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06-10-2012 09:10 AM #1
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Hunter earns himself another start
I don't think there is much question that Tommy Hunter earned a start against the Pirates next Thursday. His 7 innings, 3 earned run effort was a quality start. Three home runs is not what anyone would draw up on the black board as an ideal start. But its just three runs all the same.
Hunter has to keep pitching well to stay in the rotation but for now he is the O's 4th starter.
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06-10-2012 09:36 AM #2
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I was not impressed. He's not a shutdown starter, but he DOES eat innings and on Saturday stayed out of the big inning. He is not part of the future, but with the Orioles shaky present, with
Originally Posted by wildcard
even Jamie Moyer an option, I guess Tommy is too. I'd feel alot better if Britton or Tillman, and especially Arrieta get it together, but right now stopgaps who can get into the seventh inning
will do. Please hurry back Markakis, Reimold, and Roberts. This lineup is pretty weak.
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06-10-2012 09:50 AM #3
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Yikes, Hunter a 4th starter. That is not exactly what you'd call a portent of future success. Now more than ever we need Britton and Tillman to step up. Tillman seems the closest--one more dominant start from him and I'm bringing him up. Britton's gonna take a bit to get his velocity back up, if it does come back, given the uncertainty around a shoulder injury like that.
As for Arrieta, as with Matusz last year, a complete loss of confidence is not an easy thing to come back from. I'd like to see some sustained success in the bullpen before we move him back to the rotation, perhaps not until next year.
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06-10-2012 09:52 AM #4
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I am uncertain that Britton's health issues have been completely addressed. Originally Posted by bd0493
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06-10-2012 09:53 AM #5
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I'd rather thrown Britton and Tillman in the rotation than Hunter. Yes...he had a quality start, but let's be honest...he was lucky it was a quality start. You can't give up multiple homers every time out and expect to be effective on a regular basis. It's simply not going to cut it.
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06-10-2012 09:57 AM #6
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Yeah, I get that sense too, from what Buck says and from what Rock reports about the FO's attitude. Anyways, the fact that Britton is not even hearing from the MLB club suggests he's not exactly in the immediate plans. He'll need to demonstrate his health, and hopefully gain back a couple MPH on his FB (88-93--and that's by his estimation, I'm guessing it was more like 88-91 with a couple times hitting 92 and 93--doesn't sound promising for a guy who was struggling last year at 90-94) before he returns to the rotation. That could take a month or longer, and a lot can go wrong in that time. Originally Posted by weams
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06-10-2012 11:05 AM #7
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The problem with Hunter is keeping the ball down. Yesterday he did that for the most part. On 3 pitches he didn't. What the box score was is irrelevant, As long as he keeps the ball down he is an effective back rotation innings eater. We'll see how long that is.
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06-10-2012 11:09 AM #8
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Hunter should be fine against the Pirates. As I stated in another thread I do not want him starting against AL East foes.
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06-10-2012 11:15 AM #9
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Completely agree. Regardless of how Hunter's overall line looked after yesterday's game, his tendency to leave the ball up/over the middle means that the difference between a "good" start and a Godawful one is a couple of baserunners. Originally Posted by Can_of_corn
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06-10-2012 11:21 AM #10
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Agreed--Hunter's performance for me is almost less a measure of how good he is than it is a measure of how good the opposing team is. After I saw Hunter's line yesterday my initial thought was not about Hunter but rather about Hammel, namely, that he should do fine against the Phils tomorrow (today). Originally Posted by MrOrange82
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06-10-2012 11:29 AM #11
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Did you count the number of times he left the ball up? It doesn't matter who the team is, if he does that often he'll get hammered, and if he doesn't he wont. It is more about his consistency that what team he is opposing. Originally Posted by bd0493
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06-10-2012 11:30 AM #12
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Hopefully that holds true (I agree that it should). 2/3 is practically necessary right now, especially if you view Jones' post-game interview as an indicator that the team...is just kinda (mentally) winded right now. Lots of long games, few easy victories. I absolutely shudder to think what the team would be doing without Hammel and Chen. Originally Posted by bd0493
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06-10-2012 11:32 AM #13
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Well that's just...untrue. Some teams will make him pay for "mistake" pitches with greater frequency than others. It's not a CERTAINTY every game, but it's certainly likely that the Rangers, for example, would hit him harder than the Phillies, if he pitched the two teams in precisely the same manner. Originally Posted by El Gordo
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06-10-2012 11:41 AM #14
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It's naive to think that number of balls left up in the zone is somehow equivalent to number of runs allowed. That's a really reductive way of thinking about it...the reason Hunter is punished so much on balls up in the zone is that 1) he doesn't keep hitters off balanced, as someone like Matusz does, given that there's not a great split between his pitches and he throws a great deal of FBs 2) his fastball velocity is not great 3) his other pitches are average-below-average. These factors combine to make his pitches up, when he does leave them up, pretty hittable, but if you're to take a sample of every 10 balls left up in the zone that are hittable you'll probably only find that about 3-4 of those result in hard contact. It just happens with other pitchers the number is lower because of the factors above. Originally Posted by El Gordo
That's why I say that Hunter's performance to me tells me more about the other team than it does him; one thing I can say for the guy is he is remarkably consistent, unlike, say Jake or Matusz, whose performances vary greatly from start to start. Against the better teams, as AgentOrange mentioned, they work Hunter more and are able to get on base more often resulting in more crooked numbers and less outs. Lesser hitting teams, like the Phils, fail to string consistent hits/runs together and give him outs, while still managing to capitalize on his relative hittable-ness by blasting a HR here and there.
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06-10-2012 11:43 AM #15
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He has pitched 6 innings or more in 8 of 11 starts.
Matusz has done that 6 of 12 times.
Hammel has done it 7 of 11 times.
Chen has done that 6 of 11 times.
Arrieta has done that 7 of 13 times.
Hunter does serve a role here in partially saving the pen, especially with Orioles' starters being blown up early lately.
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