Monday, March 28, 2016

David Peralta: player to pitcher to player.

If the exception proves the rule, then David Peralta may be the prime example since Babe Ruth. From baseball-reference.com:

Photo of David Peralta
Position: Leftfielder 
Bats: Left, Throws: Left 
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 215 lb.
Born: August 14, 1987 in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela Age 28

Pitchers are not players, needing only one of the five tools. Monday, August 10, 2015

Hit
Hit with power
Run
Field
Throw

Those are the traditional skills by which baseball players have been and continue to be judged.  Pitchers are judged only by the one obvious skill and as such are not baseball players in any real sense.

_____________________________

Who would win games between pitchers and players? Tuesday, August 11, 2015

I'm considering today's teams being divided.  Most teams have at least 12 pitchers on their 25 man roster.  Split them up and play ball!  Consider it for the team you root for...

Advantage players:
- hitting
- fielding
- base running and stealing

Advantage pitchers:
- pitching

I think the players would crush the pitchers and win the overwhelming majority of games.  Pitchers have become so insulated and pampered that they do little, if anything, other than pitch.

The players are accustomed to batting against real pitchers, so there's no fundamental disadvantage...


I'm guessing that even with a real catcher, the pitchers would still get clobbered.  Even with a real catcher, I don't see pitchers making tag plays at second and third.  And without a real catcher, the players would probably steal bases at will.
_____________________________

Peralta Johnson City, TN 2007
David Peralta’s Relentless Push From Independent Ball to the Majors
On Baseball
By TYLER KEPNER MARCH 25, 2016 The New York Times

In two (minor league) seasons, Peralta had two wins, six losses, a 5.69 E.R.A. and a damaged shoulder. His 92-mile-an-hour fastball was useless because he could not throw it without pain. The Cardinals released him...

Peralta was not supposed to be a pitcher, anyway. But the Cardinals had happened to see him in his native Venezuela in a rare appearance on the mound, and Peralta threw five smooth innings.

“We’ve got tons of hitters out there,” Peralta’s father said, quoting the scouts. “Lefty pitchers with control, there’s a lot less, so he’s got a better shot of making it as a pitcher.” ...


If a position player stops hitting but can still throw hard, organizations might let him pitch; nobody wants to lose a promising arm. But failed pitchers rarely resurface as hitters...

Peralta tried to perfect one, and went nowhere. With his family’s encouragement, he went to work on the other ...

Tony La Russa joined the Diamondbacks that May (2013) and immediately toured their minor league system. He was startled to discover that Peralta had played in the Cardinals’ organization while he had been the major league manager. The sweet-swinging outfielder before him had never crossed his radar as a sore-armed pitcher.

_____________________________

If you can hit, you play every day. If you cannot hit, you try pitching. If pitchers could hit and field, they would.

No comments: