Roch: Lot O' Stuff this Morning

[weams]

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2017/06/this-that-and-the-other-139.html

Britton is eligible to come off the disabled list on July 4. He’s always been a candidate for the 60-day. Manager Buck Showalter already dismissed July 1 as a possible return date.

...

* I wrote yesterday that the Orioles will promote outfielder Austin Hays, their third-round pick last year, from Single-A Frederick to Bowie after the break. He’s moving rapidly through the system and is one of the top prospects in the organization.

The Orioles believe Hays can play center field or right field at a high level. They love his arm and athleticism, along with a bat that produced a 328/.364/.592 slash line with 15 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs and 41 RBIs in 64 games before last night.

Hays was named the Carolina League’s Player of the Week for the third time.

I’ve been asked about shortstop Ryan Mountcastle. I’m told that the Orioles intend to keep him at Frederick past the break, but he eventually could join Hays at Bowie. He’s still working on the defensive side of his game. The bat is exceptional.

* One of the advantages of having Welington Castillo rehab at Bowie was he could provide a scouting report on pitching prospect Lucas Long, who’s 5-2 with a 1.68 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 17 games (three starts) over 59 innings. Castillo had such high praise for Long, a 24th-round pick in 2014 out of the University of San Diego, that Baysox manager Gary Kendall made certain that Showalter heard it directly from his catcher

“We were trying to think about whether (Castillo) was going to go down or not and I looked at who was going to be pitching,” Showalter said. “A guy with really good command. Gary was talking and he said, ‘Hey, be sure to ask Casi what he thought about Long,’ because he’s really pitching well this year. Really throwing well.

...

Showalter, for the briefest of moments, thought about putting reliever Mychal Givens at shortstop.

Givens was drafted at the position before converting to reliever. But the idea quickly went away, with Showalter not wanting to risk an injury.

* Tejada is getting a shot at the shortstop job while J.J. Hardy is on the disabled list. The pressure doesn’t seem to be getting to him.

...

* The Orioles appear to have ended the Pedro Alvarez outfield experiment earlier this month, as reported by David Hall of The Virginian-Pilot. Alvarez has been playing first base and serving as the designated hitter with Triple-A Norfolk.

Alvarez never got comfortable at his new position and a misplay on June 4 cost the Tides a game in his last appearance in right. Maybe it was the last straw.

[maybenxtyr]

I wish JJ a speedy recovery, but I'm ok with Tejada at SS. 

It sounds like Buck Showaltee is running out of warm bodies. I hope they can hold on and make it worth watching for a few more months. I don't know how bad of a collapse it would take for them to trade away???

[25 Nuggets]

After seeing the success of Trey Mancini and the promise of Hays and Mountcastle, the writing is on the wall regarding a new era of Orioles development:

Buy the arms, grow the bats.

[Luke-OH]

I see Castillo shares my opinion on Lucas Long.

[MDtransplant757]

1 hour ago, 25 Nuggets said:

After seeing the success of Trey Mancini and the promise of Hays and Mountcastle, the writing is on the wall regarding a new era of Orioles development:

Buy the arms, grow the bats.

That wouldn't be a bad idea tbh. 

[sportsfan8703]

I wouldn't have Britton throw a single breaking ball this season.  Why is Britton risking his arm on a pitch that he only threw 7.9% of the time last year?  It's an example of a P trying to be too fine with his stuff.  He's making 11.4 million dollars.  We need results.  If that means he blows a couple saves then that's fine.  

We need innings out of his arm this year and next.  Try and be Greg Maddux in 2019.  

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3240&position=P

 

[FlipTheBird]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I wouldn't have Britton throw a single breaking ball this season.  Why is Britton risking his arm on a pitch that he only threw 7.9% of the time last year?  It's an example of a P trying to be too fine with his stuff.  He's making 11.4 million dollars.  We need results.  If that means he blows a couple saves then that's fine.  

We need innings out of his arm this year and next.  Try and be Greg Maddux in 2019.  

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3240&position=P

 

No, it's a pitcher keep a pitch in his repertoire to keep bats honest.

We do not need 92% of Zach Britton, we need 100% of him. If he's not healthy, let him heal.

[sportsfan8703]

2 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

No, it's a pitcher keep a pitch in his repertoire to keep bats honest.

We do not need 92% of Zach Britton, we need 100% of him. If he's not healthy, let him heal.

92% is a heck of a whole let better than 0%.  We're getting 0% now.  Sign me up for 92%, 30 IP the rest of the year, and a 88% save conversion rate.  I'll take that all day and twice on Sundays.  

[bpilktree]

The part I picked up there is Buck thought about Givens playing SS if needed.  You can tell right there he doesn't like having Janish on the team he would rather have someone else up here and play Givens at short.  When you don't get a call up because they will move a reliever to short that would be a sign to call it a career.

[wildcard]

I am ready to see Long any time they want to promote him.

[higgybaby]

2 hours ago, bpilktree said:

The part I picked up there is Buck thought about Givens playing SS if needed.  You can tell right there he doesn't like having Janish on the team he would rather have someone else up here and play Givens at short.  When you don't get a call up because they will move a reliever to short that would be a sign to call it a career.

The way I read that was he was considering using him in the game that they pulled JJ due to the injury. 

[Cumberbundy]

5 hours ago, 25 Nuggets said:

After seeing the success of Trey Mancini and the promise of Hays and Mountcastle, the writing is on the wall regarding a new era of Orioles development:

Buy the arms, grow the bats.

Is RM the pick we would have given away if Fowler had signed. ?

[Cumberbundy]

4 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I wouldn't have Britton throw a single breaking ball this season.  Why is Britton risking his arm on a pitch that he only threw 7.9% of the time last year?  It's an example of a P trying to be too fine with his stuff.  He's making 11.4 million dollars.  We need results.  If that means he blows a couple saves then that's fine.  

We need innings out of his arm this year and next.  Try and be Greg Maddux in 2019.  

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3240&position=P

 

[Cumberbundy]

Britton breaking ball

[Cumberbundy]

3 hours ago, bpilktree said:

The part I picked up there is Buck thought about Givens playing SS if needed.  You can tell right there he doesn't like having Janish on the team he would rather have someone else up here and play Givens at short.  When you don't get a call up because they will move a reliever to short that would be a sign to call it a career.

If you play Givens at short he can pitch to right handers throughout the game. We need to use that versatility - make the Os great again.