CWH Hot Sheet - April 2012

[CheezWizHed]

Just to do something different from last year's Player of the Month, I figured I'd mimic BA's Hot Sheet instead. No offense to the "older" guys, but I'm mainly focusing on the players that have some prospect status.

 

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Drew Gagnon - Our many thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates for not signing Gagnon back in 2008! Gagnon busts out of the gates this year with a most impressive start with the Rattlers. Gagnon was limited in innings last year at Helena, so I think the 21 year old starting pitcher fell off people's radar last year. But what a way to make people zero in on a the 2011 3rd rounder (maybe Thornburg II?). He gets the #1 spot this month for simply allowing only 2 runs in 28+ innings. His strike-out numbers kind of low (7.9 / 9 IP), but I feel confident that has more with him working on various pitches than a lack of a real strike-out pitch. I expect that to go back up once he progresses.

 

Tyler Thornburg - 28 IP, 1.93ERA, 10.6k/9IP, .857 WHIP, [sarcasm]complete reliever material![/sarcasm]

 

Hiram Burgos - Honestly, I kept trying to bring up reasons to not put him here (repeating A+, 24 years old, very low BABIP). But simply put, he deserves it. 3 ER in 27+ innings and a ridiculous WHIP of .565

 

Jimmy Nelson - Unfortunately, Suppan shows that being compared to him might not be a bad thing. But given that Nelson is showing a sinking 94 MPH FB this year, I'm thinking more of a Jack Morris... 1.76 ERA, 30.2 IP, 9.1K/9, .880 WHIP

 

Chadwin Stang: Ok, I have to admit it. I had to go look to find out who this was. But the 2009 8th round CFer had a great April in the cool Wisconsin weather. 274/371/536/907

 

Khris Davis: Welcome back Khris! After killing A+ ball last year, he was promoted to AA and frankly, fell flat. But, its looking like he might be bouncing back with this April: 333/440/444/884

 

Jed Bradley - Welcome to the Brewers young man! While, he has "cooled" slightly, its only because he started white hot: ERA: 2.79; WHIP: 1.034; BB/9: 1.9; K/9: 8.69

 

T.J. Mittelstaedt: TJ reminds me of Mark Loretta. Kinda old for his level (24) and doesn't scout well, but the guy is flexible on defense and keeps putting up nice lines at the plate: 269/356/487/843

 

Hunter Morris: Here is someone who loves home cooking! A short stint in Huntsville last year where he absolutely killed the ball and now starting this year here: 303/337/485/821

 

 

Cold as Ice!

Tyler Roberts - Catching at Low A ball has been all defense so far this year. Well, given that the catchers are combining for around 400 OPS, they must be awesome defensively, right? Seriously, Roberts (from reading the Link Reports) has been good defensively and oh, so bad on the offensive end. But the 21 year old still has some time to improve on his line of: 184/244/211/454

 

Rafael Neda: The other end of the catching tandem with Roberts: 143/192/184/376

 

Eric Farris: I'm thinking that losing out a MLB spot to Izturis forced Farris into a slump to start the season. Heck, given that circumstance, he is probably hitting well: 225/295/254/548

 

Cody Hawn: Cody has a window here of which he needs to take advantage. He didn't hit particularly well at A-ball, but got promoted anyway. With Nick Ramirez out, Hawn has to solidify himself as someone that deserves consistent ABs. But he starts cold: 195/255/322/577

 

David Goforth: Goforth hasn't pitched particularly bad so far, but given that the 2011 7th round pick out of Ole Miss came in with a high 90's FB, there was some hope that he would move quickly through the system. Its quite possible that he has been working heavily on his secondary pitches (which need work). Because its unexpected that an RP in A-ball with a FB like his would only be striking out 1 batter every 2 IP: 5.11 ERA, 1.378WHIP, 4.7K/9IP

 

 

Who are you?

Casey Medlen - 22 yo reliever with 15 Ks and 1 BB in 10 Innings at Brevard.

Casey was a 2011 37th round draft pick out of University of North Florida. The 6'0" Apopka native was named Fireman of the Year for the State of Florida

 

 

Ch-Ch-Check It Out

Kyle Heckathorn - Like Khris Davis, Heckathorn killed A+ last year, but struggled mightily at AA. And while, he didn't quite make the Hot list this month, I'm liking his WHIP, K/9 and BB/9 rates he is putting up: WHIP 1.094; BB/9 1.6; K/9 8.58

[Tedaldtada]

Jack Morris

 

That is going back a bit.

 

Nice job, CWH.

 

I cannot figure out Khris Davis' role. Is he a starter? Has he been banged up? Why is his playing time so sporadic?

[Mass Haas]

The middle of the Timber Rattlers' order would miss him, but the Brewers could swap out Jason Rogers for Cody Hawn. Rogers is actually older than Hawn, Brevard could use his presence obviously, and Hawn needs to recapture, well, something.

 

Just a reminder to any non-regulars that any reference made to Tyler Thornburg as reliever material only, is a poke in the side of those in the scouting community who have flouted those views.

[CheezWizHed]

That is going back a bit.

 

Unfortunately, so do I...

 

I cannot figure out Khris Davis' role. Is he a starter? Has he been banged up? Why is his playing time so sporadic?

 

He missed several games with some injury (can't remember off the top of my head) and came back as a PH, then part time player. I think he is back to full time in LF. Of course, a weak arm has many speculating if he will stay in LF (in MLB) or shift to 1B.

 

...is a poke in the side of those in the scouting community who have flouted those views.

 

I figured that had reached BF.net meme by now... but I went back and put it in blue anyway.

[HiAndTight]

The middle of the Timber Rattlers' order would miss him, but the Brewers could swap out Jason Rogers for Cody Hawn. Rogers is actually older than Hawn, Brevard could use his presence obviously, and Hawn needs to recapture, well, something.

 

Just a reminder to any non-regulars that any reference made to Tyler Thornburg as reliever material only, is a poke in the side of those in the scouting community who have flouted those views.

 

 

Look, you have to be able to hit at the major league level, or at least handle a bad if you want to be a big league pitcher, and you have to be able to maintain your velocity later on in your outings to be a legit starting pitcher. I mean, you don't have to hit for the cycle, play CF in college when you're not on the mound or anything ridiculous like that, but you have to be athletic.

 

Which to me...means the new "scouting," definition of athletic is 6'6 220. So...clearly TT is NOT athletic.

 

You want athletic. Eric Arnett. There's a future starting pitcher. He's tall AND he sat on the bench for a dominant 7 win Indiana Basketball team. Now THAT is a starting pitcher, not some middle reliever. Now sure, one can't get out of low Rookie ball throwing a fastball above 90 without walking 6 and giving up 5 ER's and the other has some of the best stuff in baseball and is putting up video game numbers in AA and maybe one of our 5 best starting pitchers right now, but he's just not athletic.

 

 

I'd hit the sarcasam text, but it'd just look like 1982 again.