CaptainRedbeard

He was back to getting a bunch of whiffs last night and I think he was actually throwing harder in his second inning than his first. He was hitting some 96s then. Possibly he just needs to get acclimated to getting warmed up more quickly? Even if he never gets a big velo jump out of the pen, I think he’ll be a good RP. Throws strikes, misses bats and has a very unique fastball that should play well the first time through an order. Whether he can up his velo further is probably what will determine whether he’s more of a solid middle/long RP or a potential late inning RP.

Maybe his last start in Delmarva?

The quick promotion to AAA already had my attention, but I had no idea about the cutter. Those spin rates on a cutter are insane! No wonder AA hitters couldn’t touch him. That’s absolutely the profile of a guy who could be a dominant RP with 70%-90% cutters and an upper 90s fastball as the “change of pace.” If he can fill up the zone with those two pitches he’s going to be very exciting.

Good point on command vs. being a nibbler by design, it’s hard to differentiate without watching a lot of him pitch (which I have not). And 100% agreed on the cutter being a distinguishing factor for him vs those other far lesser pitching prospects - that’s part of what makes his arsenal more similar to Irvin’s (though again, his results are wildly different from Irvin’s through very different approaches/command, and better whiff stuff for Povich). The Orioles are in a good spot with Povich, where he can probably already step up to be a SP at the MLB level if the need arises but he still has development he can continue in AAA. It’s critical to have optionable SP depth and he is now at that level and hasn’t needed to be added to the 40-man yet. The question is if he makes enough improvements in AAA this year to warrant keeping a spot in the 2025 rotation open for him this offseason.

If Grayson comes back healthy and there are no other injuries, the options are (1) 6 man rotation, (2) Means or Irvin in the bullpen or (3) Kremer optioned to AAA (or in the bullpen). Kremer being optioned is the only choice that avoids a DFA and the only choice that keeps all of the 6 SP on SP schedules. The DFA would be Baumann and I’ll personally not lose any sleep over that, but I think the Orioles clearly want to hang onto him. I suppose they could option Akin instead, but I find that the most unlikely given how well he’s pitched. It’s certainly no lock that the route they choose would be optioning Kremer but you’re ignore the factors impacting roster construction if you don’t think it’s a possibility.

This makes sense. I figured it had to be a blister because the only other reason to be shaking you hand like that is wrist/elbow discomfort, and he would have been removed immediately of that was the case (or at the very least, had a trainer mound visit). Very strange that the announcers never commented on it. If Kremer ends up in AAA due to the numbers game, he could benefit from focusing on command for the splitter or revisiting the sweeper that he scrapped last year. Having a reliable higher whiff secondary is the only thing separating Kremer from the solid 4/5 that he is now and being more of a reliable mid-rotation guy.

Without the power it really depends on if he’s going to be able to maintain high BABIPs, which is really hard to tell from AA performance. But if he can, the high OBP and plus corner OF defense will make him quite valuable. Probably similar to Cowser but with a 20% K% instead of 30% at the trade off of far less power.

Kopech would be a great target. His fastball was always great, but now it’s absurd now that he’s a RP - the #1 graded fastball by Stuff+, higher than Mason Miller and Tanner Scott. Elite velo obviously but also elite spin. Doesn’t seem like he has much command or even decent secondary pitches, but when your fastball is that good you can throw it 80%+ of the time and be dominant. He’s probably infuriating to watch, like Baumann, but a much better fastball even than Baumann’s and he at least throws it a lot, unlike Baumann being in love with his slider/cutter that’s his worst pitch. My only request is that Baumann be included in the trade so I don’t have to watch both him and Kopech.

Bradfield has a .268 BABIP right now. Would this conversation even be happening if he’d just had more balls in play end up singles, as you would expect from a 80 grade runner who never hits fly balls? We don’t have any publicly available info to conclude what his exit velos look like. He actually has a decent (relative to expectations for him) .098 ISO with 3 2B and a 3B, plus still quite good K/BB.

OP may be trolling or just doing a dumb reverse jinx joke, but Kremer does have a 5.74 xERA on the season. He’s doing ok on K/BB, whiffs and chase so he’ll probably be ok, but he is giving up a lot of hard contact and tons of barrels. His xFIP is 3.92 and that’s still more predictive in this sample, but he can’t keep giving up hard contact like he’s pitching against the Orioles lineup every game. With Irvin pitching really well and Means lights out yesterday, I do think Kremer is more at risk of a numbers-game option to AAA if Grayson is able to come back soon and Kremer’s not straightened his contact quality numbers out. Povich is also lurking as a possibility to force a call up if he puts up another ~5 starts as dominant as his start to the season has been. Possibly they will consider going to a 6-man rotation for some period of time as well.

Cano and Kimbrel are both not going to be available today, so I think there’s a good chance Suarez is the first righty out of the pen regardless of score and Webb is the righty option in a closer by committee situation. Baumann also hasn’t pitched much, though.

Lot of young pitchers at A that look like they should be moved to A+ soon for more of a challenge. Forret, De Leon and Cooper have been dominant. Bragg and Money have also pitched very well in K/BB but without the expected ERA results.

100%. In other franchises, Norby would be given a chance to start. And he does have some upside to be a MLB starter. But he’s not a top prospect and projects best as a bench guy, with a solid righty bat and LF/2B defensive flexibility (even if below average defense). That bench profile actually is a good fit down the line with all the lefty prospects so Norby would eventually get that opportunity here, but while Urias and Mateo are around he’s better off in AAA. He hasn’t needed to be added to the 40-man yet and that has worked against him. If he plays better in AAA another team will be more inclined to trade for him as a potential starter. He hasn’t played well enough in AAA to force the issue.

Back issues would also explain why they yanked him in the first inning of that prior start, in addition to throwing a lot of pitches without getting out of the inning. Maybe the extra rest did him some good.

That’s exactly the profile I was thinking when you described him. If Cionel Perez was 6’3” and could maintain that same velo as a SP, and had a changeup for RH batters. Hopefully De Leon’s command is ultimately better than Perez’s, but Perez is pretty good evidence of how that profile can be successful even with pretty poor command.