Former Orioles farmhand: " I was pretty broken" when he left organization

[Tony-OH]

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/columbia-fireflies-luc-rennie-dazzles-with-strikeout-stuff/c-286847896?tcid=tw_article_286847896

(Luc) Rennie was drafted by the Orioles in the 16th round in 2012, but released by Baltimore three years later after just three games above Class A and none higher than Class A Advanced. After two-and-a-half years in independent baseball, he celebrated the Fourth of July by signing with the Mets. Through his first three starts with the Fireflies, he'd whiffed 14 combined coming into Sunday.

"It's really incredible," he said. "I play with a lot of passion, and I try to keep it contained. I have a lot of energy that I pitch with and a lot of aggression and a lot of competitive attitude. That's something that I've picked up in the last two-and-a-half years. When I left the Orioles organization, I was pretty broken. I was not what I am right now. I completely had to rebuild my foundation. I went from having a whatever, five-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio to having twice as many walks as strikeouts, which was just unbelievable. It was really scary. It's taken the last three-and-a-half, four years of my life to rebuild myself from ground zero."

Tony's Take: Interesting comments though his math was a bit off since I can't find anywhere as a pro where he had a 5:1 K:BB ratio or twice as many walks as K's, but this seems like a shot at the Orioles development. I find it interesting that he said he was broken and had to completely rebuild his foundation. 

Not saying this guy is suddenly a prospect, but he went out of way to say how broken he was when he left the Orioles organization. I don't have anything to add here other than a I find the comments interesting.

[Frobby]

Do you think he’s implying he was poorly coached?    Or did he just have his own issues?   From what I see he never had a 5-1 K/BB nor did he ever walk more than he struck out.    He only pitched 2 games for Aberdeen in 2015 — why?    Was he released, or did he quit?   (Looks like he was released.)

[ChrisP]

I’m sure these young men are devasted when they’re told the don’t have what it takes. It’s probably the only thing they’ve ever known. Baseball 24/7 from 6-22 years old or whatever.

[rudyrooster]

Sour grapes.

[ShoelesJoe]

I winder if Brian Matusz might have a similar story to tell one day. 

[Tony-OH]

47 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Do you think he’s implying he was poorly coached?    Or did he just have his own issues?   From what I see he never had a 5-1 K/BB nor did he ever walk more than he struck out.    He only pitched 2 games for Aberdeen in 2015 — why?    Was he released, or did he quit?   (Looks like he was released.)

He was released. It sounded like to me that he was implying that the Orioles either broke him or weren't able to fix him. I just found it interesting. I really am not making any assessment on the truth of the matter because honestly, he was never really a prospect so I never really paid a lot of attention to him when he was in the organization. Just though the comments were interesting.

[Flacco Machado]

Tony, do you have any insight into John Wasdin? I never see any quotes from him about pitchers down on the farm. 

 

[Tony-OH]

5 minutes ago, Flacco Machado said:

Tony, do you have any insight into John Wasdin? I never see any quotes from him about pitchers down on the farm. 

 

I've talked to him a few times. Seems like a knowledgeable guy but honestly haven't heard anything good or bad about him. 

[Flacco Machado]

11 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I've talked to him a few times. Seems like a knowledgeable guy but honestly haven't heard anything good or bad about him. 

Thanks. I found this article, about Wasdin, from last year.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-offday-0411-20170410-story.html

[esmd]

Who?

Look, I'm not saying that we don't have some issues in the organization, but I'm not going to indict the organization and development program based on the comments of a marginal minor leaguer.  Especially a 24 year old who's had a couple of good outings in A ball.

[LarryBigbie]

Local kid who was drafted in 2nd and signed with Red Sox rather than heading to UNC made a stop in the O’s organization next. Currently with Rockies. Anyways, across numerous conversations he made it very clear that the Orioles system was considerably different from the others he spent time in. Made mentions that there is very little communication and many players are left wondering about their role within the organization. This could be a case by case perception, but I felt it went hand in hand without Tony’s share. 

[Luke-OH]

2 minutes ago, LarryBigbie said:

Local kid who was drafted in 2nd and signed with Red Sox rather than heading to UNC made a stop in the O’s organization next. Currently with Rockies. Anyways, across numerous conversations he made it very clear that the Orioles system was considerably different from the others he spent time in. Made mentions that there is very little communication and many players are left wondering about their role within the organization. This could be a case by case perception, but I felt it went hand in hand without Tony’s share. 

Are we talking about the same guy here? Rennie was a California HS kid drafted by the Orioles in the 16th round. If not, who are you talking about?

[LarryBigbie]

Derrik Gibson. Was in organization in 2015. Knowing how many years he spent in Boston organization prior it was rather disappointing to hear. 

[Enjoy Terror]

http://www.maxpreps.com/m/career/gendersport/stats.aspx?careerid=e2f46cb6-ecf4-e211-99e4-002655e6c126&gendersport=boys,baseball

Rennie was 102K/22BB in high school, which was probably what he was talking about.

[weams]

42 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

http://www.maxpreps.com/m/career/gendersport/stats.aspx?careerid=e2f46cb6-ecf4-e211-99e4-002655e6c126&gendersport=boys,baseball

Rennie was 102K/22BB in high school, which was probably what he was talking about.

Oh. High School.