point is it's way too early to give up on Lange. if he and Dunn can make adjustments to improve his control early in the count he will be fine and can be outstanding again.
imo, his problem is control and he is getting behind in too many counts. he still rings up tons of strikeouts and those are substantially guys that he did not get behind the count. this is true with any pitcher. I think there are 3 reasons why pitchers struggle with location..
1-lack of focus. I don't think there's anybody that would suggest Lange of this. the man seems to be laser focused.
2-mechanics. not having the advantage of slo-mo film I can't honestly comment on this. I do hope this is it tho because I think it can be corrected by Dunn.
3-fear. it's possible he doesn't trust his fastball. that creates a reluctance to throw it. he has been giving up a lot of hits on fastballs. that makes it tough when he is behind the count and either has to throw a fastball or a strike with his curveball.
I saw this with Josh Beckett when he was with the Marlins and he had a 100+ mph fastball consistently. he either pitched a gem or was rocked and rocked early. later in his career when traded to the Red Sox he really developed into a super pitcher. he did it by throwing strikes with other pitches; mainly the change up and curve ball and not getting into too many "have to throw a fastball" counts. he still relied heavily on his fastball but the hitter wasn't sure it was coming.
Lange has a great curve ball but I think hitters have adjusted and will lay off that pitch because it's rarely a strike. he can still use it as an out pitch but he needs to get to 2 strikes before it's effective.
my point is it's way too early to give up on Lange. if he and Dunn can make adjustments to improve his control early in the count he will be fine and can be outstanding again.
8
Posted on 3/18/17 at 10:02 am to LSU GrandDad
Lets shorten that up, hard, flat fastball that goes right over the middle of the plate, not a problem for decent hitters.
Ben McDonald 2.0
Ben McDonald 2.0
Posted on 3/18/17 at 10:05 am to LSU GrandDad
Sounds like you really know baseball
Posted on 3/18/17 at 10:38 am to Lakeboy7
quote:
Lets shorten that up, hard, flat fastball that goes right over the middle of the plate, not a problem for decent hitters.
I like your brevity. I think it's more complicated than that. to "cure" a flat fastball all one needs to do is to apply more finger pressure on the seem and it will generate lots of spin. ditto with change ups. I think the "middle of the plate" is spot on tho. but the man needs to have a pitch to establish the count. most use fastballs to do that but changes and curves can be used also it just needs to be strikes and sometimes right over the plate (better to hit the corners tho). that freshman pitcher last night (Beck) did it with low speed fastballs.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 11:10 am to LSU GrandDad
well, he was bad against TCU, ump was squeezing him early, he gets banged up...he pitches last nite, ump has a saucer for the plate, & Lange again gets blasted...
i think he gets frustrated easily & loses his composure when this happens...
this may not be the case, but i have seen this on all levels of baseball...
i think he gets frustrated easily & loses his composure when this happens...
this may not be the case, but i have seen this on all levels of baseball...
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:03 pm to theBru
I do not always comment on LSU baseball because I think we have enough perspective from enough posters, but Lange is critical to the success of the team. I will not talk about mechanics and pitching style because I am sure that others can cover that. For me, in the Preseason, Alex said, the goal of this season is heading back to BR with the National Championship, anything else is failure. If you are gonna talk the talk, you need to bring it every time you touch the mound. He is extremely talented and can ball, but he must improve for LSU to be successful.
In regards to fan frustration, in my opinion, the best teams do not always make it Omaha. Postseason play and playoffs are not about the best teams over the course of the season, but who is on a roll heading into postseason. Lange and the rest of the staff have plenty of time to pick it up and if they can get going and the bats can stay hot, they will always have a chance.
In regards to fan frustration, in my opinion, the best teams do not always make it Omaha. Postseason play and playoffs are not about the best teams over the course of the season, but who is on a roll heading into postseason. Lange and the rest of the staff have plenty of time to pick it up and if they can get going and the bats can stay hot, they will always have a chance.
This post was edited on 3/18/17 at 12:03 pm
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:10 pm to LSU GrandDad
The arm is there. The velocity is fine. He hits the mid 90s with his fastball. The problem right now, apparently, is that he has no movement on it. It is straight as an arrow and they are clobbering it.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:21 pm to TigerBait55
quote:
TigerBait55
Post more.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:24 pm to StickD
quote:
Post more.
