Snake Pit Appraisals: Matt Stites

Strengths

• "High velocity fastball! About 98 mph." - Makakilo

Weaknesses

• "Stites and Delgado both need to have more confidence in their fastballs. If you’re throwing in the mid to high 90s there’s no need to start your appearance by throwing 4 straight sliders. It seemed like every time I watched Delgado pitch he was throwing a 2-0 or 2-1 changeups or floating a curveball over. Have to establish that fastball first." - txzona
• "With how much his command was hyped up in the minors, I was surprised it was so bad in the majors." - JoeCB1991
• "Didn’t expect the poor control given that he never had a history of walks before. But I suppose when you get rocked a few times you start nibbling. Needs to regain confidence. However, a few times I saw him pitch I truly disliked the pitch calling for his repertoire, so who knows if a different catcher will help…" - rapdawg

Towards 2015

"Seriously- I thought his name was Stiles until this article, so he really didn’t register on my gut-feeling meter during the season.

Looking at his numbers, I wonder if his "accuracy" in the minors was actually "effective wildness" which understandably disappeared when he reached thee majors, where batters are much less likely to swing at bad pitches.

Topping out at 98 mph, next season he can afford to dial it back some to see if that will improve his control." - TylerO

Comment of the Thread

The Tally

• 5 - Highly Satisfied: 1%
  
• 4 - Somewhat Satisfied: 7%
• 3 - Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied: 40%
• 2 - Somewhat Dissatisfied: 40%
• 1 - Very Dissatisfied: 12%

Stites is another player that seems to have rated a somewhat unimpressive turnout. That may say all that really needs to be said about the rookie fire-baller's inaugural season. With such dominant control numbers across all levels before joining the big club in mid-June of last year, it's not an unreasonable assumption that there is still another developmental step in there for him. While the front office has been loading up on young(ish) that could make Stites remaining on the 25-man roster more difficult in 2015, few if any of them have as high of a ceiling or as impressive a track record of minor league success ass Stites. The chances seem very good that we haven't seen the last of him out of the Diamondback bullpen.

1. David Peralta 4.82 (162 votes)
2. Evan Marshall 4.76 (119)
3. Josh Collmenter 4.71 (151)
4. Paul Goldschmidt 4.64 (168)
5. Ender Inciarte 4.51 (111)
6. A.J. Pollock 4.48 (132)
7. Chase Anderson 4.18 (161)
8. Chris Owings 4.13 (112)
9. Oliver Perez 4.12 (94)
10. Vidal Nuno 3.96 (92)
11. Eury de la Rosa 3.63 (91)
12. Cliff Pennington 3.52 (62)
    
13. Tuffy Gosewisch 3.50 (113)
14. Brandon McCarthy 3.43 (542)***
15. Jake Lamb 3.31 (115)
16. Gerardo Parra 3.14 (122)
17. Zeke Spruill 3.09 (89)
18. Wade Miley 2.94 (122)
19. Didi Gregorius 2.75 (106)
20. Miguel Montero 2.67 (128)
    
21. Mike Bolsinger 2.67 (117)
22. Bronson Arroyo 2.63 (125)
23. Matt Stites 2.56 (92)
24. Will Harris 2.49 (61)
25. Randall Delgado 2.25 (122)
26. Martin Prado 2.16 (75)
27. Aaron Hill 2.11 (91)
28. Addison Reed 1.99 (114)
29. Cody Ross 1.48 (105)
30. Trevor Cahill 1.07 (147)