What of Bundy?

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I know.  But if you're going to point to 2017 and April of last year as to why he can be a decent starter and ignore the rest of 2018...well, I'm going to point to the majority of last year as to why he can't.  

And apparently today he wasn't breaking 90 later in his start today.    Now maybe that's just ST, and he's working at 90%, but it's getting closer to real games.  

I don't have faith that he can be 92-94 all year.  I'm not sure why I should.  

 

I want Bundy to make it as a starter, but I’m getting a feeling his future is in the bullpen. 

[ChuckS]

11 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I know.  But if you're going to point to 2017 and April of last year as to why he can be a decent starter and ignore the rest of 2018...well, I'm going to point to the majority of last year as to why he can't.  

And apparently today he wasn't breaking 90 later in his start today.    Now maybe that's just ST, and he's working at 90%, but it's getting closer to real games.  

I don't have faith that he can be 92-94 all year.  I'm not sure why I should.  

 

I'm not ignoring the rest of 2018 and that's not even what my post was about.  I was responding to someone who said he needs to be in the high 90's to be effective with his fastball, which is a ridiculous statement. 

You shouldn't have faith that he can be 92-94 all year and nowhere did I say I expect him to be 92-94 when the season begins.  That's what happened last April, but he wasn't able to carry it through the season and I'm not expecting him to this year either.  Still, it's his only chance of having a bounce back season IMO. 

I think they need to look at removing calcium deposits from his shoulder tendons.  I know nothing about the viability of a surgery like that, but that's probably his best chance to see some velocity come back and him be able to maintain it. 

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, ChuckS said:

I'm not ignoring the rest of 2018 and that's not even what my post was about.  I was responding to someone who said he needs to be in the high 90's to be effective with his fastball, which is a ridiculous statement. 

You shouldn't have faith that he can 92-95 all year and nowhere did I say I expect him to be 92-94 when the season begins.  That's what happened last April, but he wasn't able to carry it through the season and I'm not expecting him to this year either.  Still, it's his only chance of having a bounce back season IMO. 

Yep, my point is that his days of being effective are over, I think.  And I know you didn't say you expect him to be 92-94.

It's unfortunate, there's not enough movement to his fastball to be effective at that 89 range and as people have noted in this thread, he can't keep it out of the middle of the plate.  

I wouldn't be surprised if he starts this year like last one, but can't carry that 92-94 all season and gets lit up like he did last year.  

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I want Bundy to make it as a starter, but I’m getting a feeling his future is in the bullpen. 

Only if working shorter stints means he can get that fastball back in that 94 range.  If he really does end up sitting at 90 or so, it won't matter if he's in the bullpen or not.  

[scOtt]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yep, my point is that his days of being effective are over, I think.  And I know you didn't say you expect him to be 92-94.

It's unfortunate, there's not enough movement to his fastball to be effective at that 89 range and as people have noted in this thread, he can't keep it out of the middle of the plate.  

I wouldn't be surprised if he starts this year like last one, but can't carry that 92-94 all season and gets lit up like he did last year.  

They can measure spin rate, but can they develop it?

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Only if working shorter stints means he can get that fastball back in that 94 range.  If he really does end up sitting at 90 or so, it won't matter if he's in the bullpen or not.  

That is my line of thought, but yeah that won’t work if Bundy can’t get his velocity up.

[sportsfan8703]

If he struggles as a SP, I don’t really care. Bundy won’t be here when we’re competing again. Put him in the pen. Make him a set up man. Top relievers have more value now than middling SP. 

Our roster is young and versatile enough to try and maximize the vets value to trade them. Plus we have the piece of mind that W/L doesn’t matter. 

This season is going to be painful because of the SP, but provide hope because of the position players. 

[sylvester]

He caught a case of the tillmans

[Hank Scorpio]

I have astronomically low expectations.

The Orioles inability to develop starting pitching is jaw dropping. You'd think they'd run into one at some point along the way.

[Bubble Buddy]

8 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I have astronomically low expectations.

The Orioles inability to develop starting pitching is jaw dropping. You'd think they'd run into one at some point along the way.

I think we run into them some times. We've just ruined them, which is basically your point.

