Dickey Chat

[Guest Edgy DC]

Part three is up at Amazin' Avenue.

If you're a baseball fan, you want to hang out with this guy.

• Part One.
  
• Part Two.
  
• Part Three.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Dickey on Chris Carter's throwing arm:

[Carter] didn't throw the ball back to the infield. He pushed [the ball] back in, with this unusual throwing technique that was all elbow and wrist flicking and more suited to aiming a dart instead of launching a throw. His thrown ball would typically embark on a circuitous route back to the infield, floating in on an unnecessarily high parabola, as if the ball was tethered to an invisible parachute. Eventually it arrived, gently if not timely. We gave Chris a lot of ribbing about his throwing arm, but it was all good natured. He's a good kid. Chris was an asset to the clubhouse and his ability to take our ribbing in good spirits shows why.

[metirish]

This is just great , cheers for the links

Next year, do you think competing is realistic? What's your outlook going into spring training? RD: That's a tough question, because most teams, going into the season, are never real honest about what they think.

so true for some of us fans too.


credit to Sam Page for a great interview

[HahnSolo]

The comments on Carter brings up a question:

Can you teach someone to be a better thrower? Someone's technique I am sure can be changed, which would help in some cases. But could a coach be brought in to work with someone just on their arm?

I mean, you hear about guys all the time having their swings and their pitching motions tweaked. Why not a throwing arm?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, the comments might bring up a question if they actually existed.

[metirish]

Edgy DC wrote: Well, the comments might bring up a question if they actually existed.

Yes, I just went back over the interview wondering where they were.

Batmag acting the dickey again

[batmagadanleadoff]

I saw the opportunity, and took it. Who would believe me if I attributed that quote to Omar Minaya?

Like Carter, that post's a good kid.

[MFS62]

The comments on Carter brings up a question: Can you teach someone to be a better thrower? Someone's technique I am sure can be changed, which would help in some cases. But could a coach be brought in to work with someone just on their arm?

A bunch of intertwined questions there.
Yes, you can teach someone to be a better thrower (up to a point) but it must be done correctly. Two stories I remember reading.
When outfielder Willie Davis first joined LA, he had a weak throwing arm. One of the coaches had him lie down on his back, and make gradually longer throws from that position. Over time (weeks? months?) Davis' arm got stronger. Not a Clemente rocket, but to the point it was barely avearge.
But I also remember when Mookie Wilson had arm problems atthe end of one season. The Team had (then coach) Frank Howard work with Mookie to build his arm back up to full strength. I specifically remmber reading that Howard started Mookie out with 200+ foot throws, not gradually building up to that distance. As a result, he never got his arm strength back and it looked like it never recovered for the rest of his career.

Not sure if either of those coaches were specifically "brought in" or if this was just one of their coaching assignments.
Of course, Steve Carlton strengthened his arm by repeatedly plunging it into a barrell of rice. So you never know what will work.
Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I like the fact that his mom and wife were apparently semi-regular visitors to AA (and that they apparently had picked their favorite Dickey photoshops from AA's contest earlier in the year). It's adorable.

[Guest attgig]

MFS62 wrote: The comments on Carter brings up a question: Can you teach someone to be a better thrower? Someone's technique I am sure can be changed, which would help in some cases. But could a coach be brought in to work with someone just on their arm? A bunch of intertwined questions there. Yes, you can teach someone to be a better thrower (up to a point) but it must be done correctly. Two stories I remember reading.

I was thinking of Tim Tebow. He reworked his whole throwing motion to be quicker/smoother than he was in college. Of course anyone can learn to throw better. But, I don't think for Chris, that throwing is going to catapult him up from being a AAAA guy to a regular.
He's focused on hitting, and that's what he wants to focus on. only so many hours in a day, and from what's been reported on before, he lives and breathes hitting.

[Guest Edgy DC]

And... the hijack is complete.

[Guest attgig]

oh and dickey seems like a cool guy.... *ahem*

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He's candid, but not without decorum, about the clubhouse and Jerry and any number of behind-the-scenes topics:

I think Terry and I are going to start by having really open lines of communication, so he'll know what to expect out of me and I'll know what to expect out of him as a manager. With Jerry, it was such a learn-about-each-other-on-the-fly, that it was nobody's fault, just kind of the way it was. He didn't really know me or trust what I could do, because he didn't have a lot of exposure to me. Terry's been in the organization. He's seen me pitch quite a few times. He followed me last year and he knows what I'm capable of doing. So I think there's going to be a real easy transition there. Throwing 130 pitches in a game is not a big deal to me, if I'm going good and keeping the hitters at bay. If I'm getting blown up--that's another thing--you've got to get me out of there, like anybody else. I think that it's going to be a nice transition. He knows I want the ball, I want to throw and I want to finish what I start.

And then there's the koan-like stuff like this:

And when you throw a good knuckleball, it's unlike any other pitch that you ever throw in that you know immediately that nobody's going to hit it. Like you throw and you're like, "There's no chance that this is going to get hit." And it's different than any other pitch you throw. So, that's a neat sensation. It's a sensation that I really enjoy trying to duplicate over and over and over again.

And this, on mound presence for knucklers:

It's more important now than it ever has been for me. Phil Niekro shared with me a thing that I've really kept close to my heart, as far as pitching goes, and that's: I throw a bad knuckleball, or I throw a great knuckleball, or I throw one that goes behind the hitter's head, or throw one that he swings and misses and hits him, or whatever I do, always act like I meant to do it. Because the hitter doesn't know the difference, when you throw a knuckleball. That's what I've always tried to do. From one pitch to the next, it's always been because that's what I wanted to do to you. I've kind of taken that and tried to grow it and really feel like that's an important thing. You never want to give the hitter any inclination that you're not confident in what you're doing, or that you don't have it that day, or that you had no idea where it's going. Thusly, mound presence is a huge deal as a knuckleballer.

I love the idea of him sitting at a poker table with this:

[Ceetar]

I think I really believe we might see Dickey lead the league in complete games next year.

The Mets have a nice variety of pitchers, which I think really helps. Niese and his curve, Pelfrey and his sinker, Dickey's knuckleball. Now imagine in a pennant race or short series and you can throw Dickey in relief as well? and then follow that up with 101mph heat from Parnell?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy DC wrote: Well, the comments might bring up a question if they actually existed.

Spoilsport.