What Is Wrong With Matt Capps?
by Androgen Jar Jimmy on Jul 12, 2009 10:55 PM EDT
32 comments
In 2007 at the age of 23 he had an ERA+ of 191. His WHIP was 1.15. This year his WHIP is 1.69.
Last year his K/BB was 7.80. This year it's 1.54. This year he has allowed 13 walks. Last year, for the entire season, he walked five batters. It's not even the All-Star Break yet and he's already walked almost three times as many batters as he did last year.
His fastball used to be consistently 95 MPH and he could gas it up to 98, but this year he's lucky to hit 92.
Practically every pitcher on the staff has said thankful words about Joe Kerrigan, so I can't blame it on him. I wonder if Matt Capps is injured and in denial. It would hardly be the first time that a pitcher was seriously hurt and told people that he was just feeling a little tight. At the end of last season he was out for seven weeks with "arm soreness." I don't think he ever got better.
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well
pat over at whygavs has mentioned this before, but capps has primarily had success in the past because he was able to not only throw a 95-96-97 MPH fastball, butalso put that fastball just about wherever he wanted.
i have no doubt that he is struggling to stay healthy, as evidenced by the fact that he now has to choose between cranking his velocity up to 95 and maintaining control. his biggest weapon is diminished, and now his ability in general is as well.
i have noticed that he isnt as svelte as he was before, either, fwiw
by geeves on Jul 12, 2009 11:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Any pitcher can have a bad inning
when the breaks don’t go his way. An error here, a seeing-eye ball there, bloop drops betwen three fielders and suddenly it’s three runs and you lose the game.
But holy hell. Did you SEE those homers? They were freakin’ drilled. Even the out went to the wall. Nobody was getting cheated there. Capps was throwing batting practice.
The boy ain’t right.
by bucdaddy on Jul 12, 2009 11:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The boy ain't right
Now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance.
by WstCstBucco on Jul 13, 2009 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
LOL!
Damn it Bobby. You keep pitchin’ like that and I’ll have to get you a job at Strickland Propane…
"So you think 25 percent of the country is retarded?! Yea. Atleast 25 percent. Well lets so a sample. There are 4 of us an you're retarded. Thats 25 percent." Southpark; Mystery of the Urinal Deuce
by gorillakilla34 on Jul 14, 2009 5:02 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
He's not pitching enough.
My theory is too much time between appearances. Any pitcher will be rusty when used as sparingly as Capps has been this year. I haven’t researched this it’s just an opinion I have from watching the games.
by Slick1 on Jul 12, 2009 11:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
In 2008, in the months of April, May and June, he had pitched in 35 games. This year, in the same months, he has appeared in 29 games.
I can’t imagine that 2 games a month would make a real a difference.
by Androgen Jar Jimmy on Jul 13, 2009 12:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
You may be right...
but what are the average days between appearances. It just doesn’t seem like he is pitching in many consecutive games this year. Don’t know. Maybe the league has caught up to him and he doesn’t have enough “stuff” to adjust correctly. Or maybe it’s bad luck. I read on ESPN Insider today that coming into yesterday’s game opponents were hitting .218 against his fastball and he still had a 4.74 ERA. I haven’t checked his BABIP so I really can’t give an educaed opinion. All I know is that it seems like he goes for several days before consecutive appearances.
by Slick1 on Jul 13, 2009 12:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I believe....
…Matt’s mind was messed up after reading about how G.Jones’ HR’s shouldn’t count because he’s too old.
by Brakeman8 on Jul 13, 2009 2:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
yeah…bringing a guy up at the age of 28? What were the Pirates thinking?
by mspirate on Jul 13, 2009 2:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
More likely
he misses his friends. He’s still crying about the loss every night.
