- It's amazing how good Washington's offense can make pitchers look. Let me preface these comments by saying I am a big Todd Wellemeyer fan and thought he was destined for good things once he came up with the Cubbies. However, he may have pitched over his head last season. He sat in the low 90's with a moving 2-seam fastball, featured a high 70's to mid 80's slider and a solid average changeup in the low 80's. In my mind, these were 3 average big league pitches. His command has shockingly advanced to the point where he can do this (if you would have seen him when he came up, you would be shocked too). I thought that he was a # 3, but after this outing, I think he is a back-end starter for a contender and a middle guy for a non-contender. Still a very useful pitcher, just not a guy who will likely be posting a sub 4 ERA again.
- Jordan Zimmermann is legit. He throws 2 types of fastballs, a 4-seamer in the low to mid 90's (92-95) and a 2-seamer with some excellent fade and sink and features primarily to LH's (87-89). Zimmermann also features 2 breaking pitches, a mid 80's slider and a high 70's to low 80's power curve. He is currently developing a changeup (I am 100 % convinced that we are charting his 2-seamer as his change right now, as his change in spring training was at 79, not 88), but even without it he profiles fairly well as, at worst, a middle of the rotation starter. This was the 2nd time I have charted an outing of his and my opinion hasn't changed. He will develop into a # 2 starter at worst. I feel his two breaking pitches complement his fastball very well and if he ever develops a changeup, you may be looking at an All-Star. Zimmermann's main issue right now is an inability to keep the ball down (especially the fastball), which leads to gopher balls. Very clean mechanics out of a high 3/4 release point. He works very fast and seems to do all the little things you like to see pitchers do.
- Jason Motte is a fastball, slider, splitter pitcher. The problem is that only one of these pitches is plus (a mid to high 90's fastball). I was a huge fan (even picked him as my ROY as I thought the Cards would do well and he would get the saves), but he isn't yet ready to be a closer. His slider is in the high 80's, but doesn't have a ton of break to it. His splitter moves like a hanging changeup in the mid 80's, which is probably a bad thing. However, he is very advanced when you remember he only started pitching in 2006 after being a catcher.
- Blaine Boyer should be solid. I like him and thought that the Cardinals got the better end of the trade. Boyer features a low 90's fastball, a mid 80's cutter (which he has developed this season) and a high 70's overhand curveball that serves as his out pitch. Solid middle reliever to have in a pen as long as he isn't overused.
- Logan Kensing is Exhibit A on why pitchers shouldn't be rushed to the majors. He features a low to mid 90's fastball and a low 80's slider. The only problem is that this is what he was when he got his first promotion in 2004 at 22 and after being drafted in 2003. Not saying he could have developed a 3rd pitch to be that starter some people thought he might be, but he never exactly got the opportunity either. Is Rick VandenHurk destined for the same fate?
- Saul Rivera was one of the most durable relievers for the last couple of years. He still features a nice repetoire of a high 80's to low 90's 2-seam fastball, a mid to high 80's cutter and a low to mid 80's slider, but it appears Manny Acta and the Nationals brass has lost confidence in him for the time being (and well deserved, as he had a very rough April). I think he will end up being okay the rest of the way.
- Joel Hanrahan is a very talented closer. Too bad he won't get many save chances. The fact Julian Tavarez is now closing games ahead of him is a very reactionary move in my opinion. Hanrahan fired 10 pitches, 10 strikes, with his mid to high 90's heater and mid to high 80's slider and retired the only 3 hitters he faced. A team like the Nats (who lets face it, aren't going to be competing) don't need to be devaluing their own assets for possible trades through these types of manuevers.
- Tyler Greene has apparently made it to the big leagues. The former 1st round pick out of Georgia Tech was an offensive shortstop coming out, but he stopped hitting in AA. He was off to a .280-.400-.408 start in the PCL (Heaven for Hitters is it's other name) to get the call-up, but he will likely get a chance to keep building up his AAA numbers. He has a good frame (6-2, 180) that can add a lot more muscle. The issue with that is that he is already only an average defensive SS from what I have read and if he keeps adding muscle he will need to move to 3rd to counteract the loss of range. He doesn't have the stick for third. He has a fairly straight up, open stance with a little bat wiggle in his set-up. Swing is a little long and struggled to hit both fastballs and off-speed stuff from the Nationals staff.
- The best hitter to watch is (shocker) Sir (If Sidney Ponson can be knighted, he should be too) Albert Pujols. I imagine this is what it was like to see guys like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in their primes. Pujols can hit anything and hit it hard. After getting 2 straight hard hits off Zimmermann, Jesus Flores did not call a single 4-seam fastball, choosing instead to attack with sliders and 2-seamers. The funny part? Flores set up (for every one of the pitches in this AB and the AB's after that) about 6 inches off the outside corner. The Nats pitchers kept missing the spot and kept putting these pitches on the outside corner and Albert had some fun.
- The Nationals lineup was fairly unimpressive. Cristian Guzman is a 9 hole hitter (or 2 hole if he keeps his current streak up) hitting 1st. Nick Johnson, Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn are legitimate hitters. Elijah Dukes is a 6th or 7th hitter, at this stage of his career, hitting 5th and being asked to help carry the offense. Jesus Flores is another of those who should be hitting 6th or 7th. Willie Harris and Anderson Hernandez should be bench players.
- Consider this a prediction of things to come (and you can see it starting to come to fruition), but after OBP and defense have been exhausted of means of getting the most bang for your buck, I look for the ability to play multiple positions start to be capitalized on more. I can forsee multiple super-utility players being available on 1 team and giving managers a lot of options for lineups and substitutions in-game. I can also see platooning come back into focus. If I were a GM of a small-market team, I would invest primarily in the draft and try and fill holes with lefty-righty combos at positions of weakness, as you can find good platoon players for about a million dollars (at most) each.
Got the Houston-Atlanta score at 340.
Went into work early to try and get the FLA-CHC chart (a lot of young pitchers throwing that I would like to see) but we were assigned charts. I may take this game home after my score (b/c it's Saturday night and I have no life) and let you know what I think of pitchers like Graham Taylor, Hayden Penn as a reliever, Burke Badenhop, Jeff Samardzija and David Patton.
