Monday, May 20 Updated: May 21, 3:13 PM ET Changing speeds could slow Glaus, Anderson By Tom Candiotti Special to ESPN.com |
||||||||||||||||
Editor's Note: ESPN analyst Tom Candiotti writes a weekly scouting report. Here is the former knuckleballer's book on the Anaheim Angels' Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, third baseman Troy Glaus and outfielder Garret Anderson, as they get set to face the Kansas City Royals and pitcher Blake Stein on Monday.
Glaus is today's version of Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt. While he strikes out a lot, he has terrific power and is a streaky hitter. Yes, Glaus does have holes in his swing, but he is a dangerous hitter. Glaus swings with a slight uppercut, which is why he hits towering home runs. When he doesn't hit the ball out of the ballpark, he will usually get a tremendous amount of top spin on the ball. Glaus has amazing patience at the plate, especially early in the count. He looks for one pitch in one location; when he doesn't get it, he doesn't swing. He is more selective before he is aggressive, a positive for a young hitter. He does have good plate coverage and like all good power hitters can pull an outside pitch over the left-field fence. I have seen Glaus hit the high pitch as well as the low pitch, so north or south pitching doesn't bother him. He prefers the ball middle away so he can extend his powerful arms to launch the ball. He is susceptible to a good breaking ball. But if the pitcher happens to hang a slider or curve, he will absolutely crush it. Meanwhile, Anderson provides great protection for Glaus in the lineup. He is a dangerous hitter who is hard to defend against. He will spray the ball all over the field and has good power that is still developing. Anderson can hit any fastball and prefers to hit the first fastball he sees. I have seen him look rather weak on breaking balls in the past but usually because he is always in swing mode and chases them out of the zone. He loves the pitch down and inside like most left-handed hitters do. But I have seen him slash high and outside pitches down the left-field line as well. That is why he is a tough hitter to defend against. Anderson is a line-drive hitter first before he tries to hit the ball out of the park. He has fantastic eye-hand coordination, which enables him to make contact when he swings at most balls.
Weaknesses
Anderson has gotten better at handling the curveball, splitter and change, but they are still the best pitches to use against him. He will chase balls out of the strike zone, especially if they start out close to the hitting area. He wants the pitcher to challenge him with the fastball and is good at hitting fastballs off the the plate, even if they aren't a strike. He has gotten better at keeping his hands back when an off-speed pitch fools him, but he usually becomes a singles hitter with those pitches.
Best approach Stein has an average fastball, curve, slider and change. He doesn't really have a standout pitch, so he needs to locate well and use his whole arsenal to be effective. When Stein falls behind in the count, he suffers because hitters can eliminate pitches when they get ahead of him in the count. Nevertheless, Stein is a gutsy pitcher who will try for groundouts instead of strikeouts. He will need to change speeds effectively to win the battle with Glaus and Anderson.
Overall If Stein can locate the ball well down in the zone and get Glaus, Anderson and the other Angel hitters to chase them, he will have a much better chance of pitching deep into the game. So far this year, Stein has not been able to do that. ESPN baseball analyst Tom Candiotti won 151 games pitching in 16 major-league seasons. |
|