Jan
25
2012

Zack Wheeler Q&A With MiLB.com

An article by Hojo's Mojo

Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com conducted an interview with Mets top prospect Zack Wheeler hos weighs in on a variety of topics ranging from when he was drafted to his mechanics. Here is a small sampling of the Q&A and I encourage you to check out the entire interview here.

MiLB.com: Considering the work you’ve been doing with your breaking pitches, how would you rate your slider and curve compared with your fastball?

Wheeler: I’d never been able to throw a curve ball or anything really. I threw a pretty good one in high school, scouts said, but once you get up to where I am now people will be hitting it. My fastball is my best pitch and it’s up in the air after that. I throw the curve ball at certain times and I throw the slider at certain times.

They’re both pretty good now. I can use my curve for strike three or I could use it to set a guy up early in the count and then come back with a harder slider or a fastball. I hope to be able to use it a bunch of different ways. That’s what I’m trying to figure out right around now so that I can be prepared later on.

MiLB.com: What do you still need to do with your curve to get it ready for the season?

Wheeler: I need to work on location, that’s about it. The pitch is how I want it. It doesn’t have a huge loop, but it has a lot of break. It comes in on the same plane as my fastball. I just need to learn how to locate it whenever I want. It’s not like I’m not throwing it for strikes, I just want to be able to locate it better.

I also want to work with my change-up a lot more to keep my walks down. For about two games before I left San Jose — and all the time in Port St. Lucie — I went back to my old mechanics that I was using in high school and I think it showed. My [pitches per] inning went down, but my strikeout numbers stayed the same and my strikeout-to-walk ratio was better. I think it’s going to help going back to those mechanics.

MiLB.com: What’s the difference between your high school mechanics and the motion you were using at the start of last year?

Wheeler: Before, the Giants had me slow down. I’m a tall lanky guy, so if I slow down, my arms start dragging. I might be out in front of myself, but my arms are dragging behind me so the ball is high or my curve is just loopy or whatever. When I went back to my old mechanics, everything just flowed a lot easier. I bring my hands up higher, I bring my knee up higher and everything flows together.

It comes out of my hand easy and it has movement. Before, I had the same velocity, but the ball was straight so people were hitting it and I couldn’t figure out why. Then finally I just thought I should go back to my old stuff.

MiLB.com: When you were slowing down, did that make it harder to hit a consistent release point?

Wheeler: It made everything difficult. Whenever you slow down your mechanics, it slows your arm down. I had the same velocity, but mentally while I was doing it I was counting “one … two … three” all throughout my motion, and that’s hard to do when you’re out there trying to pitch and throw. You don’t want to be thinking about your mechanics, you just want to let it come naturally.

About the Author: Rob Johnson

12 Comments + Add Comment

jessep January 25, 2012 at 11:33 am

His answers to the questions about his curveball is exactly why I don’t look at ERA and Hits Allowed until a minor leaguer is closing in on AAA.

The only way to work on a pitch is to throw it in game scenarios. When it’s not up to par it’s going to get hit, and hit far. When people look solely at ERA in Single A baseball they are assuming (or pretending) that this pitcher already has all the tools he needs to become a big league pitcher.

If he did, he’d be in the big leagues.

I look at K’s and BB paired with health for the most part in the early stages of minor league pitching. When you are older and throwing in AA and then AAA yes I believe you need to have your stuff to a point where your ERA, Hits Allowed etc matter.

But not when you’re learning a new pitch etc.
- MetsJets13 January 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm
  
  If they didnt look at performance results than they would have no basis to promote. WHIP, ERA, matters. That’s why Harvey, Familia got promoted and Wheeler didnt.
- any January 25, 2012 at 1:03 pm
  
  you are both right.
  
  a poor ERA say does not mean that a guy is not talented, or a future star. It can mean that like Jessep said, he is working on stuff.
  
  But, the results point out when it is time to promote the guy.
  
  However, results could mean that he mastered what he was working on, and is ready to go up. Or, that he abandoned it, and is maybe relying on just his FB. In either case, getting promoted is how you find out.
  
  their is a subjective piece too. Coaches look at a guy, and decide how ready they are. that could come into play when someone with spectacular #s gets a promotion.
  - jessep January 25, 2012 at 3:01 pm
    
    Right an. I think fans assume that everything you need to know about a minor leaguer is in his stat line.
    
    A pitcher can change his delivery/motion for a period of time and totally bomb in Single A. But then coaches fix the problem and he gets back on course.
    
    Minor league coaches/scouts/instructors look at trends with a player in the early stages of their minor league career.
    
    You know if Harvey for example was taught a new pitch, they want him to throw that pitch X # of times in a game.
    
    They want to see performance PLUS progress. Everybody knows Wheeler can throw a fastball, but as he advances that fastball will turn to Batting Practice. It’s about the secondary pitches. Generally speaking you get to the minors because you have a fastball.
    
    It’s a double edged sword. I just dislike when somebody sees Wheeler’s ERA and says “he is no good.”
    - XtreemIcon January 25, 2012 at 7:44 pm
      
      I went to a Rock Cats game in 2007 and saw a pitcher on the other team (I can’t remember who it was and what team it was) come in and throw 17 straight curveballs. The Rock Cats knew what was coming after something like third or fourth in a row and I think scored five runs off him in that inning, including three straight first pitch doubles, but when he was removed and went back to the dugout, the pitching coach shook his hand and said “nice job.”
      
      The kids ERA was inflated, but that meant nothing. He was there to work on his curve and I guess they liked what they saw (movement, location,etc.) He wasn’t there necessarily to get guys outs, although that would have been a nice byproduct.
NJstuckinTX January 25, 2012 at 11:32 am

What is weird is I would think one would trust the SF minor league system for how they cultivate pitching. But then again, when Lincy was drafted, they made it a huge point that the coaches could not mess with his delivery. The inexact science of pitching…
srt January 25, 2012 at 11:50 am

That’s not the first time I read something about Wheeler going back to his original mechanics.

Have to wonder what the SF coaches were trying to accomplish with him on making him slow down his mechanics.
- Lotus1209 January 25, 2012 at 12:46 pm
  
  Apparently his mechanics werent fluid and they changed him with fear that if he continued his old mechanics he would be deemed injury prone.. can’t seem to find the article
  - srt January 25, 2012 at 1:15 pm
    
    Here’s hoping they were wrong on that injury potential.
    
    Jeeze, if anyone’s mechanics aren’t fluid, it’s Lincecum’s. But we all know the story of ‘thou shalt not tinker with Timmy’s mechanics’, said Dad.
- Petey Pete January 25, 2012 at 7:33 pm
  
  If I understand it correctly, the reason for the change by SF, is that they felt his arm was dragging through the delivery, and that the lag was putting too much strain on his arm. They were afraid he would break down eventually, and that by slowing the motion it would give his arm the opportunity to catch up. I think they were wrong, obviously, because it may be a safer delivery, but it took away the whiplike effect that Wheeler gets when he throws naturally.
Hank January 26, 2012 at 12:12 am

Color me excited for some Zack Wheeler.
nathan January 26, 2012 at 12:52 am

If you watch Wheelers throwing motion and the watch Harvey’s I can see why SF was worried.

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