Kyle Heckathorn - Forgotten Prospect?

[Jose Cardenal1]

After seeing Heckathorn's good 3IP spot start last night in place of a late scratch Chris Naverson it made me take a look at his season so far.

 

First, overall he now sports a very solid 3.15 ERA in 60IP and also has a very nice 2.31 GO/AO ratio. A closer look reveals that he really has been pitching even better almost all year but one awfull outing on April 22nd (5 ER in 0.2 IP) which really masks how good he has been pitching. Without that outing Heckathorn has pitched 59.1 IP with a 2.43 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.

 

Really solid numbers. I am not saying he should be in the discussion of top prospects in the system (which is dissapointing considering the small number of elite prospects in the system and his draft position) but he seems to have fallen off of everyone's radar. I would like to see him get a September call up and would not be suprised to see him in the Brewers bulpen to break camp next year.

[paul253]

I have completely lost faith in the Brewers' handling of their prospects. While Heckathorn has had a solid yard in Nashville in relief I'd bet the Brewers either completely ignore that or promote him and tell him to start games again.

[JohnBriggs12]

I have completely lost faith in the Brewers' handling of their prospects. While Heckathorn has had a solid yard in Nashville in relief I'd bet the Brewers either completely ignore that or promote him and tell him to start games again.

 

 

What have you been watching?? The Brewer rookies are all really doing pretty well. None were top of the line prospects. Heckathorn's obviously put it together this year after having been switched to the pen. Whether one has something to do with the other, who knows? I think he's a pretty good bet to be called up in September to work out of the pen. He just turned 25, still plenty of time for him to have a major league career.

[DHonks]

I'm not sold on Heckathorn. The guy threw BP nearly every outing in A+ and AA. Unless I start reading about his college velocity returning or him developing a second pitch, I won't be sold. Sanchez deserves it more than him

[paul253]

What have you been watching??

 

My comment was half sarcastic (and not a knock on Heckathorn but on Roenecke) but to answer you question I've been watching a Milwaukee team whose manager is being forced to play his young players despite the fact that, in my opinion, he doesn't want to. If Braun weren't suspended and Weeks and Gomez weren't hurt we would not be seeing Davis, Schafer and Gennett playing at all, let alone full time. I've also been watching a Milwaukee team whose manager has no problem flip flopping one of his better pitching prospects (Thornburg) between the rotation and the bullpen despite Thornburg having three very good starts in a row. His reasoning? "I know he has started and had some nice games for us but I don't think you can forget what he did in Triple A. Three or four starts, it's hard to tell on somebody". So apparently the best way to "tell on" somebody as a starter is to move him back to the bullpen. And forget about what he did in the majors. Let's focus on his minor league numbers from earlier on.

[DHonks]

paul, plenty of top pitchers have started out in the bullpen. Thornburg's command looks pretty bad in most outings. He throws strikes, but the catcher's mitt usually moves by a foot.

 

As for Gomez and Braun, we should play them over Davis and Schafer. They're superior players. I'm just glad we have depth now. Gennett vs Weeks has been debated over and over.

 

To think Ron hates rookies is stupid. Yost was great for developing/playing kids. Ron is fine and supportive. Macha was a disaster. I still can't believe he played Hall over Gamel at 3b.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm not sold on Heckathorn. The guy threw BP nearly every outing in A+ and AA. Unless I start reading about his college velocity returning or him developing a second pitch, I won't be sold. Sanchez deserves it more than him

 

His peripherals were not all that bad last year at Huntsville. He kept the ball in the park (7 HR in 119 innings). His K/BB ratio was a respectable 2.32/1. Opponents hit a non-BP .275 off him. I'll admit he did struggle mightily in 2011, but he's certainly made progress since then. He's been looked at through prism of a high draft pick so being average was deemed as a disappointment. But he's been far better than average (.569 OPS against and a paltry .283 SP against) this year staying off the sweet spot on the bat. The walks are a concern for sure. But scouts saw ability in this guy at some point. He's earned a call up and a spot on the 40 man along with Sanchez.

[brewmann04]

I think the guy deserve a shot he has pitched well this season.

[TURBO]

What have you been watching??

 

I've also been watching a Milwaukee team whose manager has no problem flip flopping one of his better pitching prospects (Thornburg) between the rotation and the bullpen despite Thornburg having three very good starts in a row. His reasoning? "I know he has started and had some nice games for us but I don't think you can forget what he did in Triple A. Three or four starts, it's hard to tell on somebody". So apparently the best way to "tell on" somebody as a starter is to move him back to the bullpen. And forget about what he did in the majors. Let's focus on his minor league numbers from earlier on.

 

This infuriates me to no end.

 

A team with no playoff chances what-so-ever has no business taking a young guy like this and moving him back to the bullpen with the success he has been having in the starting rotation.

 

If this is RRR's decision with no input from anyone else, he is even dumber than I originally thought. There is no hope for this doofus, if he remains, we can expect the same nonsense until he finally retires. I have no faith that MA has the stones to fire him, for whatever reason, he continuously gets free passes at being a stupid MLB manager.

[TURBO]

Macha was a disaster. I still can't believe he played Hall over Gamel at 3b.

 

And I still can't believe that RRR played Kotsay over any other outfielder on our roster in that playoff game...

 

[danzig6767]

paul, plenty of top pitchers have started out in the bullpen. Thornburg's command looks pretty bad in most outings. He throws strikes, but the catcher's mitt usually moves by a foot.

 

As for Gomez and Braun, we should play them over Davis and Schafer. They're superior players. I'm just glad we have depth now. Gennett vs Weeks has been debated over and over.

 

To think Ron hates rookies is stupid. Yost was great for developing/playing kids. Ron is fine and supportive. Macha was a disaster. I still can't believe he played Hall over Gamel at 3b.

 

No kidding. There isn't a manager in baseball who would be playing Davis/Schafer over a healthy Braun and Gomez.

 

I wanted to see Weeks benched before he got hurt, but i don't believe that was something just up to Roenicke. Unfortunately Rickie is still in an expensive multi-year deal and thus i'm sure both Melvin/Attanasio wanted to hold out all hope that Weeks would turn things around so as to get some value out of the many millions he's currently getting paid and is owed next year. Kinda like the 2nd half he had last year. Right or wrong, most teams in baseball just hate giving up on players owed a lot of money, especially small market teams.

 

As for Thornburg, i'm pretty much a 100 percent certain that how he's being used based mainly on the health/availability of the veteran starters is being dictated more by the front office than by Roenicke. Once Estrada and Gallardo each came off the DL, they were going to go back into the rotation and in turn impacting Thornburg.

[nate82]

 

 

As for Thornburg, i'm pretty much a 100 percent certain that how he's being used based mainly on the health/availability of the veteran starters is being dictated more by the front office than by Roenicke. Once Estrada and Gallardo each came off the DL, they were going to go back into the rotation and in turn impacting Thornburg.

 

Just about 99.99% of all scouting reports and scouts I have talked to who have seen Thornburg pitch state he is a relief pitcher and not a starter.