Tim Wakefield: Pitching Coach?

As much as I don’t want to, I find myself writing about Bobby ” Eric Gagne” Jenks once again.  Only this time with a positive outlook on things.  Tim Wakefield believes he found a flaw in Bobby Jenks‘ mechanics.  After yesterdays game, Tim Wakefield watched video of Jenks poor outing and feels he saw something that would explain Jenks lack of control.

Wakefield noticed that when Jenks delivered his pitches to home that his head wasn’t squared to the plate.  Instead, Jenks would turn his head slightly towards the dugout.  This would affect Jenks’ release point on his delivery.  Jenks believes that this is the reason he is constantly missing the strike zone.  Maybe this is true.  Jenks’ pitches do have good velocity, he just doesn’t have any command.   He said he is going to go to work right away in his next bullpen session to correct his delivery.

Leave it to Wakefield, the consummate team player, to be more concerned about another teammate rather than himself.

For me, I’m going to take the wait and see approach. I have never been a huge fan of Bobby Jenks in the first place.  I personally don’t want to see Jenks on the mound any time soon until this “flaw” has been corrected.  Seeing is believing.  Go out there and throw a few scoreless outings before you hitch me up to the Bobby Jenks wagon.  As of today, I still view Jenks as a rapidly sinking ship.  One I’m not willing to go down with.

This leads me to a more concerning question.  Does this discovery say more about Tim Wakefield, or pitching coach, Curt Young?  Why didn’t Young catch this 3-4 games ago?  Doesn’t he have access to the same film Wakefield does?  Raises an eyebrow, doesn’t it?

If Wakefield is correct in his assessment and Jenks suddenly turns this around, then maybe Wakefield found a new career path when his playing days are over.  Tim Wakefield-Pitching Coach, has a nice ring to it.

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