{"id":1431,"date":"2011-05-23T11:26:49","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T15:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2011-05-23T11:26:49","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T15:26:49","slug":"minor-league-rotations-cycle-8-goodbadinconclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=1431","title":{"rendered":"Minor League Rotations Cycle #8: good\/bad\/inconclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1477\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/miloneTom-Tom-PriddyFour-Seam-ImagesMiLB.com_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1477\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1477\" title=\"Milone, Tom 7096(Priddy).jpg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/miloneTom-Tom-PriddyFour-Seam-ImagesMiLB.com_1-300x226.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/miloneTom-Tom-PriddyFour-Seam-ImagesMiLB.com_1-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/miloneTom-Tom-PriddyFour-Seam-ImagesMiLB.com_1.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1477\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Milone keeps putting up sterling numbers in AAA.  Photo: Tom Priddy\/Four Seam images via milb.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Here are the daily links from NationalsProspects, for reference below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/wednesdays-news-notes-5\/\">Tuesday 5\/17 game reviews<\/a> (Stammen, Martis, Demny, Grace)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/thursdays-news-notes-5\/\">Wednesday 5\/18 game reviews<\/a> (Maya, Harrisburg rained out, Bronson, Applebee)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/fridays-news-notes-5\/\">Thursday 5\/19 game reviews<\/a> (Detwiler, OPerez, Rosenbaum, Cole)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/saturdays-news-notes-6\/\">Friday 5\/20 game reviews<\/a> (Meyers, Harrisburg rain out, Clegg, Ray)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/sundays-news-notes-7\/\">Saturday 5\/21 game reviews<\/a> (Milone, Peacock, Holder, Hansen)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Good<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As much as I thought the Nats should have parted ways with <strong>Shairon Martis<\/strong>, you have to give him props for his 5\/17 outing: 7IP 3H 0R 1BB 5K.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paul Applebee<\/strong> got the &#8220;suspended start&#8221; on 5\/18, actually finishing the game that Grace really started the day before, and went 4\u2153 6H 1R 1ER 0BB 1K for the victory.\u00a0 He scattered 6 hits effectively enough to get his 4th victory on the season.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oliver Perez<\/strong> dominated in his first Harrisburg start on 5\/19: 5+ IP 1H 1R 0ER 2BB 3K.\u00a0 As one would expect for a former <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/perezol01.shtml\">15-game MLB<\/a> winner.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mitchell Clegg<\/strong> put in his second good outing in a row for Potomac on 5\/20, putting in 7 effective innings for the win.\u00a0 Line: 7IP 4H 1R 1ER 2BB 2K.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Robbie Ray<\/strong> show continues in Hagerstown, as he finally gave up a run but still threw 6 great innings on 5\/20.\u00a0 Line: 6IP 7H 2R 1ER 0BB 4K.\u00a0 Selik got promoted after 5 great starts in a row; is it possible that the same could happen with Ray?<\/li>\n<li>Another fantastic outing for <strong>Tom Milone<\/strong> for Syracuse on 5\/21: 7IP 3H 0R 0BB 9K.\u00a0\u00a0 This walk-less outing now gives Milone <a href=\"http:\/\/web.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=t552&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=543548\">44 Ks and THREE walks<\/a> in 43 1\/3 innings on the year.\u00a0 In fact, if his one blow-up start was removed from his stats, he&#8217;d have a 2.26 ERA and a 0.85 whip.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Brad Peacock<\/strong> show continued in Harrisburg on 5\/21: 6IP 1H 1R 1ER 2BB 10K 1HR.\u00a0 One hit through six complete to go with 10ks.\u00a0\u00a0 Milb.com is now making Peacock&#8217;s starts required attendance, with <a href=\"http:\/\/web.minorleaguebaseball.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20110521&amp;content_id=19370052&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;vkey=news_milb&amp;partnerId=rss_was\">this story<\/a> showing up yesterday.\u00a0 Peacock&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&amp;did=milb&amp;cid=547\">ridiculous numbers<\/a> on the season?\u00a0\u00a0 66ks and 9 walks in 48 1\/3 innings, a 0.83 whip and a 2.05 era.\u00a0 These numbers dwarf what Meyers had before he earned his promotion.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bobby Hansen<\/strong> gave Hagerstown another quality start on 5\/21, but his bullpen conspired to cost him a victory.\u00a0 Line: 6IP 5H 2R 2ER 2BB 6K.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bad<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ross Detwiler<\/strong> was lit up in the first and left in for 5 yet was rewarded with a &#8220;win&#8221; for his work on 5\/19.\u00a0 Line: 5IP 5H 4R 4ER 4BB 3K.\u00a0 What is going on with Detwiler?\u00a0 He now has an <a href=\"http:\/\/web.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&amp;cid=552&amp;stn=true&amp;sid=t552\">ERA above 5.00<\/a> and a WHIP in the 1.66 range on the season and has more or less gotten hammered in 3 of his last 4 starts.