Welcome Jimmy Nelson to the Bigs

[torts]

The Brewers have called up right-hander Jimmy Nelson, manager Ron Roenicke told reporters (including MLB.com's Adam McCalvy). Nelson, a second-rounder from the 2010 draft, has been a starter for the last three seasons but the Crew will use him as a reliever. MLB.com ranked Nelson as the top prospect in the Brewers system and the 88th-best prospect overall, saying that the 24-year-old has "a heavy fastball that elicits ground balls and sits in the low 90s." Nelson posted a 3.25 ERA, 9.6 K/9 and 2.51 K/BB rate in 27 starts at Double-A and Triple-A this season, though he didn't perform quite as well at Triple-A. Since he's being called up at this late date in the season, Nelson won't gain Super Two status and will be under team control through 2019.

 

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/09/top-prospect-promotions-billy-hamilton-erik-johnson-.html

[djoctagone]

with the purchasing of nelson's contract, the 40-man roster is now full.

[jerichoholicninja]

Before the inevitable complaining of WHY ARE THEY MAKING HIM A RELIEVER!?!?!?! remember that this happens every year with prospect starters in every organization in September.

[bork]

He is also 25 innings over his total from last year, so I imagine they are watching his innings.

[brewmann04]

He be piggy back with Hellweig who won't go more than 4 Innings with his wildness.

[reillymcshane]

I like Nelson a lot. He wasn't great at AAA, but was decent. He's simply walking too many guys. But his walk rate at Nashville was excellent. And the guy doesn't get killed by HRs. He's given up 23 over 450+ innings in his minor league career. At AAA this year he gave up only 2 HR in 83 innings. That's pretty awesome. His splits weren't outrageous either - righties hitting him for a .610 OPS while lefties hit him for a .731 clip.

 

The guy is a groundball pitcher, so the team's defense will be a very important element to his success (same goes for Hellweg).

 

I like him to be in our rotation. Maybe even by next year. Unfortunately, we'll probably 'go for it' next season, and sign someone like Arroyo, and thus block our young pitchers.

 

I'd rather give jobs to Hellweg and Nelson and see how they pan out over a full season (sort of like with Peralta this year). Of course, it probably means tossing in the towel for 2014 as the young guys adjust to the big leagues, but I'm okay with that as I don't think we have much of a chance next year.

[torts]

I like Nelson a lot. He wasn't great at AAA, but was decent. He's simply walking too many guys. But his walk rate at Nashville was excellent. And the guy doesn't get killed by HRs. He's given up 23 over 450+ innings in his minor league career. At AAA this year he gave up only 2 HR in 83 innings. That's pretty awesome. His splits weren't outrageous either - righties hitting him for a .610 OPS while lefties hit him for a .731 clip.

 

The guy is a groundball pitcher, so the team's defense will be a very important element to his success (same goes for Hellweg).

 

I like him to be in our rotation. Maybe even by next year. Unfortunately, we'll probably 'go for it' next season, and sign someone like Arroyo, and thus block our young pitchers.

 

I'd rather give jobs to Hellweg and Nelson and see how they pan out over a full season (sort of like with Peralta this year). Of course, it probably means tossing in the towel for 2014 as the young guys adjust to the big leagues, but I'm okay with that as I don't think we have much of a chance next year.

 

2 HR in 80 innings in the PCL is pretty impressive

[dacbrewers]

Congrats Jimmy, if any deserves a call up it's you!

[The stache]

Welcome to Milwaukee, Jimmy! I sent him a big congrats on Twitter, too.

[torts]

I was hoping he was going to pitch in one of the pirates games since those are the only games I get to watch on TV all season... probably better to throw him at the cubs instead though

[JohnBriggs12]

The walks are a concern. Big league hitters will be more patient too. He'll undoubtedly have a learning curve but like Peralta, Hellweg, and Thornburg, he's another guy with a big league arm. When's the last time the Brewers could boast of a foursome of young pitching like that? If somehow 3 of those 4 turn into solid major league starters over the next year or two, that's something to get excited about.

[reillymcshane]

The walks are a concern. Big league hitters will be more patient too. He'll undoubtedly have a learning curve but like Peralta, Hellweg, and Thornburg, he's another guy with a big league arm. When's the last time the Brewers could boast of a foursome of young pitching like that? If somehow 3 of those 4 turn into solid major league starters over the next year or two, that's something to get excited about.

If 3 out of 4 of these guys become a quality big league starter, the Brewers would be ecstatic.

 

Top 100 rated pitchers generally fail 75% of the time as a starter. And successful ones can often take time (often years) to reach their potential. Many will go on to be effective relievers, but you're lucky if 1 in 4 of the guys becomes a quality starter.

 

It's why you need so many pitching prospects. Guys simply don't cut it as big league starters. Some are injured. Some take time to get there. Others just don't have the stuff and/or command needed.

 

I'm not counting out three of the guys succeeding as a starter - but historically, the odds are against it.

