Prospect Pitching Performance of the Year to Date
Jay Yencich · May 5, 2010 at 7:20 am · Filed Under Mariners, Minor Leagues
RHP Michael Pineda, last night at Huntsville:
7.0 IP, 4 H, 11/1 K/BB, 2/6 G/F, eleven of last twelve retired in order
The Huntsville offense ranks fourth in the league right now in OPS, walks drawn, runs, and RBI. Pineda tore them apart.
Be cautiously exuberant.
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I know this doesn’t help our offense any. Quiet, you.
I wonder how quickly or slowly they will move him along?
With the arm issues last year, I think they might leave him in West Tenn all season.
Jay,
What do you think is best for Pineda’s development as far as promotions are concerned? I know there has been some talk among people suggesting he spend most of the year in West Tenn and then compete out of spring training for a bullpen job to control his innings. My only problem with that is I hate the idea of putting him in the bullpen for any reason otherwise he may end up like Neftali Feliz and never start. We’ve already heard from the M’s brass about how Aumont’s stuff “plays up in the pen” and I could see that happening again here. I would think it would be best to spend most of the year in West Tenn and start next year in Tacoma and dominate at that level thus when he is called up to the M’s he can be ready to be a mainstay in the M’s rotation. What do you think?
Oh yeah, and Ackley hit his first professional HR last night too.
Jay-
If he stays in West Tenn all year this year, does that mean he’s probably not in the Seattle rotation next year?
Also, Luke French is posting some tiny numbers in Tacoma. Is he dominating down there, or just getting lucky? He’s giving up a lot of hits, but not a lot of home runs, or runs.
Also, is there a catcher in the whole system who knows 1) how to move his feet when catching to block the ball, 2)how to hit and 3) how to actually catch the ball?
Very important. Liddi also went 4-for-6. It was a great game all around for the D-Jaxx, save for the fact that Paredes didn’t pitch all that well.
I’d prefer to regard Aumont as a bit of an isolated incident. I know that he’s been spectacular in the rotation so far, but the elbow and the hip thing (perhaps) provided enough incentive for the M’s to regard him as a potential reliever.
The thing is, the M’s had Pineda come up in the bullpen during spring training and I don’t remember anyone suggesting that he become a reliever from that point forward. It’s weird to think that we’re now in a position where not every pitching prospect that comes through the system is our closer of the future.
Given that Pineda has only topped 120 IP once, and then had trouble the next year, what I’d like to see out of him is a full year of being healthy and pitching in double-A, and after that I would say that it could be feasible for him to pitch relief for the M’s in ’11. I’m not endorsing that approach, mind you, but the new administration, with its emphasis on versatility, may be more receptive to the long relief -> rotation move than having guys know what their roles are and cling to them for dear life. The only trick would be making the right moves so that Pineda doesn’t somehow become indispensable in the bullpen. That may have been part of the problem in the Bavasi years; we perceived those areas as being “fixed” and didn’t really have that long-term vision in mind.
If that makes you too uncomfortable, you could stash him away in Tacoma for at least a half season and then closely monitor his innings from there. I’d say that Pineda is proving he’s one of the better pitchers in the organization right now, but trying to balance that against the potential injury risk complicates matters.
Not necessarily. I don’t know the organization stance on promoting prospects directly from double-A, other than it used to be that a player had to spend two or three full years in Tacoma before they’d even consider giving them a job (rimshot). It’s not impossible. Shawn Kelley was given a job with all of 77.1 innings of minor league experience.
I mentioned his latest wacky start in the wrap on Monday, an effort that had him allow only one run in seven innings despite ten hits and five walks against two Ks. His strikeouts are down, his hits are way up, and despite that awesome-looking ERA of 1.41, he’s running a FIP of 3.72 and a tRA of 4.34. Other pitchers we aren’t talking about right now are doing better than that. Right now, I don’t see any justifiable reason to get excited about French. The components are getting worse, not better.
Nope! I’m not even on the Guillermo Quiroz bandwagon, as he’s been a good hitter in double-A forever now, with diminishing returns for triple-A and the MLB. I’d say he’s the most likely one though. The Alfonzo/Bard tandem in Tacoma is not hitting at all.
This is terrible. I mean, all you have to do as a MLB catcher is hit .220, and be able to put your body in front of a ball. Stop trying to make backhand picks to your right, guys. You’re not Adrian Beltre or Casey Kotchman. You’re catchers, wearing the tools of ignorance. Use them.