Ryan Wagner: Drafted in June, Majors by July

[colbyjack]

cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/N...p&c_id=cin

 

The Cincinnati Reds have called up their first round draft pick from last month, Ryan Wagner. They aggresively placed him at AA after signing, bumped him up to AAA after a few outings, and now he in the big leagues. It will interesting to see how this young man handles the pressure from being bounced up so quickly. He definitely has a major league arm with a filthy fastball-slider 1-2 punch, but obviously it takes a lot more to succeed than a good arm.

[batman]

He actually threw on Saturday, retiring all five hitters he faced. Crazy.

 

Hard-throwing Wagner throws well in debut - ESPN.com

 

Kinda makes you wonder how many college pitchers could fare well at the big league level, no?

 

~Bill

[squarepusher]

He's a reliver tho.... seems weird to spend your first round draft pick on a guy who will never start.

[madbad2000]

He's a reliver tho.... seems weird to spend your first round draft pick on a guy who will never start.

 

Not really....we've spent many first round picks on players that never started....felder, antone, etc.....I'd love to have a lights out reliever than many other first round busts. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[colbyjack]

He's a reliver tho.... seems weird to spend your first round draft pick on a guy who will never start.

 

I agree, but we're seeing a lot of teams drafting projected relievers early. I think a lot of scouting directors will tell you that if they're spending their first rounder on a pitcher, they want a starter & a potential front line starter at that. And, as we all know, most of the best relievers started their pro careers as starters, only to be converted down the road.

 

I do wonder if the Reds had any inclination to try this guy as a starter down the road.

[batman]

I dunno. Particularly for "winning" teams with late-first round selections, I can understand why you would want to grab a very polished reliever who can contribute at the big league level right away. You can always draft starting pitchers in later rounds... by the end of round one, there's not much difference between the pitchers selected then and those selected a round or two later.

 

And because relievers aren't considered first round material by most clubs, you can probably grab the "best" or one of the best available.

 

I'm not completely sold, but it does make some sense. Rather than take a long-term gamble, settle for solid contributions in the short term. You can still build a quality farm system without selecting the high-profile starting pitchers, or at least I would think you could.

 

It's interesting to think about and watching Wagner over the next few months will be very unique.

 

~Bill

[colbyjack]

I have no problem with a winning team that is picking later in the first round to pick up a power reliever like Wagner. In fact, I really don't have a problem with Ryan Wagner at all. I followed the guy all spring long and his numbers were incredibly impressive. No one touched him.

 

And the Reds were being cheap. They signed Wagner quickly for $1.4 million, which is less than the $1.425 million the Giants gave another college closer, Rice's David Aardsma at #22.

 

However, the Reds farm system isn't exactly bursting with talent, and it's obvious their major league team needs starting pitching. 2 players that were still on the board would have made more sense to them than Wagner: Wagner's teammate at Houston, RHP Brad Sullivan and Massachusetts prep RHP Jeff Allison. Again, money was obviously an issue, but I guess I'm confused as to why the Reds won't take a player like one of these guys yet 2 years ago they signed Dane Sardinha & David Espinosa to goofy contracts. Ever since then they've been cheap cheap cheap.

 

As I said before, for all I know the Reds do plan to try Wagner as a starter down the road. I doubt it, because that's the type of thing you try in the minor leagues, not the majors after spending all of a month & probably less than 30 total innings on the farm. I guess I think it makes a lot more sense for the defending National League champion Giants to take a reliever in round 1 (at #22 overall) than the Reds at pick #14.

[Nefaste]

Exactly colby, the kid has a fastball and a sinker, the chances of him developing a third pitch from scratch while in the majors is slim to none. You know that at that age/experience level he's in survival mode, and is just trying to use pitches he's comfortable with to make outs. He's not going to be up there testing out his changeup just to see what happens. And even if they do demote him after a poor start, what have they gained? Probably not much better production than any other average reliever, meanwhile they've started his arby clock. And if he does succeed? Well they've gained a reliever, true, but they've also wasted a valuable asset, a potential starting pitcher with major league stuff already, who could only get better with another pitch and more experience. It's an aggressive move, I'll give them that, but it stinks of publicity stunt. Cincinatti is 43-54, they're not trying to plug in that last piece to make a push for the postseason.

[colbyjack]

From BA:

 

Drafted with the 14th overall pick out of Houston, Wagner will serve as Scott Williamson's setup man but the Reds are already talking about converting the 21-year-old Wagner to the starting rotation next spring.

 

Well whaddya know? As I stated above, if the Reds are indeed thinking about turning him into a starter, doesn't it make more sense to have him learn slowly while stretching out his arm in the minors? I just have a bad feeling that they're going to mess up this young man's career.