Thoughts about David Hess in 2019?

[Frobby]

Random topic for a slow day.   David Hess looked pretty good at times in 2018, pretty bad at other times.

First 5 games: 3.07 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Next 7 games: 10.50 ERA, 1.96 WHIP

Final 9 games: 3.24 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

Overall: 4.88 ERA, 1.38 WHIP

My sense is, his overall stat line is pretty indicative of who he is.    Not horrible for a back-end starter, but not likely to progress far beyond that.   

Am I being too harsh here?    Too generous?

[weams]

Opening Day!

[VaBird1]

17 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Random topic for a slow day.   David Hess looked pretty good at times in 2018, pretty bad at other times.

First 5 games: 3.07 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Next 7 games: 10.50 ERA, 1.96 WHIP

Final 9 games: 3.24 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

Overall: 4.88 ERA, 1.38 WHIP

My sense is, his overall stat line is pretty indicative of who he is.    Not horrible for a back-end starter, but not likely to progress far beyond that.   

Am I being too harsh here?    Too generous?

Best ERA of any Oriole starter last season!

[Rene88]

19 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Random topic for a slow day.   David Hess looked pretty good at times in 2018, pretty bad at other times.

First 5 games: 3.07 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

Next 7 games: 10.50 ERA, 1.96 WHIP

Final 9 games: 3.24 ERA, 1.22 WHIP

Overall: 4.88 ERA, 1.38 WHIP

My sense is, his overall stat line is pretty indicative of who he is.    Not horrible for a back-end starter, but not likely to progress far beyond that.   

Am I being too harsh here?    Too generous?

You said last year he was a bullpen arm, right? Keep the bar low for my boy Hess and he will keep proving you wrong.

[tntoriole]

Josh Towers, step right up.  

[Satyr3206]

I think he'll be a solid 4, maybe fringe 3 starter going forward.

[amdcpus]

He is our 2nd best starter. 

[drjohnnyfeva]

Cy Young!

We're going worst to first... or Furst.

[Frobby]

45 minutes ago, Rene88 said:

You said last year he was a bullpen arm, right? Keep the bar low for my boy Hess and he will keep proving you wrong.

Not exactly.     Here's a link to everything I've said about Hess in the last 12 months:  http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/index.php?/search/&q=hess&page=1&author=Frobby&search_and_or=or&start_after=year

I think it's fair to say that I've been squarely on the fence about Hess, and I've kept an open mind at all times.   I did say, before last season started, that I thought it was "more likely that Hess turns out to be a reliever at the big league level," but wanted him used as a starter at Norfolk to see how he developed, noting that he made progress in the second half of 2017.    You can see that this is the only time I ever made a mention of Hess and the bullpen, and it was in reaction to some people wanting to convert Hess to the bullpen at the outset of the 2017 season, which I was against.

So am I convinced that Hess will do well enough to stay in the rotation long term?    No, but I'm not convinced he won't, either.    And if that's wishy-washy, so be it.    As I said in the OP, Hess' performance has been kind of up and down, and I can't quite tell where he's going to land.   I hope you are right and that he turns into a reliable starter.   But I won't consider that to be "proving [me] wrong," because I've never been very sure either way.

 

[Moose Milligan]

He's a 4th or 5th starter with middling stuff.  

[mdbdotcom]

He and one or two other pitchers on this team could probably benefit from having an opener (hard-throwing reliever) face the first six guys in the lineup. He comes in to face the bottom of the order and gets his feet under himself in a non-pressure situation.

[interloper]

I like his curveball. Interested to see how he does. The fact that he seemed to adjust is promising and pretty much what he's done at every level, no?

Ceiling is a Bud Norris good year.

[wildcard]

Hess was better than I thought  he would be.   He progressed in the 2nd half.   He is currently the O's 3rd best starter.   Probably 5th on a good team.

Let's see if he can do what he did in the 2nd half for a full season.  He has earned the chance to try.  And let's see if the O's put a decent defensive team on the field to back him up.

[VaBird1]

50 minutes ago, interloper said:

I like his curveball. Interested to see how he does. The fact that he seemed to adjust is promising and pretty much what he's done at every level, no?

Ceiling is a Bud Norris good year.

I had started to type the same thing!

[Legend_Of_Joey]

I think he could be a 4th starter on the team.

His stats last season say that he had a good first couple of games, then the league adjusted to him once some tape was out. Then he made some adjustments over the last 9 games.