\u00a0 Is he hurt?<\/li>\n<li>In another example of why W\/L records are meaningless as indicators of a pitcher&#8217;s value, <strong>Denny Rosenbaum<\/strong> got lit up in his 5\/19 start: 5\u2154 IP 7H 6R 6ER 4BB 4K.\u00a0 Yet, because his team hit SIX homers on the day, he got a victory as Potomac out-slugged Frederick 14-6.<\/li>\n<li>See my last point: <strong>Trevor Holder<\/strong> had a meltdown start but still got the victory in Potomac on 5\/21: 5\u2153 IP 7H 5R 5ER 0BB 6K.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mediocre\/Inconclusive<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Craig Stammen<\/strong> had a ho-hum quality start on 5\/17: 6IP 9H 3R 3ER 0BB 7K.\u00a0 I guess i&#8217;m just expecting more out of a guy with 38 major league starts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paul Demny <\/strong>had enough walks and baserunners to turn his quality start into a relatively mediocre outing for me.\u00a0 Perhaps i&#8217;m a harsh judge.\u00a0 Final line on 5\/17: 6IP 5H 2R 2ER 3BB 4K.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Matt Grace<\/strong> was struggling on 5\/17 before his start got called after 3 innings.\u00a0 His abbreviated line: 3IP 5H 2R 2ER 1BB 3K.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Yunesky Maya<\/strong> was plagued by the &#8220;one big inning&#8221; syndrome that plagued him in September of last year, giving up 3 runs in the first and then shutting down Norfolk on 5\/18.\u00a0 Line: 6\u2153 IP 4H 3R 3ER 1BB 2K 1HR.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After the first inning, Maya didn&#8217;t give up another hit, retired 13 straight, then got inexplicably yanked after giving up a one-out single in the 7th when he was sitting on just 71 pitches.\u00a0 How do you judge such an outing?\u00a0 5 no-hit and nearly perfect innings, and one inning with 4 hits and a 2-run homer.\u00a0 Its officially &#8220;inconclusive.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Spot Starter <strong>Evan Bronson<\/strong> had a mediocre-teetering-on-bad outing on 5\/18 in Potomac: 3\u2154 IP 5H 2R 2ER 3BB 1K 1HR.\u00a0 That&#8217;s 8 baserunners in less than 4 innings.\u00a0 Amazingly he only gave up 2 runs despite all these baserunners.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AJ Cole<\/strong> got touched up for 5 runs in 4 innings on 5\/19, but showed flashes of dominance with 5Ks.\u00a0 Final line: 4IP 6H 5R 2ER 0BB 5K.\u00a0 He gave up 4 of the 5 runs in a messy 2nd inning where he threw a wild 3rd-strike pitch to allow on a punch-out victim, then gave up a 2-run double one play after an inning-ending error by his shortstop let in another run.\u00a0\u00a0 He did get a 1-2-3 4th inning, for what that&#8217;s worth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brad Meyers<\/strong> didn&#8217;t have the worst possible outing on 5\/20, but getting touched up for two homers is never a good thing.\u00a0 Line: 5\u2153 IP 7H 3R 3ER 0BB 3K 2HR.\u00a0 The two homers were enough to give him a ND on the night.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Relievers of Note and other Thoughts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A few <a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/catching-up-on-transactions-9\/\">pitcher moves<\/a> were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masnsports.com\/byron_kerr\/2011\/05\/former-mets-leftie-oliver-perez-activated-to-double-a-harrisburg.html\">announced <\/a>at the beginning of this cycle: <strong>Ryan Tatusko<\/strong> returned to Harrisburg, <strong>Ryan Mattheus<\/strong> rightfully earning a promotion from AA-&gt;AAA, and the enigmatic <strong>Oliver Perez<\/strong> reporting for duty in Harrisburg.\u00a0 Tatusko clearly didn&#8217;t merit the promotion and seemed destined to return; most are calling the transaction a &#8220;paper promotion&#8221; to allow Harrisburg to do some roster maintenance w\/o having to DL someone.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Perez will slot right into the open rotation spot in AA and at age 30 will be nearly the oldest pitcher in the league.<\/li>\n<li>Who is making way in the Harrisburg rotation?\u00a0 I thought Perez would be taking <strong>Roark<\/strong>&#8216;s place but apparently not.\u00a0 Tatusko&#8217;s spot was skipped but we havn&#8217;t seen him out of the bullpen yet &#8230;<\/li>\n<li>New Harrisburg closer <strong>Pat McCoy<\/strong> has had a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=519003\">string of sub-par outings<\/a> lately, including a 4-run implosion to blow a game in which Martis had pitched pretty well.\u00a0 This was apparently enough to <a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/2011\/05\/transaction-update\/\">put McCoy onto the DL<\/a>.\u00a0 Are we close to seeing Potomac&#8217;s <strong>Patrick Lehman<\/strong> moved up?\u00a0 Perhaps not for a bit because&#8230;.<\/li>\n<li>Potomac made a bunch more moves on <a href=\"http:\/\/web.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?t=l_trn&amp;lid=122&amp;sid=l122\">5\/17-5\/18<\/a>, putting <strong>Cameron Selik<\/strong> and Lehman on the 7-day DL.\u00a0 Replacing them was <strong>Rafael Martin<\/strong> and <strong>Hector Nelo<\/strong>.\u00a0 Martin&#8217;s assignment is a bit curious; he was after all a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=514669\">AA all star in 2010<\/a> for Harrisburg and pitched pretty well there.