Dan Klein for Teagarden?

[eb45]

I don't think his command is as great as is being portrayed. He throws strikes, but still lives too much in the middle of the plate and doesn't necessarily snipe his spots.

Also, Britton's FB issues were as much related to MLB hitters simply not chasing balls down and out of the zone and taking advantage of him missing up and over the plate as they were about any sort of change in pitch selection.

I definitely read an interview with Britton (I think it was with Melewski) where he said he threw more four-seams this season than he had at any point in his career. I think there's an aspect of it that is related to the jump to MLB, but I think there was also a good deal of pitch selection changing that played into it.

Also thanks for the info re: Henry. Am I correct in recalling that he was never made a starter because of the issues in his recovery from surgery? Because given his profile (strike thrower, good FB, solid slider) and the fact that I think I read that that was the plan somewhere, that seems like the best explanation.

[Stotle]

I definitely read an interview with Britton (I think it was with Melewski) where he said he threw more four-seams this season than he had at any point in his career. I think there's an aspect of it that is related to the jump to MLB, but I think there was also a good deal of pitch selection changing that played into it.

Also thanks for the info re: Henry. Am I correct in recalling that he was never made a starter because of the issues in his recovery from surgery? Because given his profile (strike thrower, good FB, solid slider) and the fact that I think I read that that was the plan somewhere, that seems like the best explanation.

Yeah, I mean he's 22 in Advanced-A and has yet to throw over 52.IP in a year. He is a 1.5 pitch arm right now, and he hasn't added much velocity since recovering from surgery. In short, he's just a limited profile that will be proving himself at each level.

Also, folks should keep in mind that Texas develops pitchers differently than does Baltimore, so even if Henry turns into a productive MLer I'm not convinced he would have the same outcome in Baltimore.

[Malike]

Britton became a FB pitcher in the majors because he used his two-seam a lot less and his four-seam a lot more. It had little to do with the hitters hitting him differently, and pretty much everything to do with him changing his pitching style.

And nobody's acting like Randy Henry is Mariano Rivera, we're talking about a guy with very good stuff and command who is very young for his level. That's not necessarily a rare commodity, but it's not a worthless one, and giving up anything of worth for a backup catcher is not really the direction the Orioles should be going.

The reason he relied upon the 4 seam fastball, instead of the sinker is that nobody would swing at the 2 seam fastball. He isn't facing AA hitters, and the sinker moves a lot and he was always down with it, and it was taken for a ball way too often. If he can't fool ML hitters into swinging at the sinker, and they know its going to be called a ball, then he might not be the Ace he was proclaimed to be.