The Feliz Report: Rookie Hits 101 MPH In Debut

Posted on August 4th, 2009 7:30am by Evan Grant
Filed under Uncategorized

OAKLAND, Calif. – A few quick notes and quotes on RHP Neftali Feliz’s major league debut Monday night, which will go down as perhaps the most electrifying debut by a Rangers rookie since, well, ever. In two perfect innings of a game that will unfortunately also be remembered as the first time the Rangers blew a ninth-inning lead this season, Feliz became the first Rangers pitcher to strike out the first four major league hitters he has ever faced.

A few other tidbits:

• Feliz threw fastballs on 23 of his 30 pitches. His fastball was a bit feverish. It averaged 98.7 mph. That included seven pitches at or above 100 mph. His last pitch of the night was his hardest, a 101 mph heater that Tommy Everidge popped up on.

• What may have been most remarkable, however, about his debut is not the pure velocity of the fastball, but the effectiveness of his splitter. He threw the pitch four times and got outs with three of them. Adam Kennedy and Kurt Suzuki, the first two hitters he faced, each chased a 90-91 mph splitter in the dirt to end at-bats in strikeouts.

• Said C Jarrod Saltalamacchia: “This kid has good stuff. “He’s throwing 100 and it looks like he’s about to throw an eephus pitch. His delivery is so nice and easy. I was very impressed.”

• Said manager Ron Washington: “It was an impressive debut not because of the strikeouts, but rather for the number of pitches he threw for strikes.”

• And finally, from Feliz comes this quote about his state of mind upon entering the game: “When I first got up, I felt a little nervousness, but once I threw the first pitch for a strike, I felt OK and just went out and did my thing.”

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19 Comments to “The Feliz Report: Rookie Hits 101 MPH In Debut”
  • Or @ August 4th, 2009 at 7:40 am

    That was a splitter? Nobody seems able to agree on what exactly those pitches were; I’ve heard 2 seam fastball, splitter, sinker, and change.

  • dwc @ August 4th, 2009 at 7:44 am

    No one can be sure what it was because of the velocity. On TV it seemed to have the movement of a splitter. But it was sufficiently decreased in velocity that it seems like a change compared to the fastball.

    No one can decide and we had several looks at it in slow motion on our DVR. Wonder what it’s like to only have a few hundredths of a second to decide what it is? Cannot feel good.

  • They Should have let Feliz Finish : baseballmusings.com @ August 4th, 2009 at 7:45 am

    [...] Meanwhile, Evan Grant has more on Neftali Feliz. [...]

  • Ehren @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:01 am

    All I have to say is WOW! How about we call the pitch a Shuto.

  • JRB @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:03 am

    Feliz’s changeup IS a splitter.

    A changeup is just a generic term for a pitch that looks like a fast ball (same arm speed and arm slot) but goes about 8 or 10 mph slower. Most of the time it involves choking the ball in the hand or fingers in such a way that friction off the fingers causes the slowdown. Splitters, circle changes, palm balls, etc. all qualify if the deceives the hitter and makes him say “oh &@$t!” right about the time he swings ahead of it.

  • badspellr @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:05 am

    Nadel said he talked to Feliz on the plane to the Bay and Feliz said he threw four pitches: 4 seamer, 2 seamer,splitter, and slider (though some have classified that pitch a curve or slurve.)

  • 09 is the Year @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:06 am

    Looked like a circle changed to me when watching it again. Can kinda see the grip of the ball in his hand while in his glove and the pitch moved down and away from the lefty. Could be a splitter too though.

  • 09 is the Year @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:11 am

    So a splitter it was/is. That pitch will K a lot of hitters out!

  • They Should have let Feliz Finish @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:12 am

    [...] Meanwhile, Evan Grant has more on Neftali Feliz. [...]

  • JRB @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:18 am

    @Badspellr: Yeah, funny thing about the slider/curve issue…for most humans, thr speed is definitely a slider (as is the motion), but sliders are typically 10 mph slower than their fastball. Feliz’s “slider” is about 20 mph slower. That’s a delta more akin to a curveball.

    I vote for slurve.

  • Dan @ August 4th, 2009 at 8:42 am

    Yeah, I was mesmerized by what he was throwing, so I slowed it down and rewatched it a bunch of times. You could see it was a splitter. (Well, if you were watching in HD on a big screen, that is :-D )

  • Ralphie @ August 4th, 2009 at 9:05 am

    Splitter was nasty! It is also probably the worst pitch on the elbow.

  • Tom @ August 4th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Can we make him the closer now?

  • Sriram @ August 4th, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Splitter, change, something in between, whatever it is, I think there’s one thing we can say for sure – that pitch is going to make a lot of major league hitters look incredibly foolish.

  • Dave H @ August 4th, 2009 at 10:09 am

    Watching his grip on the splitter (which definitely moved like a splitter), he was holding it like a circle change. Starting from his crazy velocity, there’s a number of grips that probably move very differently than if it was Eddie Guardado using the same grip. I couldn’t see the grip on his slider, but it certainly moved and had the velocity of a curve.

  • Craig @ August 4th, 2009 at 11:08 am

    Eric Nadel is adorable.

  • Roundup of Neftali Feliz reviews from last night @ August 4th, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    [...] Evan Grant has some comments from teammates on Feliz. [...]

  • Tom @ August 4th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Feliz reminded me of a young Mariano Rivera when he first came up with the Yankees – very, very smooth delivery and high heat – setting up a wicker cutter to finish off many batters.

    Rivera debuted in the league in 1995 as a starting pitcher, but found success after being converted to a reliever role in the bullpen. After a breakthrough year in 1996 as a setup man, he became the Yankees’ closer in 1997 and has maintained that role for the team ever since.

  • Now Pitching For The Texas Rangers… « Bus Leagues Baseball @ August 4th, 2009 at 11:17 pm

    [...] throw really, really hard these days, but Feliz seemed to evoke a different feeling than most during his major league debut on Monday.  The 21-year-old Dominican came on to start the sixth inning with the Rangers leading, 1-0, and [...]