Note: Mike Pelfrey is Confident
Mike Pelfrey allowed just three hits, while striking out five over seven scoreless innings in last night’s win versus the Giants.
He didn’t walk a batter for the first time in his 34 career starts.
Manuel, on what may have clicked for Pelfrey in his last few starts…
“I think what did it for Mike was having some success breeding confidence. To come to the major leagues, there is always a question or a doubt on whether or not you can do this or accomplish this. And, there was a period where he struggled and I think that was a bigger factor in terms of what he brought to the mound as far as he stuff goes. Then all of sudden, when he had some success, you could see the man became a bit bigger than what he was before that. So, i think the success has had more to do with him than anything because it breeded a level of confidence that he feels good even if he gets in trouble in that he’s one pitch away from getting in to trouble.”
Manuel told reporters that he did not consider sending Pelfrey out to pitch the eighth inning last night because he had already thrown 110 pitches. In fact, Manuel added, “We’re probably gonna be careful in his last outing on Sunday and keep him real, real close to 100 pitches.”
Pelfrey, on when things started to click…
“I think in the Dodger game…I found out that location is a lot more important than velocity. That proved to me that, hey, I can go out and if I execute pitches and hit my spots I don’t need to throw 95.”
Pelfrey, who has allowed two runs or less in six of his last eight starts, is 5–0 with a 3.44 ERA during that span, during which the Mets are 7–1.
He is 7–6 on the year, with a 3.93 ERA.
…in the past two years pelfrey has taken a lot of criticism from fans and the media for not developing as quickly as other pitching prospects around the league, especially with the Mets being in their current “win now” state, but it’s important to remember that pelfrey has only made 62 starts in his professional career since being drafted by the Mets in 2005…
…however, over his last eight starts we are beginning to see pelfrey’s potential coming to fruition as he has learned how to pitch at the major league level, which has given him confidence that he can complete at this level…
…also, i’m beginning to think Rick Peterson was more of a hindrance than help in pelfrey’s development…i’ve folllowed pelfrey’s professional career since he was drafted and i never understood why he was told to abandon his curve ball, which was one of the reasons he had so much success at the college level…with Dan Warthen allowing pelfrey to throw his curve ball, it will give pelfrey another weapon to get hitters off balance when he throws his fastball..
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