posted on Sunday, July 09, 2006 2:24 AM
by
Jim
Midseason Review: Neal Cotts
| W-L | ERA | IP | H
| R
| ER | BB | K
| SV | SvOp |
1-2
| 2.95 | 36.2
| 30 | 12
| 12
| 10
| 30 | 1 | 3 |
Something nice: After a breakout year in 2005, Neal Cotts has proved himself as the real deal. He's improved his control, is striking out enough batters and has stopped giving up the gopher ball as of late.
Must improve: His performance against righties. Last year, he held them to a line of .155/.288/.209. This year, they're .272/.330/.457 against him. Matt Thornton has been more effective in non-match-up situations, and Cotts is better than that.
Three best games April 30
After a shaky start to his season, Cotts is back to form by the end of the month, and is able to provide Bobby Jenks a rest by nailing down a 1-2-3 ninth for his first major-league save.
May 14Cotts cleans up Cliff Politte's mess against Minnesota when he enters the ballgame with two on and one out and retires both men he faced, and then pitches into the next inning as well.
June 13This time, Cotts enters the game in a jam created by Jon Garland -- runners on second and third, one out in the sixth inning and Mark Teixeira at the plate. Cotts fans Teixeira, then gets Hank Blalock to ground out weakly to third to end the threat.
Three worst gamesApril 14Cotts surpasses his home runs allowed total from last year by throwing his second gopher ball to Troy Glaus. He allowed four hits and two runs in an inning of work as his ERA tops out at 6.35.
May 21To be fair to Neal, he should've been out of the inning when Juan Uribe threw away a double play ball that would've ended the inning. Then he should've been out of the inning when Rob Mackowiak misplayed a Michael Barrett flyball into a triple. But the subsequent homer to Jacque Jones -- who entered the game 1-for-19 off southpaws -- was inexcusable.
June 9
Ozzie Guillen calls on Cotts to retire Travis Hafner with two outs and two on. Instead, Pronk hits a three-run homer. Kinda predictable, if you were there.
Grades
Arm: B
Cotts' velocity and movement are the same as last year, and he should be an effective reliever for the foreseeable future.
Head: B-He's left some pitches up in some big situations as has already been mentioned, and that's why he's allowed five times as many homers as he did all last year. The league's getting used to him, and now he's re-adjusting.
Awards
Fireman of the Week,
April 30-May 6Fireman of the Week,
April 23-29