Comments on: Scouting Jason Motte

By: Hoffman

Hoffman — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:20:05 +0000

Apparently something has changed since these notes. I’m in Stl and have never seen him pitch, but his numbers since the beginning of July have been out of this world. I would apreciate any thoughts on why the incredible improvement.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:25:07 +0000

motte is my uncle, believe it or not, and he has only been pitching for 2 and half seasons. he’s still learning how to throw that slider which can be extremely ugly at times. but, i think he is disappointed in how the cardinals transitioned him from a cather to a pitcher. they basically told him to go on the mound and pitch. no real coaching, cause he doesn’t know how to throw these pitches. all he needs to do, is make it to the bigs for at least a couple outings. wheather he stays or not isn’t the big deal. because, all he needs is for dave duncan, the best pitching coach in the bigs in my opinion, to see his potential. and then teach him how to pitch. or if another club see’s his potential that is what’s needed. i think he’ll be great, if somebody actually coach’s him.

By: Jason Motte — 7/21/08 | Future Redbirds

Jason Motte — 7/21/08 | Future Redbirds — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:00:34 +0000

[...] my count Motte threw 4 sliders out of 25 pitches. When I watched Motte in the past, I made the following comment on his slider: The slider isn’t a myth but it is very much a work [...]

By: chetthejet

chetthejet — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:46:19 +0000

Not familiar with this hurler yet, but I find it odd no one mentioned a straight change. If Motte’s arm slot is over the top or close, a decent change can increase the effectiveness of his fastball. For some hurlers, learning a proper change is easier than other pitch types. Either way, if control is the issue, a second pitch, while helpful, isn’t going to mean much as far his progress, and may make things worse until control is commanded. Just something to chew on. The info is fun to analyze. And a good farm blog, so to speak, is hard to find. DFR is a bookmark for sure.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:28:58 +0000

Oops sorry. It starts on page 4

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:27:37 +0000

Rosters announced for All-Star Futures game and Team USA. Bryan Anderson and Jess Todd on US Olympic squad. Jaime Garcia is on the World Future All-Star team.

Interesting that Rasmus is not included. Wonder if that is because the big league team told them that Rasmus might be called up before the Olympic Games.

Anyway here is the link to the rosters. Scroll down to page 3.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/xm_rosters.pdf

By: theredbaaron

theredbaaron — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:23:59 +0000

I look at Motte’s arm action and his delivery and it just seems to scream out to me for someone to teach the man to throw a splitter or a forkball. Sliders are great and all, but from where his arm comes through I think a slip pitch would work much better than him trying to spin a breaking ball.

Just a thought, though.

By: Beau

Beau — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:00:05 +0000

I like it when a guy throws a few at the top of the strikezone or higher. Roger Clemens did this. Why not use the entire strike zone?

By: azruavatar

azruavatar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:19:40 +0000

Joe — Worst case scenario for Motte is something like Roberto Novoa but that’s not a great comparison because, despite his short comings, Motte still strikes out a ridiculous number of batters. His slider could come to a standstill right now and he would still be an major league quality reliever. I’d be far more worried about Motte if his numbers had been dipping as he moved up the chain — they really aren’t though. That said, if some team wanted him in a trade, I wouldn’t hesitate to move him. There are plenty of relievers behind him (Gregerson, Salas, Worrell, etc) that he’s not really a critical prospect.

cardzfanbub — I’m an admitted velocity addict and you’re right in that this slider has been around for about a month or two in live competition. It’s an extremely new pitch. There were a couple of pitches during the games that looked like they could have been cutters but I think they were just sloppy sliders. The announcers (which BTW, the Memphis announcers are fantastic. I mean really, really great. I enjoy listening to them call the games.) acted like he would just lose his grip on the slider and it would move in an odd fashion. The short answer is no, I don’t think there are any other pitches in the works.

By: cardzfanbub

cardzfanbub — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:49:28 +0000

Thanks for the write-up!! Awesome info! I’m still excited about Motte, probably just because of his velo. It wasn’t long ago he didn’t have a slider at all. Has he worked on anything else? Curve, change, cutter, split…