Muyco and Cales - PITCHf/x

Jake Muyco and David Cales pitched three and two innings, respectively, in Tuesday's Mesa Solar Sox game in Peoria, AZ. Any time Mesa travels to Peoria (home of two Arizona Fall League clubs) or Surprise, it's a chance to get some PITCHf/x data on a few Cubs prospects.

Cales and Muyco are on the Sox pitching staff with Christopher Carpenter and Kyle Smit. Brett Jackson, Ryan Flaherty and Josh Vitters represent the Cubs on the offensive side. Jackson just joined the club, he had been with Team USA in the Pan Am Qualifying Tournament.

Welcome to small sample village. Here's what I can tell you about Cales and Muyco. Muyco has a conventional three-quarter delivery, is about an even six feet tall. Cales is a little shorter, but has an unique delivery. He ends-up winging the ball side-arm but ... well, I managed to see a few games on MiLB.tv when he was with the I-Cubs and I can see why the Cubs like him.

Cales happens to have some experience closing in Chicago. For the UIC Flames, natch. He was born here, and went to Mt. Carmel.

Here are some nice stills of Cales, full-sized at the links. They're from a couple sources, put in approximate order of his delivery. His age and uniform will jump around, and it looks like he's lost some weight.

The leg-kick

Not yet reaching back

All the way back 1

All the way back 2

A look at his two-seam grip

Squared-up

The sinker rolls off the finger tips

Four-seamer?

Just after release

Whipping back around

Cales threw more pitches than PITCHf/x recorded, but of the ones that were (the vast majority), he threw 17 sinkers, 5 four-seam fastballs and 5 sliders. He was around 89 with the two-seam sinker and 90 with the four-seam heater. His sliders averaged 82 mph.

While Cales kept the ball down, working the full width of the zone, Muyco's delivery produced a more up-down pattern. Below are the release point and plate location plots. Cales in Blue, Muyco in red/purply wtvr color Excel uses for Series 2. Both are catcher's view.

The strike zone box is just a reference, it is not at all normalized or representative of any particular player's zone. Void where prohibited. Do not swim within 30 minutes of viewing.





Muyco is yet another converted catcher, joining the likes of Carlos Marmol and Randy Wells. It's a path well worn to Chicago.

Here's a nice shot of Muyco throwing his splitter in 2008. He threw it 3 times on Tuesday, a slow 80 mph compared to his 90 mph four-seam fastball (29 of those). A couple or three of those heaters may have actually been two-seamers, and he also threw 8 sliders (81-ish).

For those of you who speak nerd, here's a spin movement chart. Muyco's splitters are hanging out around the top of Cales' (blue) sinkers. Stuck in around the bottom of Muyco's fastballs are the apparent four-seamers that Cales mixed in.



Peoria's system usually has a few extra inches of movement to the catcher's left, so move it all over a smidge in your mind.

Checking on Vitters - AFL Week 1

This is just a quick look at some Vitters numbers. I'm looking into his seeming inability to work a count.

What I'm finding from his first week of AFL is pretty interesting. I need to dive into his time with the Smokies to see what's really going on. The Smokies, as with all Southern League teams, have pitch-by-pitch information in Gameday.

Anyway, what I'm hypothesizing is Vitters is as likely to swing as anyone else, but less likely to whiff. In other words, we may be confounding his ability to make contact with an inability to control the strike zone. Perhaps.

Josh Vitters, AFL 2010 Week 1

15 plate appearances
46 pitches seen

25 takes:

9 called strikes
16 balls

21 swings:

6 fouls
13 in play
2 whiffs

We'll see what I find.

What Smells With the Ron Washington Jokes

Anyone notice that Josh Hamilton is lauded for his recovery? Rightfully so. He nearly destroyed his life, and had at least one trip off the wagon. He's being congratulated for making amends and moving his life in the right direction.

Ron Washington's drug use is less well known. He had a positive test for cocaine, apologized, went for treatment and has now led his team to the ALCS. Everyone and their flippin' uncle (hyperbole) is taking shots about a cocaine-free celebration.

Why is the guy who committed a small, and stupid, mistake is being insulted and laughed at while the other guy is treated as a hero? Maybe because Ron Washington is black. I don't know. But it smells bad to me.

BTW, I'm not saying "you, there, you're a racist". I'm pointing out the generally racist narrative we have in USA about cocaine abusers.

2010 Winter and Fall Ball Opening Day

It's opening day in the AFL, MWL and VWL. Here's a rundown of Cubs in those leagues, as of Sunday. I'll have roster updates for those too lazy to go to MLB.com themselves as they come in.

Oct 22 Play has started in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. So far three Cubs are in the DWL, and one has been added to the VWL

Tony Campana is leading off and Austin Bibens-Dirkx starting on the mound for Zulia today. Wonder if that has anything to do with their manager's potential bias.

Arizona Fall League
Mesa Solar Sox
David Cales	P
Chris Carpenter	P
Jake Muyco	P
Kyle Smit	P
Ryan Flaherty	IF
Josh Vitters	IF
Brett Jackson	OF
Casey Kopitzke	MGR
Venezuelan Winter League
Aguilas de Zulia
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	P
Craig Muschko	P
Tony Campana	OF
Jody Davis	MGR
Caribes de Anzoategui
Eduardo Figueroa	P
Carlos E. Rojas	P
Carlos Silva	P
Carlos Zambrano	P
George Mattheus	IF
Leones de Caracas
Marwin Gonzalez	IF
Navegantes del Magallanes
Ramon Garcia	P
Larry Suarez	P
Robinson Chirinos	C
Tiburones de La Guaira
Jason Dubois	OF
Tigres de Aragua
Jonathon Mota	C
Marquez Smith	IF
Brandon Guyer	OF
Buddy Bailey	MGR
Mexican Winter League
Yaquis de Obregon
Marco Carillo	P
Dominican Winter League
Estrellas de Oriente
Junior Lake	IF
Gigantes del Cibao
Mario Mercedes	C
Tigres del Licey
Esmailin Caridad	P
Toros del Este
Nelson Perez	OF

Is This Thing On?

It's only been two months since I posted, so I figured I'd tap the microphone and see if we're still broadcasting on this channel.

Now that the season's over, a few projects begin ... most of which will end up here.

Winter Ball starts before the MLB playoffs even end, so I'll start-up coverage of the Cubs prospects, veterans and cast-offs who are playing this off-season.

Cubs f/x is back for the cold months, and this soundcheck is now over.