He’s still only 29 years old, but we may be seeing the last of Pestano.
Vel | AVG | SLUG | |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | 92.6 | .186 | .317 |
2012 | 91.7 | .222 | .359 |
2013 | 91.1 | .292 | .521 |
2014 | 88.7 | .714 | 1.000 |
Pestano was a hard-throwing back end of the bullpen guy at his peak, relying almost exclusively on his fastball. In 2012, Pestano threw his heater just over 80 percent of the time with an average velocity of 92.6 mph. At times he could hit 95 on the radar gun.
But his velocity dropped every season since, and has fallen off the table completely so far in 2014.
It’s possible for starting pitchers to throw in the upper 80s and get by with strong location and changing speeds, but it is extremely rare for a bullpen guy like Pestano.
While it’s a relatively small sample size (he’s only thrown 26 fastballs) there’s also no reason why sample size should matter. A pitcher’s velocity doesn’t typically rise by any meaningful amount throughout the season. The fact that he’s topped out at 91.2 (barely at his average from a season ago) is extremely concerning.
I certainly can’t provide any explanation for Pestano’s collapse, other than to speculate that he has yet to heal from the injury. Hopefully Pestano can get better, but I have a strong suspicion that he’s headed to the DL in the very near future and the end of his career is on the horizon if he can’t rebound.
—UPDATE—
How fitting that just hours after posting this Pestano implodes in the 9th inning…
During his meltdown, Pestano threw 25 pitches and only 16 fastballs. For a guy who used threw 80% heaters, this is an obvious change in approach and seems to indicate that he’s lost confidence in the pitch.
And as I detailed yesterday, he has good reason to have lost faith in his fastball. He maxed out at 90.0 mph yesterday, and was consistently throwing 88 to 89 with the fastball.
He’s been heaving beachballs up there so far this season.Guys that throw out of their shoulders like he does tend to have lots of arm problems because they torque their arms and elbows so much.He’s already had TJ surgery as well.
Vinnie’s career is over if his fastball doesn’t get better. 88-belt high will get you a beer vendor job in the bleachers.
When the Indians went to arbitration with him earlier this spring, and they were fairly ruthless when arguing for the lower end of the salary scale, it was pretty telling. They’ve always avoided that, because the player would hold it against them in the future. It said to me that they didn’t really think he’d be back to his old self, even though they spoke fairly optimistically about his potential improvements.
i was really rooting for him to turn it around so this makes me unhappy.
I edit my earlier statement.
Should read – Vinnie’s career is over.
I miss Mr. Automatic. Why is it when one aspect of the team gets better, another aspect gets worse? We had the best Smith-Pestano-Perez combo a couple years back, when nobody could hit and we had no hope of making the playoffs. Another time we had that 30-15 start. And another time completely owned the Tigers in the season series. Yet when we could have really used all that last season (and still do now), we got none of it.
I see it just came out that Vinnie was sent down and CC Lee was recalled to take his spot.
Poor Vinnie. I’m glad he’s in Columbus instead of being released, maybe he has a chance of turning things around down there.
I agree. I’ve always really liked him. He’s active on twitter with the fans and seems to be a really likable guy. It’s nice to keep those guys around. Hopefully it works out for him.
i think his pitching approach is in limbo…he’s pitching like he still has a cannon. he’s got to figure out a way to make his pitches work with what he’s got so hopefully he gets the time to tweak in columbus!
“…During his meltdown, Pestano threw 25 pitches and only 16 fastballs. For a guy who used threw 80% heaters, this is an obvious change in approach and seems to indicate that he’s lost confidence in the pitch…”
Tom Hamilton even mentioned it during the broadcast last night. The way he said it I got the impression that he figured that something was going to be done with Vinnie soon and was trying to put it as gently as he could.