Trial By Fire
Dave · March 7, 2009 at 1:50 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Phillippe Aumont, pitching in relief for Team Canada in their opener against the U.S. in the WBC today:
P Aumont relieved C Leroux.
D Pedroia doubled to deep right.
J Rollins reached on infield single to third.
D Pedroia to third, J Rollins to second on wild pitch by P Aumont.
C Jones walked.
D Wright lined out to shortstop.
K Youkilis struck out swinging.
C Granderson struck out swinging.
Aumont loads the bases without reitiring anyone, then stares at David Wright, Kevin Youkilis, and Curtis Granderson – three legitimate MLB all-stars. A line drive and a couple of strikeouts later and he leaves without giving up a run.
Welcome to big time baseball, kid. Nice job.
8 swinging strikes in 25 pitches. Great, great pitching. I’m actually watching that inning again right now.
Canadian Roy Halladay?
JJ Putz = AWFUL
Interviewer to Adam Dunn, “What was this atmosphere like?”
AD: “It’s like a playoff atmosphere, even though I’ve never been in the playoffs.”
USA wins and Aumont pitches nasty to some great major league hitters.
Perfect.
This is maybe a bad comparison at this point, but I see a lot of Brandon Webb in Aumont. I could see him being a 75% sinking fastball guy that mixes a change against lefties and curve against righties and gets 10% swinging strikes.
Or is it too early to make this kind of comparison?
That was the only inning I was rooting for Canada. He pitched really well against those final three batters. His fastball looked really good.
So I haven’t heard all that much about Aumont’s health this spring, but given that he’s playing for Canada in the WBC and actually seeing game action, I think we can assume he’s throwing without discomfort.
This is excellent news.
And Canada probably isn’t advancing, so he won’t get overused, and that’s good news too.
The movement is just filthy on his pitches. Command and Control still need work but given his age and the level of competition it was nice to see him do so well. Good composure on the mound. I worry about the delivery it seems really stiff, but I’m no pitching physiological expert so not sure if I’m just crazy.
David Wrights “line out” was a floater that was 1/2 an inch from being a broken bat. It was not a hard hit ball.
First time seeing anything that Aumont has done at all, and I’m very, very happy the M’s have this guy in their minor league system. He made Jimmy Rollins look absolutely silly at the plate. His curveball is just plain nasty.
If/when he gets his control, he’s gonna be an absolute beast. He’s a bigger guy than I had realized too.
Both strikeout pitches were simply wicked. Of course, I saw Ryan Anderson pitch four lovely innings at Safeco once, so I worry more about health than stuff.
“He’s a bigger guy than I had realized too”
I was thinking the same thing. He has a big strong body to go with his length.
The kid was pumped also. Good to see a ton of passion out of him.
oh, Donkey.
Ichiro was pumped, too. Once they actually play these WBC games, the players’ competitive instincts really take over. People like playing for their country, even if it’s in a “Classic” that is all of three years’ old. I was at the Mexico-South Africa game in Scottsdale in 2006 and it felt like you were at a World Cup soccer event with all the Mexican fans going absolutely nuts. Totally fun.
Rollins’ hit shoulda been caught by Teahan too. But, he looked amazing for only being in A ball.
That trade keeps looking better and better. I didn’t have much confidence in Putz’ comeback. I’m glad Z found somewhere to ship him.
Head for head trade: Washburn to Wisconsin for Aumont. We’ll get a real pitcher, and Wash won’t miss fishin’ season.
JJ looked shaky at best, the velocity on his fastball is really down. He needs his 97-98mph fastball to setup his splitter effectively. Getting Gutierrez and Carp alone was a steal for trading Putz.
For those of us who foolishly missed it, the game’s being re-run at 10 tonight on ESPN2.
Felix on the mound now for Venezuela. He looks svelte. On the other hand, if Carlos Silva has lost weight before, he appeared to have found it.
From the NY Times:
Phillippe Aumont, an overpowering Class A pitcher in the Seattle system, retired David Wright, Youkilis and Curtis Granderson on a pop out and two strikeouts to escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam.
