Royals Authority

Zack Greinke Comes of Age

By Clark Fosler | May 8th, 2008

It may seem strange to you that I wrote the above headline after Zack Greinke gave up the most earned runs of any outing he has had this season. You could certainly make a case, save for a five inning-two run start in Oakland, that last night’s seven inning-three runs allowed affair was Zack’s worst outing of the year (which in and of itself tells you how well he has pitched in 2008). What I saw last night, however, was a young pitcher truly pitching.

Facing a talented club in the Angels that had just taken two games from his team, Greinke took the mound in the first inning and did his best to impersonate Jorge De La Rosa. Zack had about as much idea of where his pitches were going as the backup pitcher on your slow-pitch team does. At one point, John Buck set up low and outside and Zack’s fastball ended up high and inside. After walking just 10 batters in 43 innings, Greinke walked two in the first and left the inning trailing 1-0 only because he kept his compusure and made a nice pick-off play on Vlad Guerroro at second base.

In the first, Zack threw 27 pitches, just 14 for strikes. Sixteen of those pitches were fastballs, none were curves. Nine of those fastballs were thrown 95 mph or faster. It was a ragged inning - one that could have turned into a disaster, but Greinke held it together and stayed with his plan.

The plan, apparently, was to throw fastballs really hard early. In the second inning, thirteen of Zack’s 17 pitches were fastballs and EIGHT of those were 95 mph or above. He began to find his control, tossing 11 strikes versus just six balls. As in the first, no curveballs were offered.

Now came the third innning and the second time through the Angels’ order. All of sudden we had curves and changes and just four fastballs thrown out of 15 total pitches (9 strikes, 6 balls). Zack fell behind Gary Matthews 2-0 and got him to foul out. He fell behind Erick Aybar 3-0 and came back to get him to fly out. His control was beginning to come around and suddenly the Angels found themselves facing a four pitch pitcher instead of the fastball/slider guy that had been on the mound the first two innings.

In the fourth inning, six of twelve pitches were fastballs (four over 95 mph) and no curveballs were seen. In the fifth six of ten were fastballs, all 94 mph or less and in the sixth, Zack tossed six pitches and everyone was a fastball (just one over 94 mph). In those three innings, Greinke tossed 23 strikes and just 5 balls.

In my opinion, the ability to go from being almost incapable of finding the strike zone to being able to hit it over 80% of the time and do so with all your pitches is truly remarkable. It is the kind of thing front-line top of the rotation starters do. A lot of guys will take the mound, fight their control and eventually become one pitch pitchers, but Zack righted the ship with ALL of his pitches and did so against a very good offensive team.

Sure, in the 7th, Greinke grooved a 93 mph fastball to Mike Napoli that turned into a monstrous two run homer, but he also came back to toss three balls over 95 mph on his way to throwing 12 strikes and just five balls in that inning. He ended the inning by breaking out for the first and only time all the night, the big slow (69 mph) curve for the inning ending strikeout.

While Greinke was undoubtably helped by the Royals scoring nine runs Wednesday night (baseball sure seems easier when you score runs, doesn’t it?), he displayed the kind of composure and ability that true aces have.

While it sounds funny, last night was not a dominant outing by Zack Greinke last night, but it just might have been his best.

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11 Responses to “Zack Greinke Comes of Age”

jayhawkowensjunior says:

May 8th, 2008 at 7:19 am

I agree with all of the above…just wanted to comment on the confidence level, too. In the fourth, fifth, sixth, Greinke was just throwing fastballs by guys, daring them to hit it. It reminds me of what I always wanted to see from Affeldt–you have a fastball that you can throw that hard, with that kind of action…maybe 10% of major league pitchers can do that. And Affeldt, for whatever reason, never trusted his stuff. He nibbled. And as fun as Greinke was to watch two or three years ago, you got the impression that he thought he NEEDED to be tricky to get guys out. He didn’t want fire the fastball on a 1-2 count; he wanted to throw the eephus. I just love the new attitude–if you get this pitch, it’s gonna go a long way…but you’re probably not going to get this pitch.

