Is Ortiz still recovering from injury? Or is he just this bad?

[missionhockey21]

DATE 	OPP 	RESULT 	IP 	H 	R 	ER 	HR 	BB 	SO 	GB 	FB 	BF 	#Pit 	GSc 	Dec. 	Rel. 	ERA*
4/8 	@HOU 	L 2-3 	5.0 	5 	1 	1 	0 	3 	6 	3 	6 	22 	81 	56 	-- 	-- 	1.80
5/1 	@MIL 	L 3-13 	2.0 	7 	6 	6 	1 	1 	1 	6 	3 	15 	58 	18 	L(0-1) 	-- 	9.00
5/7 	LAD 	W 11-3 	5.1 	8 	3 	3 	1 	1 	3 	7 	8 	25 	100 	42 	-- 	-- 	7.30
5/12 	@PHI 	W 7-5 	5.0 	8 	3 	3 	1 	5 	0 	6 	3 	23 	92 	34 	W(1-1) 	-- 	6.75

Now I wasn't expecting a ton but I havent seen much of Ortiz outside of the Angels playoffs and those games I do not recall much. His last start was pretty awful despite only giving up 3 ER's. Very hittable and all around the outside of the strike zone. So what do you all think? Is he just working out the kinks or what?

[CincyRedsFan30]

Just like Milton has looked, Ramon looks unsure of himself IMO. He seems to be very "tight" and trying to force his pitches as opposed to throwing smoothly. I think it has to do with "pitch to contact", which I think might be in the heads of many of our pitchers before they throw every pitch.

[NFLman2033]

actually i think his numbers look better than he does.. like Milton the guy throws up very hitable pitches.. he just hasn't had as many bombs hit on him as milton does

[redsrbetter]

I really have not seen any of our pitchers bring "stuff" to the mound. This is part of the reason why nobody is fooling any hitters. And this is why I am looking forward to seeing Hudson's return. He has stuff and I really thought we were going to see Ortiz's stuff as well. But I have not seen anything but stuff hitting outside of the strike zone and fastballs getting mashed. Every pitcher in this organization has to figure something out. Gullett better help this out soon.

[missionhockey21]

actually i think his numbers look better than he does.. like Milton the guy throws up very hitable pitches.. he just hasn't had as many bombs hit on him as milton does

I agree NFL. And just like Milton, it's been painful to watch him pitch. Talk about watching the hit parade.

[missionhockey21]

I really have not seen any of our pitchers bring "stuff" to the mound. This is part of the reason why nobody is fooling any hitters. And this is why I am looking forward to seeing Hudson's return. He has stuff and I really thought we were going to see Ortiz's stuff as well. But I have not seen anything but stuff hitting outside of the strike zone and fastballs getting mashed. Every pitcher in this organization has to figure something out. Gullett better help this out soon.

I think Harang has brought his stuff to the mound and he gets about as much as he can out of the stuff he does have.

But I agree on Hudson. I am concerned though, an injury on arm like that is never good. It's really a shame he had to face that setback, he could of had a breakout season this year.

[Sea Ray]

I agree NFL. And just like Milton, it's been painful to watch him pitch. Talk about watching the hit parade.

I can never remember a Reds pitching staff from top to bottom as bad as this one. They all throw very hittable pitches. Most of them have trouble falling behind hitters (like Milton did with Pratt last night) and they still walk their fair share. That's not a good combination.

Where did this pitch to contact junk come from? Have you ever heard of such a thing from another organization? I've never even heard of the concept at the little league level. Is what Milton is doing called "pitch to contact"?

Our only hope to avoid a total meltdown year is for Hudson, Hancock and a couple reinforcements from the minors to help out. The guys we've got just aren't very good plain and simple.

Think about how many of our pitchers would even be on another decent (let's say a .500 team) major league roster:

The way I see it seven guys--Coffey, Weber, Ramirez, Weathers, Claussen, Stone and Belisle-- would not even make the 25 man roster.

Wilson, Milton, Graves and Ortiz would be mop up long relievers. Only Mercker, Wagner and Harang would be in roles anywhere near where they are. That's pretty horrible when you think of it like that.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I think the ridiculous "pitch to contact" idea is in the heads in almost all of our pitchers except the pitchers you mentioned. You can see the difference when they take the mound. Mercker, Wagner and Harang seem confident and seem to trust in their stuff more, and as a result, they have more success.

Milton, Wilson and Ortiz seem very tight and seem to be forcing many of their pitches. They don't seem to throw inside much and are either wild or right up and over the plate.

[bipster]

I think Milton along with a bevy of relievers has taken this pitch to contact theme a little to literal. Maybe for them, we can change it to pitch to minimal contact or something like that