Interesting tweet from Denver Bundy

[Frobby]

Judging from his tweets earlier, I'm thinking that Bundy just had a great deal of success, and then had to deal with some adversity for the first time in his professional career and his dad vented is all.

What adversity -- allowing a hit?

[Frobby]

Does anyone know how Denver feels about Bobby's development?

He doesn't matter. Dylan is the golden goose.

Sure it matters. If his dad thinks they messed up Bobby, who has been in the organization a long time, of course he's going to worry that they will mess up Dylan.

As to Dylan's cutter, I doubt the Orioles want to shelve that pitch forever, but they may prefer that he not throw it too much right now. Cutters can be hard on the arm, and he doesn't really need it at this level, so the O's would prefer that he work on his change-up, which he will need eventually and isn't stressful on the arm. He can always bring the cutter back later.

[Hank Scorpio]

Good lord.

Hopefully he doesn't turn into Colby Rasmus' father.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/28/of-course-colby-rasmus-dad-ripped-tony-la-russa-yesterday/

[glenn__davis]

He doesn't matter. Dylan is the golden goose.

Are you a father?

I don't mean that snarkily - but of course Bobby matters. Dylan is obviously the better prospect but that doesn't mane that Bobby's success isn't also important.

[sakata_catching]

Here's a third:

"ha that was a joke between me and another player. Trust me the O's have shown they no more than one way to screw up a pitcher."

I don't want to make too much out of a proud/overprotective dad who may or may not understand the dynamics of social media, but that's a cheap shot.

[Lucky Jim]

As long as Dylan's head is on straight, having Richard Williams as his father won't be a big deal.

[CrimsonTribe]

Not going to speculate, just thought it was an interesting tweet this morning.

"Delima, we want you to throw change-ups because the hitters can catch up with that and justify keeping you down. -- Denver Bundy (@Denver_Bundy)"

Right, the Orioles are trying to make him fail to keep him in Low-A. Does he realize how ridiculous this sounds?

[baltfan]

If you read his tweets it is apparent that Denver is a contrarian in general. He hates agents, thinks pitching coaches don't know what they are doing, and generally has issues with the way pitchers are developed.

Hopefully Dylan will get to the majors, be successful, and all of this won't matter.

[Araqnid]

If you read his tweets it is apparent that Denver is a contrarian in general. He hates agents, thinks pitching coaches don't know what they are doing, and generally has issues with the way pitchers are developed.

Hopefully Dylan will get to the majors, be successful, and all of this won't matter.

That said, most of his retweets had to deal with the success of the Orioles or O's prospects, so you can argue that, as much of a contrarian, he does actually support the team, or at the very least, he understands where his sons' salaries are coming from.

[Flosman]

If you read his tweets it is apparent that Denver is a contrarian in general. He hates agents, thinks pitching coaches don't know what they are doing, and generally has issues with the way pitchers are developed.

Hopefully Dylan will get to the majors, be successful, and all of this won't matter.

I respect what Denver has done with preparing his Boys for professional BB. Obviously he has done a great job and to be honest he may actually know more than some of the guys that have jobs with ML teams. More importantly he knows the player better than the coaches do and while the O's should do what they think is right the O's would be wise to listen and consider Denver's opinion. Dylan is a rare player who has been groomed in a very detailed manner and believe me there will be other pitchers that follow Dylan's programs if he is what he looks like he is. Denver's concerns may stem from knowing Dylan more than anything else.

[Stotle]

I respect what Denver has done with preparing his Boys for professional BB. Obviously he has done a great job and to be honest he may actually know more than some of the guys that have jobs with ML teams. More importantly he knows the player better than the coaches do and while the O's should do what they think is right the O's would be wise to listen and consider Denver's opinion. Dylan is a rare player who has been groomed in a very detailed manner and believe me there will be other pitchers that follow Dylan's programs if he is what he looks like he is. Denver's concerns may stem from knowing Dylan more than anything else.

Texas and Tampa, for example, seem to take a more nuansced approach to development of individual pitchers.

The same, impatience isn't a reason to throw a systemic approach out the window. If Peterson's program produces healthy and successful Major League pitchers, I'm not going to flip out of the arrival time of one particular pitcher being 6-months later than it could have been.

[hoosiers]

When there was initial criticism of the Bundy development plan (perhaps from Law), I voiced some skepticism as well.

On the one hand, I do trust Petersen's track record with pitchers.

On the other, this plan for Bundy is somewhat unprecedented for elite HS pitching prospects and I have several problems with it. First, Bundy is a work-out maniac who possesses a very strong arm so building up pitch counts and innings pitched in this manner is totally unnecessary for this particular player. If the idea is to save some innings pitched against Low A batters for AA batters, that's fine, but IMO these IP against low A batters are a waste. Second, I do believe the Os like Bundy's ultra-competitive make-up and asking him to work on secondary pitches in game situations when it is those pitches batters actually have a chance to put in play is counter-intuitive at best. Third, another couple starts in DelMarva and a similar amount of time in Frederick may leave Bundy with few, if any, starts at Bowie. It is possible Bundy goes the entire year without facing a level of competition suitable for his current talent. If that happens, will he have really learned anything?

Is it any wonder the family appears a little disgruntled? Anyone really believe the Plan has enabled Dylan to learn a lot in his first two months of pro ball?

[Tony-OH]

When there was initial criticism of the Bundy development plan (perhaps from Law), I voiced some skepticism as well.

On the one hand, I do trust Petersen's track record with pitchers.

On the other, this plan for Bundy is somewhat unprecedented for elite HS pitching prospects and I have several problems with it. First, Bundy is a work-out maniac who possesses a very strong arm so building up pitch counts and innings pitched in this manner is totally unnecessary for this particular player. If the idea is to save some innings pitched against Low A batters for AA batters, that's fine, but IMO these IP against low A batters are a waste. Second, I do believe the Os like Bundy's ultra-competitive make-up and asking him to work on secondary pitches in game situations when it is those pitches batters actually have a chance to put in play is counter-intuitive at best. Third, another couple starts in DelMarva and a similar amount of time in Frederick may leave Bundy with few, if any, starts at Bowie. It is possible Bundy goes the entire year without facing a level of competition suitable for his current talent. If that happens, will he have really learned anything?

Is it any wonder the family appears a little disgruntled? Anyone really believe the Plan has enabled Dylan to learn a lot in his first two months of pro ball?

I'll give Denver a call and let you know what's up. He's a good guy who wants the best for his sons, but when I talked with him as the season broke he was quite happy with the plan they had for Dylan. Guess we'll see if things have changed.

[Frobby]

Interesting comment on fangraphs about why the O's shelved the cutter:

If he didn’t throw a cutter/slider hybrid, Bundy would be a great pitching prospect but not necessarily a special one. The Orioles have instructed Bundy to shelve his cutter to simplify his repertoire as the hybrid can sometimes morph into two separate pitches and throwing a slider and curve can affect the feel and shape of both pitches, particularly for young pitchers.

I think it was by accident, but Bundy threw one fastball with heavy cut at 96 mph that was his best pitch of the night and scouts have told me the cutter was Bundy’s best pitch as an amateur. When Bundy has polished his command, curve and changeup more and starts throwing the cutter again, look out.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/scouting-dylan-bundy/

[seak05]

In the ESPN article Bundy said he had been told to shelve his cutter for the year in order to concentrate on the development of other pitches. This isn't that unusual for a top high prospect. Most scouts think that the cutter is perhaps his best pitch, certainly his best "off-speed" offering.