I will work that haha
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:26 pm to TigerBait55
You won't talk mechanics but you suggest he needs to improve?
can you elaborate on that?
can you elaborate on that?
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:27 pm to LSU GrandDad
The great equalizer to getting behind on batters is the change up. Dunn & Lange should trust it more.......
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:31 pm to Lakeboy7
Ben held his own. He won the damn Golden Spikes award for crying out loud. Nobody HATES LSU more than its own fans. I swear. We are the biggest bunch of whiny arse complainers in sports. But we complain when men, women or children act just like us in real life.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:32 pm to go ta hell ole miss
dude, if we aren't perfect, we suck. welcome to the rant
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:32 pm to LSUSoulja08
quote:
You won't talk mechanics but you suggest he needs to improve?
Overall improvement as far as end-game success as a pitcher. I am just looking at the results, not the fine details such as arm angle, velocity, pitch type, etc., which many other people cover and provide insight about. I think it is simple to look at his stat lines and see that for Alex Lange, our Friday night starter and key figure of this team, he needs to be better.
This post was edited on 3/18/17 at 12:36 pm
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:34 pm to Lakeboy7
Location, location, location.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:38 pm to LSU GrandDad
In my limited baseball knowledge of only playing juco ball over 20 years, his biggest problem is curve ball.
Teams attack his fastball early in the count. When they look fast and he misses spots, he pays for it.
He then resorts to leading off hitters with breaking pitchees that are not "in the zone" and he misses.
Very fundamental pitching approach is knowing the count and when to throw breaking pitches for a "strike" and when to throw it out of the zone to get them to chase a ball for a strike. His 1st pitch curves are often in the dirt and they layoff those because they're looking fastball. Throw that curve in. If they hit it, well they earned it.
Potching backwards is a simple term used at times and when he only has 2 go to pitches, he has to sometimes outthink the hitters. Or Dunn does.
Teams attack his fastball early in the count. When they look fast and he misses spots, he pays for it.
He then resorts to leading off hitters with breaking pitchees that are not "in the zone" and he misses.
Very fundamental pitching approach is knowing the count and when to throw breaking pitches for a "strike" and when to throw it out of the zone to get them to chase a ball for a strike. His 1st pitch curves are often in the dirt and they layoff those because they're looking fastball. Throw that curve in. If they hit it, well they earned it.
Potching backwards is a simple term used at times and when he only has 2 go to pitches, he has to sometimes outthink the hitters. Or Dunn does.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:39 pm to LSU GrandDad
Lange has great stuff. But I'm seeing that he's too amped up for the bigger games and frequently over-throws his pitches, affecting his balance, and falling off drastically to the first base side. Very tough to be consistent when that is the case. I don't think it's a focusing issue. Although I hope Dunn can help him find some calmness and be more even-keel on the mound.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:48 pm to LSU GrandDad
I think Lange is a bit immature and gets rattled. When he's on, he's incredible.
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:52 pm to TheCaterpillar
I'm not sure I would call him immature, but I definitely agree that I think he gets rattled and in his head. I think this is his biggest problem.
I don't see how he can improve beyond where he is right now as far as talent, mechanics, athleticism, etc., it's all there
IMO it is mental. He gets rattled and falls behind batters and has to pipe some pitches and then gets tagged.
I think he will be fine if he can address this problem and I think he and Dunn can get this figured out. Last night's zone was not a help to any pitcher last night so I'm still not very concerned
I don't see how he can improve beyond where he is right now as far as talent, mechanics, athleticism, etc., it's all there
IMO it is mental. He gets rattled and falls behind batters and has to pipe some pitches and then gets tagged.
I think he will be fine if he can address this problem and I think he and Dunn can get this figured out. Last night's zone was not a help to any pitcher last night so I'm still not very concerned
Posted on 3/18/17 at 12:58 pm to LSU GrandDad
quote:
it's rarely a strike.
Wrong. He has shown that he can throw it in the dirt or drop it in the zone. And hitters still aren't laying off of it because of it's velo and the arm slot when he releases it makes opposers think it's a fastball out of his hand.
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