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by UtesFan89 on Jul 13, 2009 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Capps deserves to be at the All Star Game Festivities
…..pitching to the NL’s Home Run Derby contestants ha
by Danatural08 on Jul 13, 2009 10:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Maybe it is the Mike Williams affect
You are a closer with one pitch that get people out. When you start being ineffective with said pitch, you start tanking. Mike’s slider starting sucking and Capps cant pinpoint his fastballs. I do think that Capps will turn around. He may still be hurting from that line drive, but come to think of it, he was injured last year as well. Maybe it is more of the Ryan Doumit affect?
by vanslyke on Jul 13, 2009 11:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Is it just me or did Capps used to rely on his hard slider to get a lot of outs, especially 3rd strikes??? I feel like he is throwing nothing but gas and if it is only gonna be 92-95 that just won’t work against major league hitters. Why doesn’t he go the the slider more so they don’t know what is coming. Maybe i’m wrong but I don’t ever remember hime being a one pitch pitcher in the past.
by biglar33 on Jul 13, 2009 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I assume it’s because his slider is gone, because his arm is busted.
by Androgen Jar Jimmy on Jul 13, 2009 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's you
Sorry, not trying to be flip, but his slider was a “show” pitch to keep batters honest. It was never his out pitch.
by azibuck on Jul 13, 2009 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think it was in between...
…show pitch and out pitch. A decent second offering, but not the focus of his game.
by Vlad on Jul 13, 2009 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Relievers are prone...
…to extreme fluctuations in year-to-year performance, purely because their performance sample is so small.
That said, Capps was used extremely aggressively in his first few years in the league, so it’s possible that he’s hurt. We don’t really have any way to know one way or the other.
by Vlad on Jul 13, 2009 11:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
It is true that their performance will vary year-to-year, but just looking at the guy, he’s not the same. His fastball isn’t exactly “fast” anymore, and since it’s his only pitch, he’s nearly worthless now.
by Androgen Jar Jimmy on Jul 13, 2009 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nearly worthless is a little harsher than I'd go,
but I agree that his fastball is his only (good) pitch. And if he can’t go black-to-black with it every time out, he’s going to get hit.
by DITO on Jul 13, 2009 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
ok
he’s either hurt or he is just terrible
fee fie foh fum. i think i smell the scent of a placenta.
by omar moreno on Jul 13, 2009 1:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Who drank Jobu's Rum!!
"The team that scores the most points wins."
John Madden
(Master of the obvious)
by PixburghArn on Jul 13, 2009 1:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Exactly
while their trying to find out they might should check out capps eyes and get hi soem cool glasses like these
by WVPiratesfan on Jul 14, 2009 8:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
At least Ricky Vaughn could actually throw 99 MPH.
by Androgen Jar Jimmy on Jul 14, 2009 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Capps must have drank the rum then.
Bartender Jobu needs a refill.
"The team that scores the most points wins."
John Madden
(Master of the obvious)
by PixburghArn on Jul 14, 2009 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think we maybe are overlooking the obvious
He’s got Jimmy Anderson Disease. The guy’s blowing up like a balloon.
Or as David Letterman once said (about relief pitcher Terry Forster, a former Bucco): “He’s a fat tub of goo.”
Forster was 270 lbs. at the time. Capps is listed at 245, but he may be pushing Terry.
by WstCstBucco on Jul 13, 2009 3:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
what about this
Why was Capps starting the inning….it wasn’t a save situation. Someone brought up the point that the Pirates don’t have a closer by commitee, so they only put Capps in when its time for just that. And 7-3 was not that time. Yes i know he was probably put out there because he only pitched in 2 games in July and needed the work. But why, Ive seen closers struggle before when they are not pitching in a save situation or just needing the work. Broxton comes to mind recently, I’ve also seen the great Trevor Hoffman struggle in that situation a few times. Some guys just cant get their minds right and pitch the same. I don’t get the reason but it happens.
I think what makes this worse is the fact that he wasn’t pulled and was left out there when the whole world could see he stunk. HR, Walk, Fly Out, Single, HR (ok, pull him) G-R Double (ok now you better pull him), Int. Walk, Single, Single…(game over thanks for getting Capps some work JR)
by C Los on Jul 13, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
After the home run and the walk, there should have been motion in the bullpen in case of disaster.
by Gorkys n' Beans on Jul 13, 2009 5:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
agreed C Los
i would like to see stats of closers in non save situations vs save situations it seems lately anyway (JENKS,HOFFMAN,VALVERDE,LIDGE,CAPPS to name a few) just seems they go into those situations with a different mind set. just wondering
by 1STstate bucco on Jul 13, 2009 7:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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