Series Breakdown: Ronald Torreyes

By
Doug Gray
– August 31, 2011Posted in: Articles

Today I wanted to look at Ronald Torreyes and the series he had against the Great Lakes Loons last week. He went a combined 4-12 with a walk and three triples in the series while driving in 5 runs over the three games. That is a pretty strong series that works out to a .333/.357/.833 line. The first thing I wanted to look at was the pitch by pitch break down over the series.

Pitch Type Location Result Play Result
1 Pitch Out Pitch Out Takes Pitch Out
2 FB High Inside Takes Ball
3 FB High Outside Swings Foul (LD to RF)
4 FB Middle Inside Swings Line Out to CF
5 FB Middle Low Swings Foul
6 CV Low Outside Swings Line out to RF
7 FB Low Middle Swings Fly out to LF
8 FB High Inside Takes Ball
9 FB Middle Middle Swings Single (LD to CF)
10 FB Low Outside Takes Called Strike
11 FB Low Inside Takes Called Strike
12 FB Middle Inside Swings Foul
13 FB Low Inside Swings Groundout to SS
14 FB High Middle Swings Foul
15 CV Low Outside Takes Called Strike
16 CV Low Middle Takes Ball
17 CV High Outside Takes Ball
18 FB Middle Inside Takes HBP
19 FB High Middle Swings Swinging K
20 FB High Inside Takes Ball
21 CB Low Inside Takes Called Strike
22 CV Low Middle Swings Foul
23 FB Middle Outside Swings Triple to RF
24 FB Middle Outside Swings Triple to RCF
25 FB Low Inside Takes Ball
26 CH Low Inside Takes Ball
27 CV High Middle Takes Ball
28 FB Middle Middle Takes Called Strike
29 FB Low Inside Takes Called Strike
30 FB Low Inside Takes Ball
31 FB High Middle Takes Ball
32 FB High Inside Swings Triples to LF
33 CV Middle Inside Takes Called Strike
34 CV Low Outside Takes Ball
35 CH Low Outside Takes Ball
36 CV Middle Middle Swings Groundout to SS
37 CV Middle Middle Swings Sac Fly to CF
38 FB Middle Inside Takes Ball
39 FB Middle Inside Swings Foul
40 CH Low Outside Swings Groundout to 3B
41 CV Low Outside Takes Ball
42 FB Middle Inside Swings Foul
43 CV Middle Outside Takes Ball
44 FB High Middle Swings Fly out to CF
45 FB Low Outside Takes Ball
46 FB Middle Inside Takes Ball
47 FB Middle Inside Swings Fly out to CF

It seemed to me that early in the series, Torreyes was very aggressive at the plate and the numbers show that to be correct. He swung at six of the first 9 pitches he saw and one of the ones he took was a pitch out. It was interesting to note that as the series went along that he became more patient at the plate. Overall, he swung at the pitch 45% of the time in the series (21 swings on 47 pitches). He swung and missed just once in those 21 pitches, a fastball that was at his chest. Of the 26 pitches that he took, only seven went as called strikes (27%).

It was interesting to see how the Loons pitching staff adjusted to him as the series came to a close. They worked him much more with off speed pitches than with fastballs. At one point he saw five straight offspeed pitches before hitting a sac fly to score a run. If there was one thing that stood out to me in terms of his plate discipline is that he seemed to really like swinging at the fastball that was chest high. While he was able to generally hit the ball, I wonder if it’s something that he is going to have to get away from as he moves up the ladder. Several of them were clear balls in my eyes, but he was swinging away at them. He seemed to read and handle the curveball well and at least one of the opposing pitchers did have a solid breaking ball.

Overall, I think that Torreyes has a very good swing and solid plate discipline (well above average for his age). As I noted, I do wonder about how aggressive he can be on the high fastball and how that will play out as he continues to move up the ladder, but that was the only thing that stood out to me at the plate as something to have a concern with. He had three triples in the series, though I think that if the defense had played him normal rather than in, he only gets one triple and maybe a double on those hits.

Here is some video (not from this series) for those of you who haven’t seen him play yet:

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Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2004 in one variation or another. You can follow him on twitter @dougdirt24, contact him via email here or follow the site on Facebook. and Youtube.