FanShot

Cain and the Unit

27

Baggs report on how Matty is learning from the Big Guy. Dunno about you guys, but this strikes me as an excellent development. In fact, I was going to call the post "why didn't I think of that", but I figured it might be a bit obscure. I don't know if there are any statistical analyses out there about it, but it's seemed to me in the last couple of years that a lot of the damage against Cain comes as a result of his lack of the "out" pitch. Sure, he can break off a curve, and his slider may occasionally do the trick, but mostly the dude lives and dies with the fastball. Now, it's a healthy fastball, yes, and he should trust it like a blood brother. But, guys tend to keep fouling that bugger off until he eventually misses location with it, or misses the plate entirely with something else. What a boon it would be to have a pitch that looks like some fat cheese, only to tumble out of the zone at the last second. Easier said than done, of course, but I shoooore do like the idea. p.s. I looked briefly here and on xanthan's site to find an overall pitch analysis for Cain, so that I could base some of my rant on reality, but to no avail. Didn't somebody systematically pick apart his repertoire at some point?