I watched most of his regular season start against Wake and his ACC Tourney start against Louisville. In the latter he took a no-hitter into the ninth and a perfect game into the eighth. Against Wake he gave up three runs -- none earned -- in 6.2 innings. He struck out nine and walked four.
I saw a lot of the same sequences and set ups in both games. The hardest fastball I noticed was 86 MPH and he's comfortable throwing it anywhere from 79-85 for the most part. It does have late life which makes it effective -- especially to the arm side.
Clark isn't some control expert. He thrives off hitters being aggressive and he needs poor plate discipline to be truly effective. He entices that aggression by really working both sides of the plate. Against Wake the first time through the order he was outside-outside-outside constantly, and then he got the fastball in the second time through the order because hitters were reaching and leaning. He will miss up in the zone, but he doesn't miss over the plate much. The miss you have to hit is the up and over the inside of the plate.
The breaking ball will be in the 60s at times and he throws two different types. He has a slider-type something that really moves a lot left to right. You'll see that early on, especially against lefties, because he wants to use it as an out pitch in plus counts. The other breaking ball is a little tighter pitch he throws more to the left side of the plate that will hang at times. It's when he's trying to throw it for a strike.
I understand Logan Davidson's quote about how it's odd he's so effective because he will walk people and he'll miss up in the zone with 83 MPH fastballs. But he's very effective out of the stretch -- frankly more effective - and most hitters aren't very disciplined at laying off that sweeping outside breaking ball once they are already looking away to drive the fastball. Ole Miss HAS to hit the ball the other way today. Pull-happy is disaster against this guy unless you punish every mistake. He's only hit two batters all season as evidence of how he lives away.
There will be opportunities. It's not some uber-talented lefty. But he knows how to pitch and he frustrates hitters because it shouldn't work just by looking at it. The changeup has some sink, but I'm not noticing many at all early in the game.
Ole Miss will have a good report on him from Mc, but Louisville showed what not to do. The Cardinals rolled over pitches and tried to hit everything 839 feet. This needs to be death by paper cut and then someone lose one of the mistakes up into the jet stream.
I saw a lot of the same sequences and set ups in both games. The hardest fastball I noticed was 86 MPH and he's comfortable throwing it anywhere from 79-85 for the most part. It does have late life which makes it effective -- especially to the arm side.
Clark isn't some control expert. He thrives off hitters being aggressive and he needs poor plate discipline to be truly effective. He entices that aggression by really working both sides of the plate. Against Wake the first time through the order he was outside-outside-outside constantly, and then he got the fastball in the second time through the order because hitters were reaching and leaning. He will miss up in the zone, but he doesn't miss over the plate much. The miss you have to hit is the up and over the inside of the plate.
The breaking ball will be in the 60s at times and he throws two different types. He has a slider-type something that really moves a lot left to right. You'll see that early on, especially against lefties, because he wants to use it as an out pitch in plus counts. The other breaking ball is a little tighter pitch he throws more to the left side of the plate that will hang at times. It's when he's trying to throw it for a strike.
I understand Logan Davidson's quote about how it's odd he's so effective because he will walk people and he'll miss up in the zone with 83 MPH fastballs. But he's very effective out of the stretch -- frankly more effective - and most hitters aren't very disciplined at laying off that sweeping outside breaking ball once they are already looking away to drive the fastball. Ole Miss HAS to hit the ball the other way today. Pull-happy is disaster against this guy unless you punish every mistake. He's only hit two batters all season as evidence of how he lives away.
There will be opportunities. It's not some uber-talented lefty. But he knows how to pitch and he frustrates hitters because it shouldn't work just by looking at it. The changeup has some sink, but I'm not noticing many at all early in the game.
Ole Miss will have a good report on him from Mc, but Louisville showed what not to do. The Cardinals rolled over pitches and tried to hit everything 839 feet. This needs to be death by paper cut and then someone lose one of the mistakes up into the jet stream.