Russell Martin, the veteran catcher who homered off Scot Shields and doubled off Putz, calmed Aumont at the mound by telling him in French to have fun.
“I’m still young, and they’re aware of that,†said Aumont, who is 20. “But today I proved that I can do something special, and I hope that this is going to ring a bell somewhere.â€
I was going to suggest the nickname, “Roi Philippe,” but a 20 year old who is calling out the Ms front office probably can do without that kind of moniker.
Still, nice to see an Ms farmhand succeed so well so early.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/phillippe-aumont-dazzles-against-team-usa/
Mfan4life-
we also sent away Reed Green and Valbuena. I like the trade too but you’re miscasting it a bit.
Also I don’t think Putz looked shaky necessarily (though he certainly wasn’t the guy I remember from 07). Remember, many of these guys are taking it easy – Felix is throwing mostly fastballs (per usual) and all but one of then are about 94 when he should be sitting at 95-96 and touching 98 regularly (at least that’s what I’m used to seeing from him early in the seasom).
I’m not reading any more into these performances than I’m reading into Bedard’s ST starts.
Fangraphs has a post up about Aumont’s “dazzling” debut, complete with PitchFX data (and graphs, natch): “As far as first impressions go, Aumont pretty much nailed it.”
And it’s not even written by Dave.
The velocity separation and movement graphs are, indeed, pretty damn impressive.
It was pretty impressive watching him get out of that situation. Though during the inning I found myself imagining the M’s defense behind Aumont and deciding that bases loaded, nobody out wouldn’t have happened. Pedroia’s ball was hit pretty well but Ichiro! is just a shade quicker than Matty Stairs and might have been able to turn that double into a single by cutting it off. Meanwhile, Beltre almost assuredly makes the play on the Rollins single.
I hope no one is thinking that people commenting on performances in these games are doing anything but just expressing impressions. These are baseball games and to me that is all they need in order to be worth discussing. I will stop and watch eight year olds playing on elementary school playgrounds because I enjoy watching baseball. The WBC games are significantly more enjoyable because they’re played at a higher, albeit by no means midseason, level. Watching any Mariner (even the Burger) perform well is a good thing because I’m a fan of the Mariners. But it’s like I once said about Willie Bloomquist: if he makes the hit that wins the game for the M’s I’ll cheer him even if I wouldn’t want him on the team in a more objective sense. But it was kind of fun being able to see Mariners playing essentially all day long (from 2:30 am to 8pm) with only a break for sleep.
Kenji went 3 for 4 with a HR. I hope that he returns to form and that (for the sake of the contract) last year was an anomaly. So far, the WBC has been great for the Mariners Org. and fans. I mean, look at the wonders it has done for Washburn, who, finally relieved of the burden that is Kenji, has finally gotten his chance to shine…oh, wait a minute.
Headline in the NY Times?
“Mets’ New Setup Man Preserves Win for U.S.”
And it makes a big deal of the playoff atmosphere (“it was the loudest crowd Putz said he had ever heard” and “Dustin Pedroia, who has won a World Series for the Boston Red Sox, said the atmosphere felt the way it does in October” and according to Dunn, “This is the best experience I’ve ever had in baseball, and it’s only one game.” )
But buried way down in the piece is their account of our man of the moment:
I think he can consider that bell rung.
Assuming Clement finds his batting stroke and sticks behind the plate, he might want to put conversational French on his to-do list for the off-season.
(BTW, if you want to read the article and don’t want to bother with the NYT login, just google the title of the piece and then click through on the first result)
Yeah, too bad ESPN felt like Aumont’s inning was not worth showing again as they “skipped forward” due to time constraints.
“I’m still young, and they’re aware of that,†said Aumont, who is 20. “But today I proved that I can do something special, and I hope that this is going to ring a bell somewhere.â€
It seems to me that the bell-ringing statement could be a not-so-veiled comment about a certain oh-so-obvious opening at closer on the big club.
TIF-
I know! I was watching the replay too. That seriously pissed me off. I was waiting for that damn inning!