[bork]

At least Nelson has shown the ability to throw strikes. The last two years, he started off with low walk numbers, but then struggled a bit when he was promoted.

[gregmag]

I haven't gotten to see Nelson pitch, but I assume he works low in the zone. Presumably the walks result in part from his trying to adjust that approach as he reaches a new level. Also, as much as I hate walks, they're somewhat less harmful to the scoreboard with a groundball / low-HR guy. They still ratchet up the pitch count, though.

 

I'm excited about Nelson. I think they'll need to be patient with him at the beginning, but he does a lot of things right.

[RightFieldCoder]

If somehow 3 of those 4 turn into solid major league starters over the next year or two, that's something to get excited about.

This is the Brewers franchise. I would be shocked if one managed one good year while in the blue and gold.

[reillymcshane]

I haven't gotten to see Nelson pitch, but I assume he works low in the zone. Presumably the walks result in part from his trying to adjust that approach as he reaches a new level. Also, as much as I hate walks, they're somewhat less harmful to the scoreboard with a groundball / low-HR guy. They still ratchet up the pitch count, though.

 

I'm excited about Nelson. I think they'll need to be patient with him at the beginning, but he does a lot of things right.

I think you pretty much nailed it. Nelson's walk rate has spiked as he's adjusted to the PCL. Not a shocker. That he's kept his HRs low is fantastic, and that he had a great walk rate at AA is a good sign. It also might mean he needs a little more time at AAA to sharpen up his game, but we'll see.

 

Nelson does generate a lot of ground balls. Hellweg even more so. And I think Jungmann does as well. Since none of these guys is considered a stud pitcher, having a better defense would really help them. We have just been atrocious this year. For all the struggles of Peralta, another ground ball oriented pitcher, our defense deserves some of he blame. Especially the infield. The range on A-Ram, Weeks, Francisco and Yuni has awful. Not to mention all the errors.

[jjgott]

But he was compared to Suppan when he was drafted, thus any praise is instantly invalid.

[FVBrewerFan]

The walks are a concern. Big league hitters will be more patient too. He'll undoubtedly have a learning curve but like Peralta, Hellweg, and Thornburg, he's another guy with a big league arm. When's the last time the Brewers could boast of a foursome of young pitching like that? If somehow 3 of those 4 turn into solid major league starters over the next year or two, that's something to get excited about.

If 3 out of 4 of these guys become a quality big league starter, the Brewers would be ecstatic.

 

Depends what you mean by "quality" of course, but this franchise needs 1 or 2 of these guys to be better than "quality" pitchers, they need a stud or two. If Yo and Lohse are the #3 and #4 guys in the rotation, that's when you know this team will be a true contender.

 

The history of the Brewers tells us that isn't likely to happen, but maybe it's just the law of averages that says at some point the stars align and a top of the rotation pitcher or two can be developed from within?

[Mass Haas]

Via Jim Owczarski of OnMilwaukee --

 

Nelson ready to compete for starting role

[Mass Haas]

Nice job here by blogger Jason Arndt - Nelson follows dream to Milwaukee

[monty57]

Good read. Thanks Mass.

 

I like Nelson and it's good that we have a group of pitchers getting near MLB ready. They'll get some more "seasoning" this year between AAA and the majors. I think we'll make some trades mid-season (Gallardo, Lohse, Ramirez) and will have a decent amount of free cash going into next season. Guys like Nelson, Hellweg, Peralta, Thornburg, etc along with our young position players (Segura, Davis, Gindl, Gennett, etc) and some good talent from the trades will hopefully be a solid group of pre-arby players that will help us turn us into a younger, cheaper, but still exciting team as early as 2015.

 

Hopefully guys like Nelson, who got a taste of the bigs last year will be able to take what they learned back to AAA, elevate their game a notch or two, and be ready when their opportunity comes. It'll be here soon.

[fondybrewfan]

Of all our young pitchers I have always liked Nelson the best (Other than Peralta). I believe he has the best stuff in the group and outside of a BB issue last year for a time he has been great. I understand that Thornburg is probably the favorite to land that 5th spot but if Doug swings a trade with one of our starters I would hesitate to plug Nelson in there. I am very confident in him; he probably will never be an all star but he certainly can be above league average.

[sheetskout]

Of all our young pitchers I have always liked Nelson the best (Other than Peralta). I believe he has the best stuff in the group and outside of a BB issue last year for a time he has been great. I understand that Thornburg is probably the favorite to land that 5th spot but if Doug swings a trade with one of our starters I would hesitate to plug Nelson in there. I am very confident in him; he probably will never be an all star but he certainly can be above league average.

 

 

If I had to put money on it now, negating service-time considerations, I would bet Nelson beats Thornburg for that spot out of Spring Training. Even thought they both have some command issues, he is less likely to struggle with that early on IMO.

[Mass Haas]

Prospect Q&A: Nelson stays flexible

In any inning, Brewers top prospect will be ready to pitch

By Kelsie Heneghan / MiLB.com