Time for a Little Offseason Fun - Build Your Dream Pitcher

[ucahogfan]

With it being the offseason for college baseball, but the big league season is in full swing, I thought it would be fun to build a dream pitcher.  The rules are as follows:

-  The player must be in the pros right now whether it be the MLB, the minors, Japan, etc.
-  You can select 5 pitches, but you must include a fastball, a changeup, a curveball, and a slider.  The 5th pitch can be a bonus pitch such as a splitter or another change or another breaking ball.
-  You can select the pitcher's frame you want your pitcher to have.
-  You can select a pitcher who has the command you want to see in your dream pitcher.

If the rules are unclean, please let me know.

Here I go:

Pitcher Build - Clayton Kershaw - At 6-3, 225, Kershaw has the build I like to see out of a pitcher.  He isn't short, but isn't too tall either.  He can shoulder a huge load of innings each season and be the ace of the staff.

Fastball - Craig Kimbrel - Touching 100 with movement.  Good luck with that.  There is a reason he is the most dominant closer in the game.

Curveball - Clayton Kershaw - Public Enemy #1 had to make my list.

Slider - Jose Fernandez - I don't know if you could call it a slider, but whatever it is is beyond filthy.  Just unhittable and might be the best pitch in the game right now.

Changeup - Felix Hernandez - Something he has added over the years.  It isn't your typical change that drops in velo from his fastball, but the movement he has on it at 88-90 is just unfair.  Right up there for best pitch in the game right now IMO.

5th Pitch - Masahiro Tanaka's Splitter - Another pitch that I would consider giving an 80 grade to.  Hitters know it is coming and they still struggle to get a bat on it.  Hasn't given up a HR with it since the first time he threw it in the MLB.

Command - Cliff Lee - He is fun to watch move the ball in and out and hit spots.  Rarely walks hitters as well.

Enjoy!

[Big Nasty 34]

Dream pitcher
Build: Adam Wainwright. 6-7 235. Seeing a 6-7 guy on a raised mound is one of the more intimidating sights in baseball. Adam is also very athletic and fields his position well.

FB: Aroldis Chapmen- no reasoning needed here.
CB: Adam Wainwright- has had one of the consensus best breaking balls for years now.
CH: Chris Sale- Gotta have a lefty's change and Sale has one of the best!
SL: Yu Darvish- Yu is quickly becoming one of the dominant pitchers in the game, and that is thanks in part to his slide piece.
KN: RA Dickey- The best knuckleball in the game has to be my 5th pitch. It can give people fits!

Command: Adam Wainwright- he rarely walks guys and throws a ton of innings.

My dream pitcher would throw 100+ and then float in a nasty upper 70s knuckleball. Not to mention the knee buckling breaking pitches!

[razorJAcker]

My pitcher would look a lot like uca's.  He'd be a righty.

Pitcher build:  Adam Wainwright - 6'7'' is definitely intimidating out there on the mound and you want a big guy who can be durable.

EDIT:  After doing some thinking, I think I've found a flaw in this brilliant plan.  I've decided to change my pitcher build to Craig Kimbrel.  Here's why:  One of the things that makes Kimbrel's fastball so good is his release point.  He is a short dude at 5-11 and he gets extremely low in his drive to the plate in his delivery so that the ball seems to rise as it nears the plate.  If my pitcher had Wainwright's build, the release point on the fastball would be nearly a foot higher and the pitch would lose effectiveness.  Kimbrel's tree trunk legs eliminate any worry about durability and he has never been hurt in his career (knock on wood).

Fastball:  Craig Kimbrel - For a while it could be considered the best pitch in the game.  Mid to upper 90's with serious run.

Curveball:  Clayton Kershaw - Probably the best pitch in the game.  Nearly unhittable when he's spotting it.

Slider:  Jose Fernandez - IMO the nastiest looking pitch in the game.  He buckles my knees just watching it.  Has insane bite to it.

Changeup:  Stephen Strasburg - Struggled with this one because I'm not sure there's a truly dominant changeup in the game.  I debated for a while between Strasburg and Hernandez.  For the sake of not completely copying uca's pitcher I went with Strasburg.  He tends to overthrow it but when he throws it right it has tremendous movement.

5th Pitch:  Jonny Venters Sinker - I've never seen anybody else able to throw it 95+ and still have so much sink to it.  There's a few pitches here in these highlights, notably at 1:01, that show what I'm talking about. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG-metCcMgk

I like the idea of having Kimbrel's fastball running horizontally, and then being able to throw the Venters sinker at almost the same velocity, dropping vertically.

Pitcher Command:  Cliff Lee - Strikes, strikes, strikes.  I want this guy to be able to attack the zone early and often so he can get late into games.  Pitch to contact.  With this array of pitches, if they hit it, they ain't hittin' it hard.

[Baseball Hog]

Build: Matt Moore. A lot of love on here for the big guys, I'm not one to love those guys.  Rarely do you see a 6'7" drive off the mound with enough umph to really rip a breaking ball.  A 6'3" lefty is a perfect pitcher build for me.  I like Moore's lower body a little more than Kershaw.

Fastball: Kelvin Herrera.  Fastball is out of this world.  80/80.

Curveball: Barry Zito.  Looks like it's in the net when he releases it.  Best curve of this generation IMO.

Slider: Chris Sale.  Just dirty.  Can't hit it if it's located.

Change: Cole Hamels.  Tough to pick what changeup to use because Cole Hamels' change is going to be 20 mph less than Herrera's fastball.  But if we're saying everything BUT velocity, I want Hamels'.  If you want your kid to learn to throw a change, get video of Hamels.

Extra: Sinker: Tim Hudson.  Want a ground ball?  Call up Timmy.

Command: David Price.  Nothing to say here.

[A_R_K_A_N_S_A_S]

Good stuff. Nice thread.