Kevin Gausman Today, 2013

[El Gordo]

All Gausman did today was pitch like he did the last 4-5 G in Bowie. A lot of young pitchers come up to thE big leagues and think they have to do more, throw harder, etc. Today he realized that's not true. Lets see where he can go with this.

[GoldGlove21]

Lets get back on topic here......if Gausman can go for 6 innings, 5 hits, 0 walks and 1 run against the best lineup he will face all season long (because obviously he won't have to face our lineup), then the sky really is the limit for him.

Consistency will tell the tale though. Arrieta, Britton, matusz, several others have all had "that game" as a starter where we thought to ourselves "holy crap, we finally have our stud" only to eventually be disappointed by them never becoming that guy on a consistent basis. Even Tillman, who's been the best of the young guns we've brought up, still struggles on occasion.

We all loved what we saw from KG out there today. We all love his potential. I really truly hope he found something today by realizing his stuff is more than good enough and he doesn't have to "overthrow".

Like others have pointed out, I also noticed he say 94-95 instead of 96-98 against the tigers. I also noticed far fewer pitches left out over the middle of the plate.

Hell, even the one tater he allowed to prince fielder was on the outside part of the plate away from fat boy, he just managed to put a solid swing on it and with his power, in Camden yards, that's all it took.

But other than that he was superb, I think he was only ever really in trouble once or twice after that at most. If you can get 6 innings of 1 run ball against the defending al champs in a park like ours, you've got something good.

Now that we've seen what he's capable of, the question becomes can he repeat it again and again.

Personally, and I'm sure some people will have a conniption for stating this, but is like to see him work one on one with Snyder alone. Every fifth day Snyder can be kg's personal catcher. Almost like ra dickey had his own knuckleball catcher with the mets, snyders lone job should be using his vast knowledge of major league hitters (he's been in the league around a decade) and coming up with a gameplan days in advance with Gausman and working on everything they need to do to make him successful. Going over probable matchups, hitter tendencies, developing a sound gameplan etc.

Wieters knows the other 4 guys and can catch 4 days in a row. Let Snyder handle Gausman and let them build a trust together and maybe we can finally get a guy from the minors to the majors that WE DRAFTED who doesn't crumble under the pressure.

He'd be the first since what, mussina? What we've been doing didnt work. I'm not blaming wieters for matusz, arrieta and Britton struggling in the majors, but he was their catcher. So like I said, maybe take a gamble here and let KG and Snyder work together on their own and maybe we can finally have a Oriole draftee pitcher who will stick.

Why not?

The problem is that we always hold out hope for an ace (which Mussina was) IMO. Gausman has a great fastball in terms of speed and there is some movement there, but like most young pitchers the ability to throw the fastball for a strike is important. I will say this, even though Bundy is higher rated I think that Gausman has the better chance at being an ace.

[scOtt]

All Gausman did today was pitch like he did the last 4-5 G in Bowie. A lot of young pitchers come up to thE big leagues and think they have to do more, throw harder, etc. Today he realized that's not true. Lets see where he can go with this.

This. He got his legs under him today. Learned/realized a LOT about how to pitch in the bigs. I'm excited! This was a huge start for Kevin. The start of something big.

[scOtt]

Kevin today not only realized he can pitch well at this level, he realized he has all kinds of toys that he can play with at this level! Toy with the BEST of them.

[wildcard]

Lets get back on topic here......if Gausman can go for 6 innings, 5 hits, 0 walks and 1 run against the best lineup he will face all season long (because obviously he won't have to face our lineup), then the sky really is the limit for him.

Consistency will tell the tale though. Arrieta, Britton, matusz, several others have all had "that game" as a starter where we thought to ourselves "holy crap, we finally have our stud" only to eventually be disappointed by them never becoming that guy on a consistent basis. Even Tillman, who's been the best of the young guns we've brought up, still struggles on occasion.

We all loved what we saw from KG out there today. We all love his potential. I really truly hope he found something today by realizing his stuff is more than good enough and he doesn't have to "overthrow".

Like others have pointed out, I also noticed he say 94-95 instead of 96-98 against the tigers. I also noticed far fewer pitches left out over the middle of the plate.

Hell, even the one tater he allowed to prince fielder was on the outside part of the plate away from fat boy, he just managed to put a solid swing on it and with his power, in Camden yards, that's all it took.

