A Scout's Take on Willis and Sheffield

by Ian Casselberry on Mar 1, 2009 3:30 PM EST in Detroit Tigers News

Nick Cafardo had a couple of Tigers-related items in his Sunday Notes column for today's Boston Globe. First, some talk from a scout who's seen Dontrelle Willis's newly simplified delivery:

In the words of one scout, "No more herky-jerky, but hitters are getting good swings on his fastball. He's not very confident in it right now. He's throwing more breaking stuff and off-speed stuff. It's too early to write him off, but he'd have to show marked improvement for me to consider him a factor for the Tigers."

What the D-Train may have gained in control, however, he may have lost in deception. Opposing hitters will reveal the ultimate verdict on that.

The same scout also offered an opinion on Gary Sheffield, saying Sheff "got some good swings on the ball" and "looks really determined to have a great year."

Back in January, you might recall, Cafardo circled Sheffield as a player who could have a big comeback year.

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D-train

Glowing optimism for Dontrelle has quickly turned into hope-crushing pessimism. I know it ‘s still (very) early, but I’m leaning toward the idea that D-Train will be spending more time in the minors this year.

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by explosivo2k2 on Mar 1, 2009 3:58 PM EST reply actions

Herky-jerky

That was his big advantage, keeping hitters off-balance. Without out that, and with a fastball in the mid-80’s, he’s just throwing BP out there. He is going to need to add something to his repertoire or else go back to the herky (or the jerky).

by pfuhrmeister on Mar 1, 2009 4:22 PM EST reply actions

ESPN

analyst just picked Willis to be the comeback player of the year!

by densogirl on Mar 1, 2009 5:15 PM EST reply actions

honest to God, I hope so! What with Miner, Bondo and Nate questionable. We need help.

by densogirl on Mar 1, 2009 5:17 PM EST up reply actions

Baseball Tonight

Steve Phillips on Baseball tonight just predicted Dontrelle to win the comeback player of the year. He said he would win 15 or more games!

by Detroit4lyfe on Mar 1, 2009 5:16 PM EST reply actions

haha

beat me to the punch desogirl

by Detroit4lyfe on Mar 1, 2009 5:16 PM EST reply actions

made me feel so good when he said that.

by densogirl on Mar 1, 2009 5:17 PM EST up reply actions

oh I know—that made me feel really good. You have to figure he knows what he’s talking about. HOWEVER, Steve Phillips LOVES the Tigers. He’s done nothing but predict good things to happen to them, dating back to 2006…Hopefully, he’s right about this.

by Detroit4lyfe on Mar 1, 2009 5:19 PM EST up reply actions

Unfortunately, just because Phillips is on ESPN, people think he knows what he’s talking about. However, Phillips always seems to be completely wrong, so I wouldn’t count on that prediction coming true.

by baum on Mar 1, 2009 10:26 PM EST up reply actions

agreed

But it’s nice to see that someone outside of Leyland and Willis share the optimism. Phillips predicted Bonderman to win the Cy Young last year, so…yeah, I wouldn’t take much substance from his predictions… check out Detroit4lyfe.com for my full take on the matter.

by Detroit4lyfe on Mar 2, 2009 12:30 AM EST up reply actions