\u00a0 He&#8217;s 27 and is way too old for high-A ball; my guess is that he&#8217;s promoted up to replace McCoy as Harrisburg&#8217;s closer.\u00a0 Nelo <a href=\"http:\/\/www.federalbaseball.com\/2011\/5\/18\/2177189\/washington-nationals-minor-leagues-the-week-that-was-down-on-the-farm\">got dumped<\/a> by Texas in April and we picked him up; he&#8217;s been stuck in A-ball within the Texas organization for 3 years.\u00a0 He&#8217;s got good <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/minors\/player.cgi?id=nelo--001hec\">k\/9 numbers<\/a> but pretty bad ERAs over the past two seasons.\u00a0 Lets see what he can do.\u00a0 Meanwhile there&#8217;s no word on what Selik&#8217;s injury is; he&#8217;s had two sub-par outings thus far in high-A and the team needs a rotation spot (in theory) for <strong>Sammy Solis<\/strong>, so perhaps this is just administrative use of the DL for the next week or so.<\/li>\n<li>(copied this point from my MLB rotation review pending post): <strong>Brian Broderick<\/strong>&#8216;s DFA was dated 5\/14, and teams have 10 days  to finalize that assignment.\u00a0 We&#8217;ve heard no word on possible  negotiations with St. Louis to keep Broderick up to this point, and odds  are that no other team would claim him at this point (any claim would  mean the claiming team would ALSO have to keep the Rule5 draftee on  their active roster for the duration of the season).\u00a0 I wonder if he&#8217;s  about to be returned outright to St. Louis.<\/li>\n<li>Lastly, on 5\/21 <strong>Christopher McKenzie<\/strong> and <strong>Chad Jenkins<\/strong> were &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/web.minorleaguebaseball.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?t=l_trn&amp;lid=116&amp;sid=l116\">demoted<\/a>&#8221; from Hagerstown to extended spring.\u00a0 McKenzie struggled badly (though his final outing was good) in 6 starts, posting more walks than strikeouts.\u00a0 Jenkins was similarly wild out of the pen.\u00a0 I&#8217;m guessing both guys catch on with the Short-A squad for another shot at career redemption.\u00a0 Both guys were middle round draft picks out of JuCo and earned some bonus money, but seemingly would be expendable if outperformed by the next draft class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Trends<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have only included the starter trends for those that are actually in the rotations right now.\u00a0 I honestly don&#8217;t know who the 5th starter is in Potomac right now; I&#8217;ve been assuming Solis will be activated from the DL to take the spot.\u00a0 Perhaps it will be Bronson or Frias.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll see; i think the spot comes up in two games.<\/p>\n<p>AAA trends (in rotation order)<br \/>\nMaya\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0bad,soso,soso,good,great,good,soso,soso<br \/>\nDetwiler\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,good,soso,soso,bad,soso,bad,bad<br \/>\nMeyers\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,good,soso<br \/>\nMilone\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,soso,soso,bad,great,good,great<br \/>\nStammen\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,soso,great,bad,soso,good,soso<\/p>\n<p>AA Trends:<br \/>\nMartis \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0bad,bad,soso,soso,good<br \/>\nOPerez\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0great<br \/>\nPeacock\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,good,great,good,very good,bad,great,great<br \/>\nRoark\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0bad<br \/>\nArneson\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso<\/p>\n<p>High-A Trends:<br \/>\nRosenbaum\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,good,good,soso,good,good,soso,bad<br \/>\nClegg\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,soso,soso,unbelievably bad,soso,good,good<br \/>\nHolder\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,bad,bad,soso,soso,soso,good,bad<br \/>\nDemny\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,bad,good,good,soso,soso<\/p>\n<p>Low-A Trends:<br \/>\nJordan\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,soso,good,good-&gt;dl,soso,soso<br \/>\nGrace\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,bad,bad,bad,good,soso,soso,soso<br \/>\nCole\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,soso<br \/>\nRay\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0great,great,good<br \/>\nHansen\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,good,very bad,very good,soso,soso,good,good<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top 3 starters deserving promotion<\/strong>: Peacock, Milone, Ray<br \/>\n<strong>Top 3 starters whose jobs are in jeopardy<\/strong>: Detwiler, Holder, Grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are the daily links from NationalsProspects, for reference below: Tuesday 5\/17 game reviews (Stammen, Martis, Demny, Grace) Wednesday 5\/18 game reviews (Maya, Harrisburg rained out, Bronson, Applebee) Thursday 5\/19 game reviews (Detwiler, OPerez, Rosenbaum, Cole) Friday 5\/20 game reviews (Meyers, Harrisburg rain out, Clegg, Ray) Saturday 5\/21 game reviews (Milone, Peacock, Holder, Hansen) Good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minorspitching","category-minorleaguerotationreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1502,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/1502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}