An Open Letter To Ubaldo Jimenez

by LarryB303 on Apr 16, 2008 4:56 PM MDT

Hey Buddy-

Welcome to Major League Baseball. You're a fantastically talented pitcher with top-notch stuff. If all goes well, you are going to have an excellent career. I hope it's spent in Colorado. But last night, watching your start against the Padres (and to a lesser extent, when I watched your start against Atlanta last week), I noticed something that compelled me to write this letter. Guess what? There are going to be some guys here that can hit you on certain nights. It's just going to happen.

I know, I know- you've got absolutely nasty stuff. But the hitters at this level are used to seeing nasty stuff, and occasionally, one of them is going to get a hit off you. Like Kelly Johnson did in the top of the first last week. Or like Brian Giles did twice last night. Here's the crux of this letter- when this happens, when someone nails one of your pitches, that's OK! Move on. It doesn't matter anymore. It already happened. You don't need to suddenly alter your approach and tentatively nibble at the corners or chuck everything into the dirt. Just focus on getting the next guy. Don't worry, your stuff is still as nasty as ever. The odds that that next guy is also going to hit you hard are pretty low. That is, unless he gets a 2-0 or 3-1 count. That's the surest way to get yourself into more trouble. So... yeah, this is getting awkward, considering you'll never read this and that I've taken two paragraphs to say what could be said in two sentences. So I'll wrap it up.

Stick with it, kid. And as a side note, take a few hacks in the cage occasionally. You look awful up there.

-Larry B

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).

Tweet Comment 4 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Dead on

I think if you switch U-Ball with Morales pretty much everything still stays true. Except the part about the hitting. Probably could throw a beach ball up there against U-Ball and be just fine.

Least we're better then the Tigers right now :)

by MattTheRock on Apr 16, 2008 6:17 PM MDT reply actions

Well said

was watching the Padres-Rockies game last night and agree – He’s really got a lot of talent – That lesson applies to all major league pitchers.

You don’t always have to have your best stuff – pitch strikes and rely on the defense behind you. Especially when you have a pretty solid defensive team (as Colorado does).

There is nothing that drives me more crazy as a fan than pitchers who can’t pitch strikes and constantly fall behind in the count.

by dstorm on Apr 16, 2008 6:29 PM MDT reply actions

Couldn't agree more.

U-ball-o has got to be driving Apodaca crazy.

Then again, he’s had more than his fair share of pitchers with this complex since 2003.

I was just looking at Shawn Chacon’s career numbers (speaking of pitchers that folded under pressure) – How on earth did he get 35 saves with a 7.11 ERA in 2004?? I had apparently suppressed this memory.

by GreeleyRoxFan on Apr 17, 2008 1:17 PM MDT reply actions