Dylan Bundy TONIGHT 4/24

[JH8867]

So it will be Monday night game. Thanks!

[Frobby]

The plan is for him to go 120-125 innings and end the season with a good number of starts at Bowie. That's a good plan, and I don't feel the need to micromanage the exact number of games he pitches at Delmarva or Frederick before he gets to Bowie. Personally, I'd give him 2 more starts at Delmarva, but I'm not going to balk if they jump him to Frederick today, or if they wait until late May. In the big picture, just get him off to a successful start, keep him healthy, and get him a decent amount of AA experience before the year is over, and you have positioned him to debut in the big leagues some time in 2013. That's the goal.

[EASTERNSHOREFAN]

I believe a masn article said they wanted him to get to at least 5 innings a start before promotion so they don't tax the bullpens of the teams with a 5 man rotation to much.

[seak05]

A team with a 5 man rotation will (usually) have more bullpen arms available than a team with a 6 man rotation, so I'm not sure how that logic makes sense. Unless Delmarva is carrying extra pitchers

[NCRaven]

They are using a 6 man rotation.

A team with a 5 man rotation will (usually) have more bullpen arms available than a team with a 6 man rotation, so I'm not sure how that logic makes sense. Unless Delmarva is carrying extra pitchers

Keep in mind that they have "piggybacked" some of these starters early in the season. Chalas pitched three innings after Bundy completed his four and Chalas is one of those 6 starters. With off days, rainouts, etc., it may be five "starts" for six starting pitchers. The reasoning they stated was that going every six days allows for two bullpen sessions between starts. With off days, this is still possible, sometimes, with five starting pitchers and the sixth piggy backing as they did last night.

[allstar1579]

The plan is for him to go 120-125 innings and end the season with a good number of starts at Bowie. That's a good plan, and I don't feel the need to micromanage the exact number of games he pitches at Delmarva or Frederick before he gets to Bowie. Personally, I'd give him 2 more starts at Delmarva, but I'm not going to balk if they jump him to Frederick today, or if they wait until late May. In the big picture, just get him off to a successful start, keep him healthy, and get him a decent amount of AA experience before the year is over, and you have positioned him to debut in the big leagues some time in 2013. That's the goal.

The feeling I've gotten is that they are keeping him in low A while they are under 5 IP per start, since having to juggle a staff like this at high A or AA would be MUCH harder.

[orioles119]

I'm not being nasty. I'm calling you out for pretending to talk from a perspective of knowledge/experience regarding facts when you have literally no idea what you're talking about.

1. Are all 19 year old pitchers the same? [Was Cameron Coffey the same as Felix Hernandez?]
2. What do you know about Bundy's arm-strength, in particular? Are you familiar with his work-out regimen? His ability to carry velocity? What the O's have seen outside of his starts?
3. Are you seriously implying that a 19 year old can't handle 5 inning starts? Should we start babying all of them?
4. What evidence can you possibly have that a progression to 5 inning starts and 120 innings will have any causal nexus with TJ surgery? Have you biomechanically broken down his delivery? Taken into account his effort? Taken into account anything that has to do with Bundy in particular?

I'm going on the track record that this organization has had with young players when they try to push them. I know the major league club is desperate, but that doesn't have to come at the expense of health. Good for Bundy if he can prove me wrong - I want him to prove me wrong. I'm not advocating babying him anymore then the Orioles already have. I'm almost questioning it to a point, but can understand both sides of the issue.

And besides... did any of those questions point to facts or speculation on your part?

[Lucky Jim]

I'm going on the track record that this organization has had with young players when they try to push them. I know the major league club is desperate, but that doesn't have to come at the expense of health. Good for Bundy if he can prove me wrong - I want him to prove me wrong. I'm not advocating babying him anymore then the Orioles already have. I'm almost questioning it to a point, but can understand both sides of the issue.

And besides... did any of those questions point to facts or speculation on your part?

Sure.

1. No.
2. Exceptional, for a HS draftee. The product of an extensive off-field work-out program that's been implemented for years. Indicated by his ability to carry serious velocity into the late innings of games in HS.
3. 19 y.o.s handle 120 inning and 5-inning starts all the time. In fact, it's pretty much the default for a young draftee.
4. (a) There is none. (b) His mechanics are, by all account, simple and repeatable. (c) He is not a max-effort guy. (d) Yes.

[DrShorebird]

If I were a betting man, I would bet on a total of nine starts for Delmarva. You can call that a prediction.

