Link Report for Sat. 5/22 -- Rogers, Heckathorn Among Evening Starters

[chemist]

As a note for Rogers. His arm is fine it was a blister that broke open in during the 5th inning that led to his early departure from the game.

[Mass Haas]

Thanks for clearing that up for us, chemist. Hopefully Mark will make his next start on time, but at least we'll know why not should it be delayed a day or two.

[HiAndTight]

Thanks for clearing that up for us, chemist. Hopefully Mark will make his next start on time, but at least we'll know why not should it be delayed a day or two.

These types of starts by Rogers are really starting to get me excited about his future prospects.

 

If he can get his walk rate down, he's going to move himself back into the discussion of the top pitching prospects in the game.

 

His LD pct is low, his GB pct for him is pretty respectable. His BABIP is .292, so that's right in line, but his BAA is .234, so he's obviously difficult to hit.

 

I would say if we can gradually build him up to 85-90 on a regular basis and get him 130 innings, next year could be very interesting. I say he starts out starting in AAA, and hopefully if he has the success there he's capable of bring him up like we did Gallardo around August, start him in the BP and as a long man to limit his innings.

[TooLiveBrew]

That is pretty darn exciting, H&T. If you look at his game logs, his BB issues were really worst in his first two starts of the season, and then an outing (4/27) where he got shelled & clearly just wasn't on his game. If you examine the rest of his starts, his BB/9 is a much more respectable 4.13. I know you don't really get to just cherry-pick like that, but if his control has indeed improved from the first two starts like it appears it might have, this could wind up being a huge season for Rogers. Fwiw, since that 4/27 drubbing, his ERA is 2.84 & his K/9 is 6.16.

 

I also think it will be funny, if he keeps progressing & being discussed more, to see how often people give his last name the QB Aaron treatment & misspell it "Rodgers"

[And That]

IIRC, Rogers put together a number of these good starts in 2006 right before he went down with the injuries that ended up costing him '07 and '08. So before the arm problems, he had shown signs of putting it together. That he's showing signs of this for a second time is encouraging.

 

Heckathorn hasn't been getting a lot of attention, but he's been real good early on.