Gausman being called up?????

[mdbdotcom]

His first four starts at Bowie this year were made on four days rest. The last two were on 5 days rest. I wouldn't think that having him pitch on four days rest the first two or three times through the rotation would be a huge concern. Good chance they give him some extra rest around off days whenever they can (assuming he stays in the rotation) to limit his innings a little and keep him fresh, but that's it.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gausma001kev&type=pgl&year=2013

Thanks. I read somewhere that he hadn't pitched on four days rest. Glad you posted this.

[SeaBird]

There's a hypothesis that pitchers only have so many pitches in their arms before they break down. We have little or no idea whether that number is 2000 or 200,000 for any given pitcher. So the quicker you can get a guy to the majors the more of his value you can capture as major league wins. Obviously you need to balance that against whether or not he's ready to get MLB hitters out. But if your scouts think he is there's no sense using up his career against Eastern League hitters.

I tend to agree with this.

I think it's way too soon. A week ago he was discussed as being part of the future; nothing imminent. Now they are asking an awful lot of him to make the jump from AA to the bigs. He'll be the 11th starter so far this season. Sort of says a lot about the state of their pitching. The MLB A.L. East isn't made up of Eastern league bats. It could be ugly.

[Hank Scorpio]

Gausman has not been that dominating in AA. He's allowed a fair number of hits and runs and his K rate is lower than David Hernandez, Jake Arietta and Chris Tillman when they were in AA. None of them skipped AAA and all had their struggles after reaching the majors and got sent back down.

What distinguishes Gausman is the low BB rate, pure and simple. Whether that allows him to make the jump, we will see. If not, it's not going to scar Gausman for life, IMO. He'll just go back down and keep working.

What distinguishes Gausman to me is stuff (including offspeed stuff) & command combined with a > 50% GB rate.

[Br10n]

He has not doninated AA?

Gausman's debut will come at a time when he is pitching very well. He has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts, allowing just two earned runs in the other. He has an ERA of 1.78 in that time.

Not bad at all.

[DrungoHazewood]

I think it's way too soon. A week ago he was discussed as being part of the future; nothing imminent. Now they are asking an awful lot of him to make the jump from AA to the bigs. He'll be the 11th starter so far this season. Sort of says a lot about the state of their pitching. The MLB A.L. East isn't made up of Eastern league bats. It could be ugly.

Sure, it could. But don't make all your decisions based on worst case scenarios and fear. It could be an overwhelming success. Before Matusz imploded he was a guy who was called up straight from AA and gave us 40 starts of league-average performance, and his raw stuff was never in the same ballpark as Gausman.

And remember, most pitchers don't get 25 dominant starts in AAA to carefully hone their craft before callup. Most top pitchers were/are on a highly accelerated promotion schedule.

[CA-ORIOLE]

DD does these things because he assesses them as being in the best interest of helping the team to win. You can bet development issues and the potential for failure are factored in. In that sense, I didn't really care about giving guys that have failed (often repeatedly) more chances.

[isestrex]

He has a career 62 to 6 K/BB ratio.

If that's not dominating the minors, I don't know what is. I have trepidation about this working too... but it's not because of his performance in the minors.

[333WCamden]

I like how the team is trying to win now while still keeping an eye on the future. In past years, I always felt the focus was on the future with very little consideration on what would make the current team better.

I welcome this move and any other promotions DD wants to make.

[NickM21]

I like how the team is trying to win now while still keeping an eye on the future. In past years, I always felt the focus was on the future with very little consideration on what would make the current team better.

I welcome this move and any other promotions DD wants to make.

Well it depends on how far back you go with regards to the focus on the present/future. Before the McPhail era there seemed to be little consideration of winning now or what helps the future.

[TXOriole]

Obviously there are differences between pitchers and hitters, but did anyone thing Machado was ready last year? Especially to make the move to 3rd in the process? I think he'll be fine.

[LayzieDES]

I am a loyal o's fan through and through but I cannot put my faith behind the decision to bring up Gausman at this point. He is not dominating AA and has not even went to aaa yet. How does the eligibility thing work out anyway, i thought they;d wait and bring him up this or next September. I realize people are gonna bash me and say he;s the face of the future and blah blah, well when they burn him out we are going to look like fools. I think they need to give 2nd and 3rd starts to guys like Johnson, Britton, and Jurrjens before we screw up our future.

Take a look at his minor league thread here & watch how he has progressed from the beginning of the season up til now. He has only gotten better with each start. He was dominating them by the end.

They have indeed called him up early so that he will probably qualify for Super Two status.

A player with almost 3 years of Major League service time may become eligible for arbitration.

To qualify, a player must:

• have at least 2 years of service, but less than 3, and;
• have accumulated at least 86 days of service in the previous year, and;
• rank in the top 17% of all 2-year players in service time

The cutoff point generally falls between 2 years, 128 days of service and 2 years, 140 days.

It basically means they are eligible for salary arbitration earlier than the original contract. Which means a lot more money they can earn earlier in their career if they are performing well. If he has earned it, pay him.

If he doesn't perform well in Baltimore, it's not like they can't always just send him back down for more seasoning. They will put innings/pitch count limits on him to help prevent him from being "burned" out. I believe it's somewhere around 180 innings for him this year. Also, I think Strasburg has help fuel this uneasiness with top prospects getting called up early. But you have to remember not every arm is the same, as some pitchers make it through their careers barely missing any time at all. The Nats shut down Strasburg early last year because he was coming off a major arm surgery & he was on a very strict limit. Gausman they will be more flexible with.

[SoBo]

Until Buck and DD completely blow a move I'll put my faith in their decision making. I've only seen his one spring outing this year on MASN but I was thoroughly impressed as were the Red Sox hitters. He reminds me a ton of Kevin Brown. Kind of a crossfire delivery with ridiculous fastball movement. I'm excited for Thursday! Hopefully our little baby girl leaves the NICU tomorrow as well!

[Don_Aase_Fan]

Super exciting. Hopefully his high-K/low-BB stuff will translate. Not perfectly mind you, but hopefully good enough to buoy the rotation and give the team a shot in the arm ala Machado.

I can't wait for Thursday.

[joedogg9999]

Manny machado wasnt exactly scorching AA and look how hes turned out. Gausmans BB ratio is what matters here. He has given up some hits and runs in AA but you have to remember, bowies defense isnt going to do him the same justice as the #1 defense in the MLB will. Alot of hits in AA will be outs with the Orioles backing him. He will also be getting tons of run support to take some pressure off. I expect he will at the very least do better than what hammel has been giving us.

[OFFNY]

Take a look at his minor league thread here & watch how he has progressed from the beginning of the season up til now. He has only gotten better with each start. He was dominating them by the end.

Good point. From said thread, this is one indication of his gradual improvement:

E.R.A. PROGRESSION, GAME BY GAME

GAME 1:O 9.00 o

GAME 2:O 4.50

GAME 3:O 5.63

GAME 4:O 4.71

GAME 5:O 3.71

GAME 6:O 3.53

GAME 7:O 3.35

GAME 8:O 3.11