Link Report Tue 5/16, Curtis on Inman: 'Absolute Domination'

[Mass Haas]

Sounds idle Wednesday, other three games under the lights -- new Link Report later on...

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/news/Sports/200605179/

 

Power pitcher impressive

Michael Dailey

Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter

 

Third baseman Ryan Braun was the jewel of the Milwaukee Brewers' 2005 draft.

 

A $2.45 million signing bonus for Braun, the fifth overall pick, drove home that point.

 

But the Brewers may have discovered a hidden gem in the third round with the selection of right-handed pitcher Will Inman.

 

After a sterling rookie season in which he compiled a 6-0 record with a 1.91 ERA while splitting time between Arizona and Helena, Inman has continued to impress this season as the West Virginia Power's most consistent hurler.

 

"He's exceeded our expectations coming into a league like this and literally owning it," said Power pitching coach and former Major Leaguer John Curtis. "His numbers reflect nothing but absolute domination."

 

Inman, a native of Danville, Virginia, continued his dominant professional career Tuesday evening in a 4-3, extra inning Power win over the Augusta GreenJackets at chilly Appalachian Power Park.

 

West Virginia improved to 19-17 with the win, while Augusta slipped to 20-16.

 

While Inman wasn't the pitcher of record, he did pitch impressively in allowing five hits and just one run in five innings of work. He finished with six strikeouts and didn't allow a free pass.

 

So far this season, Inman is 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA, having allowed just three earned runs in 31 innings pitched. Inman has 38 strikeouts and has allowed just three walks this season.

 

"As a model for young pitchers, this is one you want to look at," Curtis said. "He's done wonderfully for us. He's very aggressive, has supreme confidence in himself, and it shows."

 

Inman left Tuesday evening's game with a 3-1 lead, allowing only a fifth inning run on a triple and sacrifice fly.

 

But even with his success on the mound, Inman knows there is plenty of room for improvement on the long road from Charleston to Milwaukee's Miller Park.

 

"This is professional baseball, but it's still just baseball. You learn to play baseball from the time you start playing until you quit playing. You learn something everyday.

 

"You just have to trust your stuff," he said. "You have to trust everything you throw. Even if it's a bad pitch that catches too much of the plate, 70 percent of the time, he's going to hit it right at somebody or get himself out.

 

"Trusting your stuff is very important."

 

But before a pitcher can trust his "stuff", he first has to develop it.

 

That's what Inman has spent this season trying to do.

 

Inman has fairly good control of his fastball, which tops out in the low 90s, and his breaking pitch, which Curtis refers to as a mix between a slider and a curve. However, Inman also knows that with only two pitches, he could be calling West Virginia home for a long time.

 

"It's weird, I'm hit my spots pretty well with the fastball and the curve ball is coming along pretty good, but at the same time, I'm having a horrible time with the change up," Inman said. "It's a pitch that I've never thrown. I'm trying to learn to throw it, and it's something that I have to do to get out of this league."

 

Still Inman knows that until he commands the pitch, he likely isn't going anywhere soon.

 

"I have to throw it to succeed at higher levels of baseball," he said. "It's not about numbers in this league, because you don't want to be here forever. It's about getting to the Major Leagues and putting good numbers up there. To do that, you have to have at least three pitches."

 

The Power was staked to an early lead Tuesday, thanks to a two-out, two-run blast to right center in the first inning, off the bat of third baseman Mat Gamel.

 

Augusta added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game at 3 apiece before catcher Angel Salome plated the winning run with an RBI hit in the bottom of the 10th inning.

 

Salome's hit made a winner of Dane Renkert (3-2), while Augusta's Osiris Matos (1-2) took the loss.

 

Charleston Daily Mail Photo: Tom Hindman

West Virginia Power pitcher Will Inman gave up one run in five innings against Augusta on Tuesday, raising his earned run average to 0.87. He had six strikeouts and no walks.

 

http://www.dailymail.com/images/Inman0517.jpg

[homer]

Mass,

Do you have the line for the one horrendous outing last year where Inman gave up like 5 HR's in one inning? I'd be curious what his minor league totals would be without that one inning.

[Mass Haas]

Mass,

Do you have the line for the one horrendous outing last year where Inman gave up like 5 HR's in one inning? I'd be curious what his minor league totals would be without that one inning.

 

From Mass Haas last fall:

 

Reprinted from a post earlier this week:

 

Now look, if we back out the single worst inning from any pitcher's performance, that pitcher will benefit. But here's what makes the incredible Will Inman even more impressive.

 

July 20th, Ogden, Utah

 

Inman has retired the Raptors 1-2-3 in both the 1st and 2nd innings. Then, in the 3rd, beyond any logical explanation, this happens:

 

Adam Godwin singles on a ground ball to second baseman Kenneth Holmberg.

Rick Taloa homers (2) on a fly ball to center field. Adam Godwin scores.

James McDonald pops out to third baseman Michael Bell in foul territory.

Juan Rivera grounds out, shortstop Ryan Crew to first baseman Ned Yost IV.

Justin Crist homers (1) on a fly ball to right center field.

David Sutherland singles on a line drive to center fielder Charlie Fermaint.

Russell Mitchell homers (9) on a fly ball to left field. David Sutherland scores.

Juan Apodaca homers (8 ) on a fly ball to right field.

B. J. Richmond singles on a line drive to center fielder Charlie Fermaint.

Pitcher Change: Dane Renkert replaces William Inman.

Adam Godwin singles on a line drive to left fielder Darren Ford. B. J. Richmond to 2nd.

Rick Taloa strikes out swinging.

 

One hellacious inning (actually 2/3 of an inning), seven hits, four of them home runs, six earned runs.

 

Now, this is where it gets good --

 

If you take that bottom of the 3rd out of the equation, if you just remove those ten minutes from Will Inman's life, here are his rookie numbers:

 

6-0, 14 G, 5 Games Started, 46.1 IP, 22 H, 1 HR, 4 ER, 12 BB, 59 K, 0.78 ERA, 0.73 WHIP

 

There, I just made my favorite post of 2005! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif

 

I don't know what happened in Ogden that night, some type of nexus of the universe convergence or something, but yikes!

 

Let the man-crushes intensify http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

***

May 17, 2006 Update

 

If you add Inman's 2006 numbers to those posted above, you get (minus one horrendous 2/3 of an inning):

 

9-0

22 games

10 starts

77.1 IP

48 hits

1 HR

7 ER

15 BB

97 K

0.81 ERA

0.81 WHIP

 

Lift jaws off floor now...

[Mass Haas]

Inman also makes Baseball America's "Daily Dish":

 

www.baseballamerica.com/t...61288.html

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/images/winman068371.jpg

[craigharmann]

So...when does Inman move up?

[Team Canada]

Lift jaws off floor now...

 

That's absurdly ridiculously outrageous. Wow.