True, when Weaver’s throwing breaking pitches that don’t break, right over the plate…that probably doesn’t hurt your confidence….
Gene says:

May 8th, 2008 at 7:59 am

Its all about Greinke right now. He has truly become an ‘ace’.
Zack Daddy says:

May 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am

To go off topic, is anyone else wondering why German and his .058 batting average is still on this roster? I know we’re all frustrated with Pena’s crappy output on offense, but German has been downright awful. Don’t know who we should bring up to feel his spot…which is mostly just sitting on the bench. An argument could be made, however, that Aviles or Maier deserve a shot.

Also, when does Yabuta run out of time? He’s terrible, too. I say move Tomko to the bullpen and bring up Davies or Rosa.
Adam says:

May 8th, 2008 at 11:00 am

@Zack Daddy: German lead the team in OBP in 2006 and was 4th in 2007 (amongst players with at least 200 AB). I’m not saying that he gets a free pass, but 19 at bats over 15 games is in no way indicative of his offensive potential or his performance as a semi-regular. Callaspo and Olivo have only one more game but have 41 and 55 at bats, respectively.

I think the logjam is really what’s keeping him on the bench, given that Callaspo has been performing so well.

I agree with Rany in thinking that German should pick up first. Sure, a power bat there might be ideal, but Gload’s not a power bat, and if Hillman’s devoted to smallball, then what the hell, go smallball all the way. Rotating out Grud and Pena occasionally, which Hillman has been doing already, would give one of them full-time equivalent ABs and the other at least some playing time.
Terry says:

May 8th, 2008 at 11:12 am

It is time to sign Zack long term.

The Royals heve been awful at developing pitchers and now that they did get him signed.
Zack Daddy says:

May 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am

Adam…the fact that German is getting so few at-bats is kind of what I’m referring, too. What’s he doing on the roster if he’s not going to get more time? Guess you could say that we kind of agree in a roundabout way. I think he’ll be traded soon.

Also, I’m for Butler playing first everyday and getting all four of our OFers in the lineup with one as a DH-Gath, DDJ, Guillen and Teahen. Callaspo at SS.

1. DDJ LF
2. Callaspo SS
3. Butler 1B
4. Guillen DH
5. Gordon 3B
6. Grudy 2B
7. Teahen RF
8. Olivo C
9. Gath CF
JBOPP says:

May 8th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

My favorite part was Zack going up and in on Anderson. GET OFF MY PLATE, his pitch says. He did it to Vladdy too.

I like that.
Adam says:

May 8th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

Yeah, I agree with you there, Zack Daddy. I like German as a player but second/third base isn’t the most open spot in the lineup right now. I just don’t know how good the market is for utility players are when you’re not looking for raw pitching prospects or more mediocre outfielders.

As for your lineup, I think I might rather play Teahen at first and Guillen in the outfield (with Butler, of course, still on DH). Not that Guillen’s range is spectacular but I’m not yet sold on Butler as an everyday defender. No matter how you arrange the inconsistent hitters, it’s going to be an inconsistent offense, so defense will always have to be a consideration.

@JBOPP: I liked that, too. It reminds me of Hochevar’s quote after his first game, how he needed to knock someone down in order to break the A’s rhythm. After being the queens of hit by pitch for the past few years, I’d rather have the Royals give as good as they get.
Big Lee says:

May 8th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

We need to get German some ABs so he has trade value. Play him at 1B, 2B, even at 3B once in while. Maybe even DH. But guys who work counts like he does need consistant playing time.

To help the offense I think we need to take one step back to go forward two or three steps in the future. Trading Grudz for prospects would open up some ABs at 2B. Move one of our catchers to the Yankees, who are hurting at that position, for more prospects. Tupman can be our backup catcher, and give us a different offensive look at that position once a week. If Guillen would ever get hot listen to offers, etc.

I also liked Zach using a little chin music to keep Angels hitters from diving over the plate.
kcghost says:

May 9th, 2008 at 5:27 am

Greinke has just been superb this year. He looks like a guy who has finally “got it”. He has been a pleasure to watch. Lets hope a new deal can be worked to cover the next 4-5 seasons. But it will be expensive, kids.

The signing of Callaspo and the retention of German wasn’t the brightest move of GMDM’s tenure. You have two basically identical players. Sadly for German the other guy has the GM standing behind him. I think GMDM made the decision to keep German until he was sure Callaspo was going to work out and now finds himself in a position of not being able to get anything of value for him.
Keith Blackburn says:

May 10th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

Zack = Awesome

The end.

THE AUTHOR

Clark Fosler

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