It may be a stretch but the one that comes to mind to me is Brian Matusz. I vividly remember his dominance the back half of 2010. That may have been more Buck than anyone with his TTTP. But still. And we kept running him out there in 2011 when clearly something wasn't right. Whether it was mental or physical.

He had about as nice of a rookie season as any 23 year old pitcher would. 

[clapdiddy]

12 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I have astronomically low expectations.

The Orioles inability to develop starting pitching is jaw dropping. You'd think they'd run into one at some point along the way.

Hopefully, the new regime will do a better job to develop pitching.   I can't see how they could be worse.   

[OFFNY]

o

 

Mullins and Bundy with Big Nights for the Orioles

(By Roch Kubatko)

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2019/03/mullins-and-bundy-with-big-nights-for-orioles.html

 

 

(THE BUNDY PORTIONS OF THE ARTICLE)

 

Meanwhile, any concerns about Dylan Bundy’s spring were softened by his outing against the Red Sox. He became the first Orioles pitch to go more than five innings, retiring the only batter he faced in the sixth on a fly ball.

Bundy allowed one run and five hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. He threw 68 pitches, and 48 were strikes.

“Overall, all of the pitches tonight I thought I was executing a lot better,” he said. “Not one in particular, but all of them in general I felt good with tonight. Just executing where I wanted the ball more.”

Bundy didn’t allow a run over the first two innings, retiring the side in order in the second on only eight pitches, but got into a major jam in the third by loading the bases with no outs on three singles ........ but an implosion didn’t materialize. Eduardo Núñez grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to tie the game, and Rafael Devers struck out on Bundy’s 24th pitch of the inning.

Success also can be measured in damage control.

“Bases loaded with nobody out is a tough one,” he said, smiling. “I got the double play though, and get out of the inning with just one run, so I was able to limit the damage as much as I could, especially considering the bases loaded with no outs situation.”

Jackie Bradley Jr. singled with two outs in the fourth inning, and Jesús Sucre threw him out trying to steal 2nd base. A 12-pitch inning left Bundy at 57 pitches overall, and poised to come back out for the fifth.

A nine-pitch fifth opened the door for Bundy to come back out for the sixth, while Bleier kept warming in the bullpen. Andrew Benintendi flied to right field after singling in his first two plate appearances earlier in the game, and manager Brandon Hyde made the change.

Bundy had allowed 14 runs and 22 hits in 11.67 innings before tonight. He’s now feeling “pretty close” to being ready for the start of the season.

“There were a couple of backup sliders that I threw in that third inning when I was ahead in the count that I had to get down and away for either a swing and a miss, or weaker contact ........ but overall, yeah, I felt pretty good,” he said.

“Today, I felt like my curveball was pretty good. I was able to get a strikeout on it against Devers. I wouldn’t say that anything is a lot better or anything like that, but I’ve been trying to work on the changeup and the curveball more to some right-handed hitters, and today I was able to accomplish that.”

Asked whether or not analytics are showing that the changeup and curveball can be better if used more, Bundy replied, “I think that analytics show pretty much every pitch that I throw can be better.”

Cue the laughter.

“No, not necessarily,” he continued. “Just me personally, I was wanting to work on those two pitches this spring just to give more looks (I guess) to each of the individual hitters, right- and left-handed.”

 

o

[Natty]

Bundy looked good. He was throwing mostly strikes and getting ahead of batters. He was getting lots of swings and misses on his breaking stuff. No walks. No HR allowed. LOL. He didn't even look like he was running out of gas when they took him out in the 6th with one out. I was impressed. Somehow he turned it around tonight. I hope he keeps it up. I had almost given up on him and he came back tonight against the Red Sox with a very good start. 

[turtlebowl]

I actually thought he got a little lucky. Some fly balls Boston hit were just missed.  

My biggest take still was fastball command was marginal at best. I saw on several occasions where the catcher was sittting on the inside corner and he yanked the fastball a foot outside. I just wonder if he has no trust in throwing a fastball. Has to be tough knowing at 1 point he could throw it by people and now he has a below average major league fastball. 

[mdbdotcom]

No home runs! No home runs! JD Martinez and Mookie Betts weren't in the lineup, but still, No home runs! No home runs!