Daily Notes: A Brief Review of Kyle Gibson’s Debut Start

by
June 30, 2013

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. A Brief Review of Kyle Gibson’s Debut Start
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

A Brief Review of Kyle Gibson’s Debut Start
Introduction
As noted in these pages of late, Twins right-handed prospect and 22nd-overall pick in the 2009 draft Kyle Gibson made his major-league debut on Saturday. What follows is a brief review of same.

Gibson’s Results
Gibson was successful on Saturday both in terms of defense-independent pitching and actual run prevention. The debutant recorded a 5:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 6.0 innings against 26 total batters, inducing grounders on 11 of 20 batted-balls (55%). All told, he posted a 3.30 single-game xFIP — not dissimilar from the 3.00 single-game ERA he produced by allowing two earned runs (box).

Gibson’s Pitches
As the PITCHf/x chart below (featuring speed and horizontal movement) reveals, Gibson threw three-plus pitches on Tuesday — some combination of four- and two-seam fastballs, it seems, in the low-90s; a slider at around 82-86 mph; and a changeup at about 84-86 mph.

Gibson Chart

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Gibson’s Slider
Here’s footage from the second inning of Gibson striking out talented Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez on a slider:

Gibson Perez SL Slow SS K 1

That Same Slider, But Slower
Here’s footage of the same exact pitch, except at about two-thirds the speed:

Gibson Perez SL Slow SS K 2

Still That Slider, But More Different
Here’s continued footage of that same slider, except from a better camera angle this time:

Gibson Perez SL Slow SS K 3

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Los Angeles AL at Houston | 14:10 ET
C.J. Wilson (99.2 IP, 99 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR) faces Lucas Harrell (93.0 IP, 115 xFIP-, 0.1 WAR).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Radio, Maybe.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.4.

Note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away   SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time
Andrew Cashner SD 6 8 7 0 9 MIA Nathan Eovaldi* 13:10
Gio Gonzalez WAS 6 2 6 5 8 NYN Zack Wheeler* 13:10
Trevor Cahill AZ 5 3 5 7 5 ATL Paul Maholm 13:35
Kyle Lohse MIL 5 5 6 7 6 PIT Charlie Morton* 13:35
Mark Buehrle TOR 3 6 4 8 4 BOS Ryan Dempster 13:35
Rick Porcello DET 9 7 7 10 5 TB Jer. Hellickson 13:40
C.J. Wilson LAA 4 6 3 3 1 HOU Lucas Harrell 14:10
Justin Masterson CLE 8 8 8 2 10 CHA Chris Sale 14:10
Ervin Santana KC 8 5 5 2 3 MIN Kevin Correia 14:10
Mat Latos CIN 8 4 8 3 10 TEX Yu Darvish 15:05
Jake Westbrook STL 1 3 3 6 4 OAK Tommy Milone 16:05
Edwin Jackson CHN 5 5 3 4 0 SEA Jer. Bonderman 16:10
Kyle Kendrick PHI 3 1 4 2 6 LAN Stephen Fife 16:10
Mad. Bumgarner SF 7 6 7 9 7 COL D. Pomeranz* 16:10
Hiroki Kuroda NYA 4 4 5 9 4 BAL Chris Tillman 20:05

To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.





 

Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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Bryz
12 years ago

Gibson also struck out Billy Butler twice on 94 MPH sinkers down and in, and also got Lorenzo Cain looking on another 94 MPH sinker that was belt-high and inside.

Plus, Gibson was often set on the mound before the hitter was ready, so his pace (21.4 seconds) was pleasing to watch as well.

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