Not only is he currently the best pitcher in the major leagues, but he's apparently also a "stat nerd" as well.“I thought that could push him over the top, because his won-loss record was way better than mine,” Greinke said. “But I’m also a follower, since Brian Bannister’s on our team, of sabermetric stuff and going into details of stats about what you can control.”USING ALL THE INFORMATION HE HAS?! MAKING LOGICAL DECISIONS?!
Bannister, a right-handed starter, is known for his appreciation of modern pitching metrics, which emphasize the factors for which pitchers are essentially responsible: walks, strikeouts, home runs and hit batters. In Greinke, he found a like mind.
“He’s extremely bright, and he’s really picked up on using all the information out there to make his game better,” Bannister said by telephone. “He’s always had the talent. His confidence level, which is extremely high, combined with his knowledge of the numbers behind the game now, definitely makes him one of the best pitchers in the world.”
IS THE WORLD ENDING?!
Bannister said Greinke has learned to adjust his pitching based on the advanced defensive statistics. Because of the size of the outfield at Kauffman Stadium and the strength of the Royals’ outfielders, relative to their infielders, it sometimes made more sense to induce fly balls.Oddly enough, despite being an awesome pitcher, I would guess that a lot of Dodgers fans wouldn't want him on the squad.
“David DeJesus had our best zone rating,” Bannister said, referring to the Royals’ left fielder. “So a lot of times, Zack would pitch for a fly ball at our park instead of a ground ball, just because the zone rating was better in our outfield and it was a big park.”
To that end, Bannister introduced Greinke to FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching, the statistic Greinke named Tuesday as his favorite. It is a formula that measures how well a pitcher performed, regardless of his fielders. According to fangraphs.com, Greinke had the best FIP in the majors.
“That’s pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible,” Greinke said.
Not many pitchers think that way. But then, Greinke, 26, is not like other pitchers. Beyond the cold numbers is a compelling personal narrative.
Why? Well because despite speculation (even that word is being generous) that certain Dodgers pitchers are "mentally weak" or "don't care about winning", Greinke has already admitted as much in the past.
Greinke, a right-hander, reached the majors at age 20, in 2004, and made 57 starts in two seasons for the Royals. Then, at 22, he abruptly left baseball and received a diagnosis of depression and social anxiety disorder. He missed almost all of 2006.Being "mentally weak" seems to have worked out pretty good for him. Wish everybody on the Dodgers staff was "weak" like him.
Greinke rarely talks publicly about his ordeal. When asked Tuesday if he could be a positive example for people dealing with similar issues, he gave an unflinching response. Greinke said he was not interested in being a spokesman or a role model.
“So even if I am looked at that way, I still don’t do anything about it, because I’m real uncomfortable doing stuff like that,” he said.
The award will raise Greinke’s profile, which he does not want. When Oakland’s Andrew Bailey won the A.L. rookie of the year award Monday, he said he was happy to be asked for an autograph in a mall. Greinke has the opposite reaction to fame.
“I haven’t really gotten a whole lot of attention from people, which has been nice,” Greinke said. “I hope it doesn’t get that way, where everybody’s like, ‘Oh, hey, Zack, hi,’ and they talk to me a bunch.”
Unfortunately though, he has also become addicted to an MMORPG.
Zack on whether he's thought about Cy Young since season ended: "Not really. I've been playing this World of Warcraft game."He'll probably be out for the next year due to carpal tunnel surgery or something. :o
9 Comments:
Baseball writers did something smart. For once.
Off-topic but hilarious nevertheless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZWjdDTjtXw
I'd love to have Grienke in LA, but the question is could he handle LA with 50K fans? He's already said he doesnt want to pitch in NY, but nothing about LA. The one thing is that LA is a little more laid back than NY.
Oh, and the world is ending, there are now 3 known stat nerds that play in the majors!!!
That's really refreshing: An athlete who is into stats and has dorky tendencies?
I find that way better than d-bags like Giambi who was quoted as saying, "I play like an all-star, party like a rock star, and fuck like a porn star."
Man, my eyes were rolling just typing that.
Good for Greinke.
If you have to boast about fucking like a porn star, you most likely don't.
Giambi was just quoting some rap lyrics, anyway.
Good that Greinke plays WoW, my kinda guy!
I really don't give a shit whether athletes follow stats or not. If it helps them do better, like it obviously did with Bannister, that is good. Zack Grienke is just a fucking pitching cyborg. Who goes out and throws 95, then says he will throw a 50 MPH curve on the next pitch and actually does it? If looking at park factors, defensive metrics, FIP and other things are helping him, good.
As for the whole "mentally tough" thing, this is absolutely true. Zack Grienke is the best pitcher in baseball and about as mentally weak as they come.
anon, you know that's a song, right? lol
LDYF - No, I had no idea that was a rap song. I think I read that in moneyball.
LDY4L-He wrecked Boston at Fenway this year. He has anxiety issues, but he's medicated, so it shouldn't affect him much anymore.
Alireza-I don't think he's mentally weak. He was just born with some mental issues and got them fixed.
Post a Comment