Last night, I had the oppurtunity to go watch the Bud Norris face off with the Brewers in real life. My impressions of our cocky young fireballer went as such:
1. Holy smoke, he throws hard. He has a short, compact delivery making his release point pretty far back compared to the taller pitchers. That being said, the ball gets to the plate deceptively quick and gives the pitches longer breaks. Hence, a great riding fastball.
2. The Brews were struggling to make adjustments and looked slow to react on the slider. Braun locked in on his in the first, and smashed it. Besides that, there were no good hacks on his #2 pitch.
3. He is effectively wild. Yes, he walked a few guys (Counsell twice? Unacceptable) right in front of the big hitters, but luckily went unharmed. He throws enough balls, that batters are not being aggressive.
4. He is basically a 2 pitch guy at this point. I only remember one good change all night.
5. INSIDE DIRT: During Spring Training, the vets wanted to strangle him for acting like a real life Ebby Calvin Nuke LaLoosh. Its funny to hear a guy got sent out because he was being a conceited d!ck. He's been better since being called up evidently.
So for his early sucess to continue, he needs (IMO) to keep working on his change, keep working quick, and listen to and copy every freaking thing RoyO says and does. He has the goods to be a #1 or #2 guy for a long time. I hope he doesn't take sucess for granted, because his book is being put together every time he takes the hill. He'd better understand Prince Fielder will have a better idea next time he sees him.
Jason
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