[Can_of_corn]

If I were a betting man, I would bet on a total of nine starts for Delmarva. You can call that a prediction.

3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5?

That would leave 84-89 innings. If they leave him in Delmarva that long do they just skip High A?

[DrShorebird]

I think he'll be in Delmarva long enough to be on the All-Star team (like Machado last year) and then go to Frederick. So you're talking 4-6 more starts with the Shorebirds.rd.

That's a good bet Jim! I think 5 more starts will do it.

[Tony-OH]

What I heard at the game the other night from a pretty reliable source is that he will get two more starts 4innings than 3 @ 5innings after that stretch himn out to 100 pitches. Which to me seems like a pretty big jump I mean he only threw 44 thru 4 last night thru 5 I would think he would be averaging somewhere between 60-65.

Do you thinks its possible he could skip Fredrick all together and go straight to Bowie??

No, I think they will reward their affiliates by allowing him to pitch awhile at each one on the way up. It would be nice if Bundy was so good that he couldn't get close to that 100 pitch limit within five innings. By August they may just put him on a 100 pitch limit regardless of the amount of innings he can complete within that limit. It probably just depends on how many of his set 120-125 innings he has completed to that point.

[Tony-OH]

The plan is for him to go 120-125 innings and end the season with a good number of starts at Bowie. That's a good plan, and I don't feel the need to micromanage the exact number of games he pitches at Delmarva or Frederick before he gets to Bowie. Personally, I'd give him 2 more starts at Delmarva, but I'm not going to balk if they jump him to Frederick today, or if they wait until late May. In the big picture, just get him off to a successful start, keep him healthy, and get him a decent amount of AA experience before the year is over, and you have positioned him to debut in the big leagues some time in 2013. That's the goal.

Bingo. at the end of the day if Bundy gets his innings in, spends half his season in Bowie, and works on the things he needs to work on, it really doesn't matter how many starts he gets in the SALLY or Carolina Leagues. I wouldn't keep him around for the SALLY league All-star game though because he certainly will be selected for the futures game. No need for two breaks in the middle of his season unless they are looking for a reason to give him some breaks during the season. I think Petersen/John Stockstill/Duquette have a good plan for him.

[seak05]

Personally speaking, for any prospects development I think they need to be challenged, and mistakes exposed. For Bundy that means being at a level where when he makes mistakes the batters are good enough to routinely punish him, make him think about how to set them up etc. Most observers seem to think that with his stuff and command that won't happen till Double-A. Therefore, for him to spend roughly half his innings below that level this year seems to be a waste.

Then again I'm not a fan of making a prospect move to three different places in his first year in the minor's in order to keep your affiliates happy (rather then for developmental reasons).

And while pushing him to throw to many innings may be detrimental to his health, pitching at a higher level doesn't really have any impact on how physically stressful throwing a pitch is to your arm (as long as you make sure he doesn't start trying to overthrow if he struggles (but that's something he'll have to learn).

[Frobby]

Personally speaking, for any prospects development I think they need to be challenged, and mistakes exposed. For Bundy that means being at a level where when he makes mistakes the batters are good enough to routinely punish him, make him think about how to set them up etc. Most observers seem to think that with his stuff and command that won't happen till Double-A. Therefore, for him to spend roughly half his innings below that level this year seems to be a waste.

Then again I'm not a fan of making a prospect move to three different places in his first year in the minor's in order to keep your affiliates happy (rather then for developmental reasons).

And while pushing him to throw to many innings may be detrimental to his health, pitching at a higher level doesn't really have any impact on how physically stressful throwing a pitch is to your arm (as long as you make sure he doesn't start trying to overthrow if he struggles (but that's something he'll have to learn).

Putting aside how stressful it it to throw a pitch at different levels, the bigger difference would be how many pitches are being thrown per inning. In that sense, one would assume that 4 innings of no-hit, no walk ball in low A (44 pitches total) is less stressful than 4 innings where he is being challenged in AA.

Personally, I would have started Bundy in Frederick. But I don't think it's the end of the world that they started him in Delmarva. He will be in Frederick soon enough. as to the idea that giving him a half season or so below AA is a waste, I disagree. I'd rather see him taste some success, get used to the rhythm of pro baseball and ease into it. Starting a high school pitcher at AA is essentially unheard of. Again, he'll be there soon enough, assuming he doesn't have major hiccups at lower levels.