Brandon Maurer’s box score looks bad; 0.67 innings and six earned runs. I own him in all leagues because I thought he could miss a good amount of bats and he would pitch the majority of his games in the friendly confines of the AL West. He started the game throwing 94 mph fastballs, which gave the illusion this could be a promising start. However, that quickly faded as he hung a slider to Jose Altuve, the leadoff hitter, then proceeded to either consistently miss his location or throw strikes in the middle of the zone. He eventually got pulled after getting hit in the right leg by a line drive. The raw ingredients are there for him to be a quality starting pitcher, but he needs a lot of refinement of his command. He should be dropped in all one year leagues.
Despite the poor box score Roberto Hernandez was fairly dominant. A lot of the hits came from weak contact that snuck between the defenders. He hit two batters, which is a good thing as he was trying to work and control the inner half of the strike zone. The 18.3% strikeout is legit; he throws a changeup/splitter that perfectly compliments the sinker-slider. Like I said a few days Hernandez is someone you should get because easily could have only allowed 1-2 ERs instead of the 5 last night.
Lance Lynn looked like the Lynn we saw the first half of last year; his fastball velocity averaged 92 mph and touched 95 a couple of times. In his first start his fastball topped at 92 so needless to say I’m glad his velocity was back. In his first start he fell off to the first base side towards the end of his delivery, but last night he was finishing his pitches and looked a lot better this go-round.
Tim Lincecum had trouble commanding his fastball the entire game; he walked the pitcher twice. After the first time through the order the Rockies hitters were swinging at the first pitch because they knew it would be something offspeed. At times he looked very dominant, but it was only in short bursts (a couple of pitches at a time). During the latter innings he was visibly frustrated with his pitch location.
Jarrod Parker didn’t look right the entire game. His fastball velocity looked fine (93-95 mph) and he was able to locate his changeup in and out of the zone. Throughout the game he was constantly stretching on the mound; Athletics Pitching Coach Curt Young made at least four visits to mound to talk to him. I think there’s something wrong with him because he hasn’t looked like his normal self in his first two starts of the year.
