https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/6/3/18644512/mvp-machine-how-houston-astros-became-great-scouting
The whole story is worth a read, but the anecdote about Pressly makes me wonder about all the guys who’ve pitched so much better since leaving here
thanks for sharing. depressing to read considering our organizational makeup, but a great look at how the best do it.
with pressly, the yankees did a very similar thing with brandon mccarthy, telling him to throw more cutters, less fastballs. he was great for them. with nathan eovaldi, they taught him a splitter, and then they tweaked his grip to get a different look at the splitter/have it drop more, then he took off (and got hurt). stuff like that is super interesting because organizations approach coaching so differently. we aren't the only team who has DFA'd or traded a guy who then gets tweaked and turns into a stud.
With the Astros’ edge in the draft shrinking, the front office refocused its efforts on an area where the frontier wasn’t so settled. “Working for Jeff, there is always a culture of innovation and searching for the next thing that could perhaps improve us,” Mejdal says. “There’s no problem with bad ideas and false alarms. And so that culture probably led us to focus on player development.”
This is what I feel this organization lacks.