Was control an issue for Chris in high school and just dominated competition with power? Or were these control problems developed while at A&M. He has damn good enough stuff to not be scared to throw it over the plate so if this is a between the ears thing I hope Weiner can fix him. If we can add a Cortez that throws primarily strikes to our staff we are going to be incredibly deep on the mound come tournament time.

It seemed he had decent control when he was a freshman. I may be misremembering, but it feels like his control has gotten worse and worse since then.

Wabs said:

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It seemed he had decent control when he was a freshman. I may be misremembering, but it feels like his control has gotten worse and worse since then.

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That's what I was thinking I remembered. Almost seems like a situation of Yeskie tried to fix something not broke and it didn't work well.

I feel like most of his control issues came from not being able to repeat his delivery. Sometimes he appears to rush through his delivery which causes him to change his release point.

Was: Your comment is exactly my recollection. Seems as a Fish it was just a blazing fast ball.

Good question. My recollection was from last year. Can't recall his fresh year.

96ags said:

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I feel like most of his control issues came from not being able to repeat his delivery. Sometimes he appears to rush through his delivery which causes him to change his release point.

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At this level it's mostly between the ears which manifests itself through what you're talking about. Everybody at this level has some kind of stuff but it's the mental game that separates guys.

We have no way of know what the driver is- maybe it's nerves, maybe he's so jacked up on adrenaline that he's rushing, maybe he doesn't trust his stuff so he tries to nibble around the edges? Cortez and the coaches are the ones to figure it out.

100% mental deal… when it's in your head, all it takes is fractions of a second to be off

I heard someone say we eliminated or he quit throwing his four seam fastball. While it generated the most speed, it had no movement, so it would be hit.

hellcat9 said:

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I heard someone say we eliminated or he quit throwing his four seam fastball. While it generated the most speed, it had no movement, so it would be hit.

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I'll take pitching to contact over walks all day every day.

TarponChaser said:

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96ags said:

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I feel like most of his control issues came from not being able to repeat his delivery. Sometimes he appears to rush through his delivery which causes him to change his release point.

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At this level it's mostly between the ears which manifests itself through what you're talking about. Everybody at this level has some kind of stuff but it's the mental game that separates guys.

We have no way of know what the driver is- maybe it's nerves, maybe he's so jacked up on adrenaline that he's rushing, maybe he doesn't trust his stuff so he tries to nibble around the edges? Cortez and the coaches are the ones to figure it out.

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Not necessarily.

Some people just don't have the God given body control to repeat the same motion over and over consistently.

Take for example a golf swing. I may be able to drive a ball 300yd right down the middle on occasion, but I lack the ability to repeat that same swing every time.

That is what separates the greats. They have the physical ability to throw/swing hard AND the body control to repeat. Cortez has the 1st part in spades, and is clearly working hard on the 2nd.

hellcat9 said:

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I heard someone say we eliminated or he quit throwing his four seam fastball. While it generated the most speed, it had no movement, so it would be hit.

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Yea, thank talked about it on the stream during his first start of the year. Weiner took it out for him altogether.

I missed the game last night. Was he wild in Austin?

Wild but very effective

He struggled finding the zone consistently. I think he walked two or three lead off hitters in the 4 innings he pitched.

He would work his way out of the jam, but he seemed to put himself in the jam.

Overall wasn't bad but it wasn't great either.

KlinkerAg11 said:

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He struggled finding the zone consistently. I think he walked two or three lead off hitters in the 4 innings he pitched.

He would work his way out of the jam, but he seemed to put himself in the jam.

Overall wasn't bad but it wasn't great either.

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Yeah that's him in a nutshell. That said, he's made improvements. Just still has work to do.

trouble said:

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Wild but very effective

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Wild to scare the other team???

trouble said:

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Wild but very effective

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Against most other teams, he would have been the wildest pitcher of the night. With the sips though, he fell middle of the pack on wildness (more than our other pitchers, but WAY less wild than theirs).

But yeah... he was pitching wild last night

96ags said:

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TarponChaser said:

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96ags said:

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I feel like most of his control issues came from not being able to repeat his delivery. Sometimes he appears to rush through his delivery which causes him to change his release point.

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At this level it's mostly between the ears which manifests itself through what you're talking about. Everybody at this level has some kind of stuff but it's the mental game that separates guys.

We have no way of know what the driver is- maybe it's nerves, maybe he's so jacked up on adrenaline that he's rushing, maybe he doesn't trust his stuff so he tries to nibble around the edges? Cortez and the coaches are the ones to figure it out.

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Not necessarily.

Some people just don't have the God given body control to repeat the same motion over and over consistently.

Take for example a golf swing. I may be able to drive a ball 300yd right down the middle on occasion, but I lack the ability to repeat that same swing every time.

That is what separates the greats. They have the physical ability to throw/swing hard AND the body control to repeat. Cortez has the 1st part in spades, and is clearly working hard on the 2nd.

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I disagree completely that it's "God given."

It's repetition and mental focus. Now that focus varies but it's all able to be trained. You see it all the time as athletes develop regardless of the sport. There are limitations but if you focused on golf and hit 300 shots a day every day for a month you would train that body control.

What separates the greats is more mental than anything.

what if the "mental" advantage is because the player has more "God-given" talent?

hmmn...

one reason a young athlete chooses to play baseball...instead of football or basketball or something else...

is because his natural talents fit better with baseball

not to mention being born left-handed dominant

He had difficulty throwing his fastball for a strike, although consistently 96-97. His most effective pitch was an 86 mph slider. That was his out pitch last night.

BoerneGator said:

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He had difficulty throwing his fastball for a strike, although consistently 96-97. His most effective pitch was an 86 mph slider. That was his out pitch last night.

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Loved seeing him find a way over and over. Most Tuesdays if he can battle, we'll be sitting pretty. Leave the guys with more precision for the weekend and Cortez could end up having as many wins as anyone on the staff.

Interesting comments by Schloss at some points this. Don't recall which day because he spoke so many times this week. He never mentioned Cortez by name but said some guys struggle to throw strikes because of growing up striking out hitters who simple couldn't catch up combined with poor umpiring giving hard throwing pitchers strikes out of the zone.

Speaking of Cortez, what ever happened with him transferring and leaving the program. I never heard much and then he was back with the team. Glad he is back but just wondering if anybody knew anything about it?

StinkyPinky said:

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hellcat9 said:

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I heard someone say we eliminated or he quit throwing his four seam fastball. While it generated the most speed, it had no movement, so it would be hit.

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Yea, thank talked about it on the stream during his first start of the year. Weiner took it out for him altogether.

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Four seamers were all the rage for a decade or so but they're not a super effective pitch unless you can consistently dot/dominate the top 2" of the zone in my opinion. 2 seamers for life and longevity.

Generally throwing harder results in more movement making locating more difficult.

He was known as a control pitcher when he arrived. I believe it, and I also believe what Schloss said about poor umpiring. I have seen Cortez repeatedly fire pitch after pitch 2 - 3" off the plate and not get a single call. The umps just won't bite in college. Chris is the master of the pinpoint walk.

My suggestion last season was that he needed to start pitching backwards. His change up is so good that if he could get ahead with it, the fastball will be overpowering. Wiener eliminated the 4 seamer, but they could still do that.

The zone in HS is huge compared to college. Lots of stuff gets called a strike that are balls in college

He has started most guys off with his slider …. His fast ball has much more movement on it ….. that 4 seamer was pretty straight last year . 92-94 mph w/movement is much harder to hit than 97-98 mph that is straight as an arrow.