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Knudson: Why Matt Purke Should Ignore the Advice

By Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
June 3, 2011

Before the season began, it was a foregone conclusion that TCU lefthander Matt Purke would dominate college baseball again and then be drafted by a major league team in the first five picks of the MLB Draft, which happens next week.

Things change. Purke has not dominated much of anything this spring and right now, it’s no certainty that he’ll be drafted in the first round at all.

Because he’s missed a lot of time this season with minor injuries and because he needs a good deal of work on his delivery and pitching mechanics in a teaching environment, Purke should do the smart thing and eschew this draft and return to TCU for his junior year in 2012.

Big league scouts that saw Purke pitch in the Mountain West Baseball Championship in San Diego last week were not overly impressed. Many left the game after watching him throw just a single inning. His velocity was not near what it was a year ago and while his unorthodox delivery makes him difficult to hit, it also makes it difficult for him to find a consistent release point and throw strikes.

The Texas Rangers drafted Purke out of high school on his potential by in the first round two years ago. But now, after two years of high-level college baseball, it’s not as much about potential anymore as it is about performance. From that standpoint, Purke hasn’t progressed from last year to this year. And his potential is now more in doubt.

Someone (probably named Scott Boras, but I have no way of confirming that) “advised” Purke last summer to shut it down after the Frogs left Omaha. So he didn’t play any summer ball in Cape Cod or anywhere else and reportedly didn’t do much throwing when TCU was doing fall drills, either. The “advice” he got to save his precious arm and not risk injury by pitching more was remarkably bad advice.

Ever hear the term “use it or lose it?” That is very true in baseball.

Does a golfer – any golfer – get better by not playing golf? Pitching is a lot like golf: Pitchers are striving for a consistent repeatable delivery that is much like a consistent repeatable golf swing - smooth, fluid and almost effortless. If a golfer or a pitcher has to labor with their motions, they’re doing it wrong. Watch Matt Purke pitch now; he is laboring.

So by not pitching between the end of the 2010 season and the start of training for the 2011 season, Purke damaged himself. He over rested and under prepared.

He has a chance to undo that damage by returning to TCU for his junior season. When this season ends for TCU - no matter when it ends - Purke should head to the Cape Cod league and get in some work in what amounts to a college all-star league. Then, after a month or so off, he should go through TCU fall drills and continue to work on refining his delivery and finding the consistency that’s missing right now.

Then, when TCU begins spring drills next January, Purke should be able to pick up right where he left off the previous October. And when the Frogs open that 2012 season, we should see the Matt Purke we all expected to see this past spring. When that season is over, if Purke gets back to doing things the way he did them in 2010, his draft stock will have soared once again and he’ll be that much closer to the major leagues and the real money that comes with it.

A funny thing can happen to an athlete when it becomes all about the money. You can lose focus on just playing the game and improving. Sure, you want to avoid injury so you can maximize your value, but you still have to go out and compete. In Purke’s case, he hasn’t competed much this season. If he signs with the team that drafts him next week, babying and overprotecting that million-dollar arm will have cost him millions.
See all of Mark Knudson's blog entries HERE.