The next McClure project

by royaldaddy on Feb 14, 2008 1:26 AM EST Comment 12 comments

Mike Maroth was downright awful last season. Even in the amazingly weak NL Central, he couldn't get back on track. Well, enter pitching guru Bob McClure. Last year McClure helped Gil Meche by showing him to land on the ball of his foot rather than hard on the heel. Maroth is hoping the same thing will work for him. One of the spring training notes on the team website says that McClure is showing this technique to Maroth and if it works like it did with Meche, I think we will have our #4 starter. If the Maroth of old can show up in the # 4 slot of our rotation, we could be in a good position to win every night out. A healthy, productive Maroth with even a pedestrian effort from Tomko in the # 5 (or even better if Hochever can show up and take that spot) would make our rotation very solid (if not slightly scary.) Let's just hope they get some run support. So, what do you think. Can McClure turn Maroth around?

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I hope so

Has McClure ever turned a bad pitcher into a decent pitcher. The mechanical improvement for Meche was more of a fine tuning of an already pretty good pitcher. Maroth was awful last year. Turning an awful pitcher into an acceptable starting pitcher is a bigger mountain to climb.

By the way, how good is McClure? Coaches and managers are usually viewed as being as good as their players. McClure was the pitching coach for a 2006 team which pitched very poorly and a 2007 team which pitched pretty well. Quite frankly, I don't think he deserves much blame for the former or credit for the latter. We had better pitchers in 2007 and so the pitching staff performed better. I don't really know how much credit McClure deserves.

I probably disagree with you.

by NYRoyal on Feb 14, 2008 1:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I have a hard time

Believing pitching coaches and hitting coaches have much of an overall impact on team performance. They can impact a player here or there, but they probably won't affect everyone or even a majority of players.

So I think McClure can be credited with helping Greinke, Gobble, maybe a few others, but guys like Meche, Bannister, Soria were probably going to be good this year regardless of who was pitching coach.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Feb 14, 2008 11:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hochevar to the bullpen?

Another interesting note from day #1:

Luke Hochevar also could emerge as a candidate for the rotation, although he will open camp as a reliever.

"I want to break him in out of the pen," McClure said, "but he'll pitch longer than a short reliever. I can't say he's not a likely candidate (for the rotation). I can't put it to you that way. I'm going to have to watch him pitch."

This will anger some. I don't quite know how I feel about it. But, there is more than one way to effectively develop a starting pitcher.

I probably disagree with you.

by NYRoyal on Feb 14, 2008 1:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

perfect

One flaw with Luke is that he doesn't trust his stuff enough. The bullpen is the perfect place to learn to do that. I'd stick him in the bullpen until another starter is needed.

by doublestix on Feb 14, 2008 2:18 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It worked well for Zack last year

Plus it will keep his inning down. I don't know how many innnigs he pitched last year but I'm betting if he started out the year in the rotation he would get more than 30 more inning than he pitched last year. That is usually all they want to add to a pitcher each year. Not a bad move I don't think but only if at some point they really move him into the rotation.

by TXroyal on Feb 14, 2008 12:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

mcclure

I'm cautiously optimistic that he can help out Davies as he did Meche. It seems as if he has helped talented pitchers refine their skills better than anything. The two that stick out our Gobble and Meche.

by doublestix on Feb 14, 2008 2:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

If he can get average control from Davies

...I'd nominate him for sainthood. With Davies's stuff, if he had average control, he'd be a dominating pitcher.

I probably disagree with you.

by NYRoyal on Feb 14, 2008 3:20 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Don't know that Davies problem is mechanical

But maybe? I only say this because McClure already presumably would have had a chance to look at Davies, evaluate, and make suggestions.

Hopefully, I'm wrong and McClure can correct something which will make things turn around for Davies this season. It would be great if he could capitalize on his talent.

This space intentionally left blank.

by marbotty on Feb 14, 2008 5:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Davies

Hasn't Davies suffered from minor injuries, or pitched through injuries the last season or two? I thought I remember he had a groin injury last season which messed up his mechanics because he was overcompensating for it.

If he's finally 100%, maybe it will be easier to straighten out his delivery.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Feb 14, 2008 10:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If its McClure..

Imagine him + Nomo.

My oh my...can you imagine McClure bringing back Nomo's devastating pitching, if he finds what went wrong with him and corrects it?

My prediction is a crazy one..but I think Nomo blows away all competitors in ST, and steals the #4 spot and Maroth gets #5...pushing Tomko to the pen, where he has already said he'd be happy to pitch from.

Mark it down, you heard it here first!

by THEbobhamelin on Feb 14, 2008 12:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

NOMO

haha, if thats the case I will be first in line to buy a Nomo Jersey

by Randa4life on Feb 14, 2008 2:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not that it wouldn't be nice...

But I just can't see both Nomo and Maroth both panning out. I honestly don't have faith that either will be on the roster come opening day. But hey, I'm a Royal's fan so I can always dream!

Waiting for the Royals to appear on ESPN everynight!

by MooseTacos25 on Feb 14, 2008 3:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs