['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He evidently has the best changeup in the organization, what the hell does he need another pitch to neutralize lefties for?

A righty can't have a better weapon in his arsenal against lefties than a good changeup. They trail to the armside and they drop right out of the hitting zone after looking like a hanging fastball as the batter starts his swing. Wacha's all set against lefties with that thing.

Besides, I'm with Duncan, the damn cutter tends to diminish a fastball's effectiveness because pitchers fall in love with them. I don't really need to remind you about Izzy's fascination with that !@#$ing thing, do I? I always loved seeing a guy with a 97 mph fastball and a hammer curve float a ****ing 91 mph cutter right into the center of the plate...

Wacha needs to refine his curveball (which presently sucks, IMO), stay on top of his changeup and work on his fastball command (you can see him guiding it fairly often, causing it to straighten out). Those 3 pitches are more than enough for him to handle any lineup and once he starts dicking around with a cutter, it'll be time he spends on it that has him losing the feel for his best 3 pitches.

Cutters are for guys with fading arms, not for guys that throw 96 with a bugs bunny change already.

Wacha doesn't throw 96 consistently and you know it. That's hyperbole. He sits at 92-3.

I've always believed that pitchers need to be able to move the ball in both directions. That means a pitch that bores in on the hands of batters on both sides of the ball.

Wainwright's repertoire is nearly perfect. He throws a two seamer to get in on the hands of RHB, and a cutter to get in on the LHB. Both can still induce weak contact in batters of the opposite hand, and he obviously still has the curve as an incredibly effective out pitch and the fastball as a dependable "get ahead" pitch without being a melon.