His intelligence, I think, has little to do with this. There were all the stories about Bobby Jenks and how he could throw 100 mph but couldn’t even write his own name on paper. Did he suddenly get smart to become a dominating reliever?

Now, I’m not disputing his ability or inability to self-correct — I don’t know if that’s the case or not. My take on that is while it would be nice that he could correct these problems on his own, but there is a pitching coach and hundreds of hours of film that should be helping him through that and counting on Bondo to do that by himself, to me, is dumb.

Also, his location has developed. His K:BB Ratios have improved every single year until this year (I don’t count last year because I think he pitched about 4-6 weeks on a bum elbow from July into August) which is why his immense struggles are so hard to figure out as they can’t be attributed to just bad luck or something else of that ilk because his K:BB Ratios are brutally bad.

Oh and: Is Granderson really improving on his weaknesses? He’s still striking out over 20% of his PA’s and walking in less than 10% and that’s just undesirable — especially from the leadoff spot (where he shouldn’t be, but that’s 100% another topic).

The primary question with Bondo is why does he suck 1/4 of the time and why is he mediocre the other 5/8 of the time? I suggest he does not have the ability to self-correct. I personally think this is because he is an idiot.

Look, I could be wrong, he could be a very bright fella. But his inconsistency is certainly not due to a lack of coordination, which is a kind of IQ in and of itself, because Bonderman was a phenomenal AAU basketball player in Washington state.

Why isn’t Bonderman becoming a great pitcher? Why hasn’t his location developed? Why has it taken so long to expand his mix? I think the answer is that he does not have the awareness to control these factors in a meaningful way.

Compare Bonderman to Granderson. Granderson develops every month, alsways aware of and working on his weaknesses. Granderson has the IQ and habits of improvement that Bonderman lacks.

His foot strike is drifting, that’s what the pattern looks like to me. However, that would be so easily corrected, so immediately seen, that this couldn’t be the case, right? Kinda like “Hey, Bondo, maybe you need a third pitch” repeated every year for five years — inescapably easy in theory.

I have come to the conclusion that Bondo is just not a bright man. When his mechanics happen to fall into-place, just on random starts, maybe every 9th start, he’s a tantalizingly good pitcher and that excites the Leyland\Dromboski axis so much they are willing to throw lots of money at the possibility that Bondo will figure things out and have repeatable good starts, but it’s still random because he has no flippin’ idea why his stuff works when it works.

So was it just complete luck and randomness that for the first 18 starts of the year in 2007 Jeremy Bonderman was one of the 5 best pitchers in the American League?

I suggest Occam’s Razor on this one for Bonderman and Verlander: they do not possess the consistent command to pitch effectively inside due to a mechanical issue.

Indeed and those mechanical issues could very well be caused by an injuries either past or present.

http://ordosopinion.blogspot.c.....igers.html

I suggest Occam’s Razor on this one for Bonderman and Verlander: they do not possess the consistent command to pitch effectively inside due to a mechanical issue. Over time this should be corrected; until then prepare for inflated walk totals and high ERAs.

What I don’t know is whether he does this stuff all the time, and I just notice it when he’s struggling.

Can you pull up a gameday from one of his better outings last year and check?

I have come to the conclusion that Bondo is just not a bright man. When his mechanics happen to fall into-place, just on random starts, maybe every 9th start, he’s a tantalizingly good pitcher and that excites the Leyland\Dromboski axis so much they are willing to throw lots of money at the possibility that Bondo will figure things out and have repeatable good starts, but it’s still random because he has no flippin’ idea why his stuff works when it works.

It’s also something that I’ve speculated about Bonderman when he’s struggled the past couple seasons is that he throws his fastball toward the third base side of the plate and the slider toward the first base side with a lot of regularity. What I don’t know is whether he does this stuff all the time, and I just notice it when he’s struggling.

I’m just at a loss. His Left on Base % is at 71% and league average is 72%. His HR/FB percentage is out of whack, though at 16.2% of his FB’s are going for HR’s but he’s giving up hard contact as his IsoP Against is .214. I don’t know if it’s mechanical or if this not busting LHH’s inside with his 4-seamer is the culprit but it’s frustrating. Especially given how dominant he was in his first 18 starts last year.

before this season, a major problem that i am absolutely upset with, is bondermans tough man attitude and not admitting when he is hurt, it has happened twice now in the past couple years. for such a young kid this cant happen, and im beginning to feel some, and if not all, his problems are from this.

i don’t any specific evidence or info to support any claims. im not sure what is going on. is he just an overhyped 1 pitch pitcher? (slider) did his body just stop improving with age and growth and not progess? is pitching coach hernandez to blame?

sorry for being general. im a big time bondo fan, and i just want him to get straightened out. it is a shame to see someone with 2 half seasons of dominance come crumbling down

Its disappointing, because all three of these guys have good enough stuff to avoid being hit hard consistently if they challenged more hitters and worked from a pitcher’s count (which would make their mix of pitches more effective). I don’t know if they’ve all had mechanical issues or their game-planning is to beat up the outside corner, but its seemed to be a consistent approach and problem for the group.

This common theme to all three of them leads me to think “coaching.”

billfer, have you happened to check back on Bondo’s last few starts to see if this pitching away has been a consistent pattern?