That is pretty amazing. It would be almost like showing the game where DiMaggio’s 56-game streak ended but not showing the innings where Keltner made his plays on him. One-run game and you don’t show the bases loaded no-out jam that almost broke it open. ESPN, we in Seattle will always remember you fondly.
Aumont has pitched one season of A ball. Single A. It doesn’t matter what openings might be available on the big league team right now: one inning in the WBC, no matter how impressive, does not usher him into a job in the majors. He may indeed zoom through the minor system this year, but why rush him? Is this season really the one where you think you should be burning up the team’s best prospects in a frantic bid to try to win it all? Last season he pitched 52 innings; do you really want to raise his IP count by 50% (70+ being what a closer sees in a good year)? And in any case why would you want to waste a fantastic arm as a closer? Wouldn’t he be far more valuable as an ace starter? Felix, Morrow, Aumont… that’s the kernel of a young, killer rotation.
Aumont looked great when he settled down but did anybody else see Darvish pitch for the Japanese Team?
WOW.
That kid has some sick, sick, stuff.
I was really impressed by his performance, however I hope in no way that people will now start to pine for him in the big league bullpen if things start to get a bit shakey. This guy has the talent to be in the rotation – but not for a few years.
I have never seen him pitch before and I too am impressed at his size. I have seen pitchers of him before and he looked a bit bean-stalk like, but now he has filled out a bit more and sure has mound presence.
It was the first of him I have seen this spring, and he did look to me like he has lost weight since last year.
I was also very impressed with Aumont. If he starts the season in the rotation at, say, AA, then maybe we will see him in September in a callup.
PhiPhi Le Pew!
Do not come wiz me to ze SafeCo Field – we shall make beautiful musicks togezzer right here! (kiss kiss kiss)
With Morrow moving to the rotation, the Ms should replace Morrow with Aumont in the pen.
No way… the pre-free agency years are just too valuable to be wasted in the pen on a losing team. Keep him in the minors until he proves he doesn’t have anything else to learn down there. (like they should’ve done with Morrow as well)
Kind of makes up for Halman’s 0-4 w/ 4 strikeouts against the DR…
With the holes in Halman’s swing, that isn’t at all surprising.
5 star talent my ass.
Meanwhile, Doyle just went yard for the second time tonight against Mexico in Mexico City. Australia 11, Mexico 7 in the top of the seventh.
Yeah, too bad ESPN felt like Aumont’s inning was not worth showing again as they “skipped forward†due to time constraints.
Yeah, I was pretty pissed. It’s midnight on Saturday — what the hell are you in such a rush to show?
The scores in most of the WBC games have been a bit ridiculous. But I guess that’s what happens with hard (and low) pitch counts — when somebody is shutting guys down you can’t ride him as long as you’d like, and odds are the next guy is going to give up some runs.
LOL… i just read the PePe quotes on “Ringing the Bell”! That totally sounds like something PePe Le Pew would say. You just have to read it in a French accent.
And it should be “PePe” instead of “PhiPhi” as I just noticed the extra “PE” on the back of his name.
When he does make it up we need to be in the stands wearing berets and holding pictures of PePe Le Pew.
and why aren’t we able to see THIS game?
well, those of us too cheap to buy the fancy schmancy cable.
An outfielder who gets to the ball slowly and then makes a “spectacular diving catch” is actually less valuable than a player who always runs a good route and gets to the ball in plenty of time. We all agree on this, no?
So how is this any different? Getting out of a bases-loaded jam is important, sure, but not loading up the bases is important too. It is much more important. Over any pitcher’s career he’ll obviously give up more runs with the bases loaded and no outs than with the bases empty. Duh.
I’m not saying I hate the guy. I just want to see more, and better, from him before I get all breathless.
For everyone that missed it, I screen capped Aumont’s inning from the MLB.tv stream and uploaded it here. You’ll probably need Quicktime to watch it, YMMV.
I’ll leave it up there until either a) you guys use up all my bandwidth, or b) I get a C&D from someone. (So don’t go blabbing the link to everyone you know….)
scotje, thanks that was awsome