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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Here Comes Gandalf (Chris Tillman) To Save The Day!
Tonight the Orioles' #1 starting pitching prospect Chris Tillman debuts against the Royals. He joins fellow rookie starters Brad Bergesen, David Hernandez, and Jason Berken in the rotation hopefully through the end of this season and beyond. Like Gandalf, he will lead the charge that will eventually wipe out the evil armies of the AL East with some nasty curveballs and 94 MPH heat.
Here are his AAA stats:
18 games started, 8-6 (W-L), 2.70 ERA, 96.2 IP (5.1 Innings/start), 99 Ks, 22 BBs, 1.15 WHIP.
Erik Bedard Erik Shmedard. Gimme Tillman, Jones and George Sherill any day. Hail MacPhail!
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Isn't that innings per start stat something to be concerned about? Last year the MLB avg. innings/start was 5.81 (http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=mlbdk2k9_30qyankees), Tillman this year is 5.1 and career 5.04. Endurance/efficiency issues or developmental pitch count restriction?
ReplyDeleteInnings/start is not something of concern. Teams limit the pitch count of prospects, as you mention, which inherently limits innings pitched.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, triple-A teams are holding a parade because they avoid the Tillman buzz saw.
It would worry me if he were 25. As a 21 year old, I'm happy to see a prized arm treated with kiddie gloves. Experience and the weight room will allow him to be more efficient, and last longer.
ReplyDeleteHe's never pitched more than 140 innings. Better to work him there slowly.
Still more bearish than bullish on this team long-term, I'm afraid, if only because of the division they play in. When you have guys like Joba and Hughes who are just asy oung as the O's big 3 for all intensive purposes but already cruising at the big league level, and then have the third best prospect in the sport in Jesus Montero, you barely have an advantage on say the Yankees in the young players department. Add Zach McCallister and Austin Jackson to that mix with Arodys Vizcaino and Manny Banuelos and you may have no advantage at all and less depth in the farms. they'll add superstars year in and year out to boot...
ReplyDeleteWhen Upton, Longoria, Zobrist, Brignac, Beckham, Garza, Price, Davis Niemann, Jennings, and Shields are all young, you're looking at a team with a core just as young, containing more potential superstars, and even deeper.
When the Red Sox are the Yankees lite and have Westmoreland, Buchholz, Bowden, Lester, Anderson, Bard and Casey Kelly, you have a farm system even with the big 3 that is inferior to Boston's, as ranked by BA and BP even before adding in Buchholz and Lester to the equation.
Markakis is nice, but he's quickly running out of time to become an elite bat as the power never seems to take the jump...he's a lesser Bobby Abreu type at this point with less speed and is about a year from the age where guys rarely make large improvements as players.
Adam Jones seems like a 290/360/475 guy, his great start to this season notwithstanding...a B+ version of Sizemore.
Wieters HAS to be the guy that dominates for this team to have a chance to contend...he probably will. He has to...
The sad thing is they've done a lot right, but at a time when their competitiors do just as much right, it will take another wave of this talent.
Look at it this way...the Rays did just as well or even better player development wise with even better prospects. it took 5 years of maturation plus a down year from their nearest competitors to even make the playoffs once (things look grim this year). The Orioles aren't even there yet. Depressing, but analytically speaking, this is just scratching the surface. it took the Os a while to get into this mess...it will take a while to get out.
Your prospects ain't shit compared to Daniel fuckin Bard.
ReplyDeleteYou heard it here first. Papelbon is out, Bard is in, and is a top 3 closer in the game in three years. Watch it happen.
Easy cheese regularly touches 99, never less than 96, literally. (on nights when the gun is RIGHT, 102 on "juiced nights" which we all know happen now and again.) A filthy, hard curve with lateral motion, and a devastating change. Struggled with control in the past, has looked phenomenal thus far in his first year in the bigs. Is practically our setup man right now after 20 games.
11 K/9. Sub 1.00 whip.
downside: looks like napoleon dynamite.