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11 Responses to “Brian Bannister Is Smart”

1. KC at the bat says:
   

   January 28th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

   Impressive. Bannister will be a pitching coach or even a GM some day.

2. Zack Daddy says:
   

   January 28th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

   Love the quote…

   “When pitchers are struggling, they tend to try and throw harder. I try to be more accurate.”

   That’s a coaching line I’m gonna use when softball season starts in a few weeks. Gonna give that one to my pitchers.

3. Dan Scott says:
   

   January 28th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

   I was really impressed with Bannisters knowledge. Looking into the future, he could be a tremendous asset in a few years as a mentor to the young pitchers coming up through the system right now.

4. Chaim Mattis Keller says:
   

   January 29th, 2008 at 6:57 am

   First, I want to say that I love what we see and hear from Brian Bannister, and I think he’ll make a great pitching coach.

   But, I’m curious: is there any indication that other pitchers are actually not as smart, or maybe they just don’t talk about the details of their trade as much? Could the stuff we hear from Banny be stuff that most pitchers know as well, but just gets taken for granted and not mentioned in an interview?

5. Matt says:
   

   January 29th, 2008 at 8:34 am

   Chaim,

   It does seem possible that other pitchers know as much as Bannister, but hold back for normal interviews. I mean, just recall every postgame interview question you’ve ever heard:

   “What gave you guys the advantage today?”

   “Why is this loss harder for you?”

   “What do you think of the hitting right now?”

   It’s like the questions are geared for a certain cookie-cutter answer, and we’ll never heard about anything more in-depth than the questions that are asked.

6. KC at the bat says:
   

   January 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am

   Is Buddy Bell posting as Chaim or is someone just channeling the old skipper? Imagine if Buddy had managed KC in ‘85, it would have been an Iorgy!

7. Chaim Mattis Keller says:
   

   January 29th, 2008 at 10:25 am

   Trust me, “KC at the Bat”, I’m not Buddy Bell in disguise, and I’m far from a fan of the prior skipper.

   I’m just throwing a question out there - do we have any serious indication that most other pitchers are not knowledgeable about the things Brian Bannister talks about? Or is it possible that most of what we’re hearing from Brian is relatively common knowledge amongst pitchers, but no one thinks to mention it or elaborate on it in interviews?

8. KCDC says:
   

   January 29th, 2008 at 11:03 am

   Honestly, I don’t think anything he shared would have been news to anyone that is deeply involved in the game. It’s pretty elementary stuff–expand the zone against a hitter that is pressing, work to put yourself in favorable counts, etc. What strikes you is the clarity and organization of his presentation, and the seeming ease he comes up with numbers, names, and relations between them. It’s not just that he knows baseball–you can expect most all MLB players to be able to impress fans with their knowledge of the game they’ve played for 20 years. What really impresses me in these interviews is the sense that Bannister is an intelligent guy and really works hard and prepares dilligently to improve himself, and at least to me, that sence comes across more in the style of his writing than in the actual facts that he recites.

9. KCDC says:
   

   January 29th, 2008 at 11:05 am

   that sense*

   I hate typos.

10. KC at the bat says:
    

    January 29th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    No offense CMK. It was your use of Banny.

11. Minda says:
    

    January 31st, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    KC at the bat,
    I’ve pulled an even more annoying page from the Buddy Bell Book o’ Nicknames…in addition to occasionally saying “Banny,” I have pulled out “Ducky” when referring to Brandon Duckworth. It’s like an infection.

    I think the reason to get excited about reading an interview like this is that Bannister can so eloquently explain what he does, and why, and how that compares to other people in the league. Never once did he give the lame-ass (yet all too common) responses about, “I just want to do what’s best for the team,” or “I just take it day by day, one game at a time.”

    His lack of BS (not necessarily any extra knowledge of the game) is what makes him substantially more awesome than any pitcher with similar numbers.

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