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Heath Bell will pitch the way Heath Bell feels like it

OlerudOwned May 28 2006 07:57 PM

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060528&content_id=1476259&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym Bell returns to old style: Heath Bell considers 2005 a wasted season. The Mets reliever is back to pitching his way and he'll accept whatever consequences come from that decision. The Mets tinkered with Bell's pitching mechanics after the 2004 season -- lengthening his stride in an effort to make his delivery smoother. As Bell says bluntly, "It didn't work." His earned run average ballooned from 3.36 in '04 to 5.65 last season. "I've always pitched with a short stride," he said. "That's what feels comfortable for me." Bell, who came into pro baseball as an undrafted free agent, said the experiment likely never would have happened had he been more of a touted prospect. "If I was a first rounder, they probably would have said, 'That's just the way he pitches. Leave him alone.' But because I was an undrafted guy, it was easy to begin experimenting with me." In Bell's mind, the change in mechanics went so poorly that it almost cost him a chance to continue as a Major Leaguer. And it emboldened him to go back to the way he knows how to pitch. "I've decided to learn from other people but also listen to myself," he said. "I'm willing to accept whatever happens now that I feel comfortable on the mound again." Bell said he usually throws in the 90-95 mph range, but can reach back and hit 96-97 if the occasion warrants. In the Minors, playing for Norfolk in a closing role, he said he would "put everything on the table for one inning." Now, with the Mets, he is more likely to be used in middle relief, where he could go three innings or more at a clip. Bell was promoted to the Mets on May 24, after an earlier five-day stint with the club. He's only pitched 4 2/3 innings and he believes his 5.79 ERA will come down markedly over time. "I'm not saying I pace myself," he said of his new role. "But you learn to turn it up a notch when you have to." ---------------------------------------------------------------- His last two outings have been good as far as not allowing runs, but he has been putting runners on base. 3 walks and a hit in 2.2 IP vs. PHI on Thursday and 4 hits and a walk in 2.2 IP today. His fastball still looks electric and there's no doubt in my mind he can fill the Jorge Julio role. But will he be able to advance past that or is he going to wind up a AAAA-type guy. The Hardball Times [url=http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/daily-graphing-heath-bell/]studied[/url] him over the winter and came to the conlusion that his lack of success in the majors last season was due to an uncommon ratio of batted balls going for hits, and added that a repeat performance would be unlikely. But sure enough, it's happening again this season. Is it a flaw, or bad luck?

MFS62 May 28 2006 08:05 PM

Gee, isn't there another pitcher in the Mets bullpen who was screwed around with until they allowed him to go back to his old, successful, style? Aaron something? Later

Edgy DC May 28 2006 08:37 PM

Do we know who changed Heilman's delivery and when? If the data's conclusion is correct, it was ill fortune as much as ill mechanics that left Bell with an unimpressive ERA.

Frayed Knot May 28 2006 09:55 PM

]But sure enough, it's happening again this season. Is it a flaw, or bad luck? Is it happening again? Remember that the theory is that it's the number of balls becoming hits as a pct of balls-put-into-play that is mostly due to chance. Those walks in the last few outings (plus any HRs) wouldn't enter into that. In any case, his 2006 data is still too small a sample size to draw any conclusions I think.

OlerudOwned May 28 2006 10:10 PM

="Frayed Knot"] ]But sure enough, it's happening again this season. Is it a flaw, or bad luck? Is it happening again? Remember that the theory is that it's the number of balls becoming hits as a pct of balls-put-into-play that is mostly due to chance. Those walks in the last few outings (plus any HRs) wouldn't enter into that. In any case, his 2006 data is still too small a sample size to draw any conclusions I think. It's happening again because he gave up a few hits today and there was no discussion going on here today. So I'm a tad impatient.

TheOldMole May 28 2006 10:16 PM

Heath Bell's cousin is Drake Bell, of Drake and Josh, which will mean something to you if you have someone under ten in your family.

OlerudOwned May 28 2006 10:17 PM

You're kidding, right. Right? please?

A Boy Named Seo May 28 2006 10:34 PM

Drake has to be the cool, designer shirt-wearing, Fender Stratocaster-wielding, smirk that makes the 14-year old girls swoon, young Jason Bateman look-alike, no? Not the poor, chubby, bowl-haircutted, disheveled flannel-wearing, no-more-than-friends-to-the-girls, goofy, sidekick Josh, right?

TheOldMole May 29 2006 02:58 PM

Yep. that's Drake. And no, I'm not kidding.