But other than that he was superb, I think he was only ever really in trouble once or twice after that at most. If you can get 6 innings of 1 run ball against the defending al champs in a park like ours, you've got something good.

Now that we've seen what he's capable of, the question becomes can he repeat it again and again.

Personally, and I'm sure some people will have a conniption for stating this, but is like to see him work one on one with Snyder alone. Every fifth day Snyder can be kg's personal catcher. Almost like ra dickey had his own knuckleball catcher with the mets, snyders lone job should be using his vast knowledge of major league hitters (he's been in the league around a decade) and coming up with a gameplan days in advance with Gausman and working on everything they need to do to make him successful. Going over probable matchups, hitter tendencies, developing a sound gameplan etc.

Wieters knows the other 4 guys and can catch 4 days in a row. Let Snyder handle Gausman and let them build a trust together and maybe we can finally get a guy from the minors to the majors that WE DRAFTED who doesn't crumble under the pressure.

He'd be the first since what, mussina? What we've been doing didnt work. I'm not blaming wieters for matusz, arrieta and Britton struggling in the majors, but he was their catcher. So like I said, maybe take a gamble here and let KG and Snyder work together on their own and maybe we can finally have a Oriole draftee pitcher who will stick.

Why not?

Because there is a good chance that Snyder gets DFA'd in the next few days with Teagarden nearly ready to return.

[weams]

We didn't say your post wasn't dishonest when you said Ryan Flaherty had been crushing the ball at Norfolk.

That's true. And I admitted I was exaggerating. Other than two home runs in the three games prior.

[OFFNY]

.

TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS O (JUNE 8th)

Matt Joyce - RF

Ben Zobrist - 2B

Kelly Johnson - LF

Evan Longoria - 3B

James Loney - 1B

Desmond Jennings - CF

Luke Scott - DH

Jose Lobaton - C

Yunel Escobar - SS

Jeremy Hellickson - RHP (3-2, 5.59 ERA)

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php

[bdlj0887]

Give em the gas, man.

[OFFNY]

.

KEVIN GAUSMAN O (vs. D-RAYS, 6/08)

IP:. 4.33

H:o 8

R:O 7

BB: 3

SO: 6

Pitches: 90 (55 Strikes, 35 Balls)

2013 ERA: 8.84

******************

PITCHES BY INNINGS

25 (16 Strikes, 91 Balls)

23 (16 Strikes, 71 Balls)

13 (81 Strikes, 51 Balls)

10 (61 Strikes, 41 Balls)

19 (91 Strikes, 10 Balls) *

* Gausman retired 1 batter before departing in the 5th inning.

[calmunderfire]

Kevin should be sent down until he learns to hit the corners.

[OFFNY]

.

BOSTON RED SOX O (JUNE 13th)

Jacoby Ellsbury - CF

Shane Victorino - RF

Dustin Pedroia - 2B

David Ortiz - DH

Mike Napoli - 1B

Daniel Nava - LF

Jarrod Saltalamacchia - C

Will Middlebrooks - 3B

Stephen Drew - SS

Felix Doubront - LHP (4-3, 4.84 ERA)

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php

[Zerokarma]

I'm over in China, so unfortunately didn't get to see any of the game. Seems like Kevin handled himself pretty well, aside from the two homers he gave up.

It also seems like he had more issues after a second pass through the lineup, so he needs to work on changing his approach slightly so that he can effectively keep hitters guessing.

So, what is the prevailing opinion on tonight's game? Progress?

[LookitsPuck]

Pitched pretty well. Had some hard hit balls where he got lucky on. A hit that he got unlucky on. And allowed 2 homers. Decent progress. But still throwing a lot of pitches.

[OFFNY]

.

KEVIN GAUSMAN O (vs. RED SOX, 6/13)

IP:. 5.33

H:o 6

R:O 2

BB: 0

SO: 5

Pitches: 91 (56 Strikes, 35 Balls)

2013 ERA: 7.66

******************

PITCHES BY INNINGS

11 (71 Strikes, 4 Balls)

19 (13 Strikes, 6 Balls)

14 (81 Strikes, 6 Balls)

23 (15 Strikes, 8 Balls)

14 (81 Strikes, 6 Balls)

10 (51 Strikes, 5 Balls) *

* Gausman retired 1 batter in the 6th inning before departing.

[Crazysilver03]

I just hope the bullpen doesn't blow it and he can get his first major league win.