Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Lyles has a bunch of different pitches

For instance:

Fastball: 90-92mph
Curve: 75-76mph
Tighter curve: 78mph
Changeup: 80-83mph
Slider: 82-84mph

Lyles, on the fastball:
"When I started the season, I wasn't going inside and out. If I throw a fastball outside, they can put the bat on it, foul it off into the stands. So a couple weeks into the season I learned to go inside and that's why all my strikeout totals have been up. Since then, just working in and out has been really successful."

On the curves:
"There's a couple curveballs I use. I use a show-me curveball early in the count when they're not looking curveball-and that's OK to have a big loopy curveball to show them-but others I like to bury in the dirt."

Pitching coach Travis Driskill, on the slider:
"He came out of high school with it, but we wanted to concentrate on just having one breaking ball to see if we could get that going. He was able to get it going-obviously not tonight-but it's been a real good pitch for him and we just add in that slider to give him a different look."

Driskill, on the changeup:
"For a young guy, he has a lot of confidence in that pitch. His willingness to throw it shows that he'll be able to throw it when he gets to a higher level, and he'll be able to take that to the major leagues and keep guys off his fastball. It's always been there. I had him last year in Greeneville and we had some special rules about how we were trying to use some pitches because we wanted some more changeup use. When we did that and we made him throw it, he found out it was real good. It's just unbelievable for an 18-year-old kid to come out of high school and have a changeup like that."

Driskill, on Lyles:
"Overall, he's been terrific. He locates his fastball as well as anyone should at this level. He does have a real good breaking ball, he's finding a slider and, then again, he has a real good feel for a changeup. For a kid who's only 18, he's got four pitches right there that we're talking about. And we know two of them are outstanding, and the two breaking balls are good and should get better as he matures and becomes a more experienced pitcher."