Blaine Knight 2019

[cboemmeljr]

6 hours ago, NCRaven said:

I hope you got the walks to k’s backward!

He's 3-0, 0.68 ERA, 5 games, 26.2 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 33 K, .125 BAA, 0.56 WHIP

[WalkWithElias]

3 hours ago, cboemmeljr said:

He's 3-0, 0.68 ERA, 5 games, 26.2 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 33 K, .125 BAA, 0.56 WHIP

Maybe if we all pitch in a few bucks, we can get him bus ticket to Frederick. 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, cboemmeljr said:

He's 3-0, 0.68 ERA, 5 games, 26.2 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 33 K, .125 BAA, 0.56 WHIP

Just for comparison’s sake, Zac Lowther’s stats when promoted last year were: 3-1, 1.16 ERA, 31.0 IP, 12 H, 9 BB, 51 K, 0.68 WHIP.   He had a short stint on the IL in the middle of that, so the last of his six starts at Delmarva came on May 23.     Baumann actually was promoted first, on May 14, having been healthy the whole time and posting: 5-0, 1.66 ERA, 38.0 IP, 23 H, 13 BB, 47 K’s, 0.95 WHIP.

Of course, this is a new front office and we don’t know how quickly they’ll make promotions.   

[LookinUp]

There are others on this board better qualified than me to make this point, but it needs to be said.

Blaine Knight is an advanced pitching prospect who competed (and excelled/often dominated) at the top levels of college baseball. It is unsurprising that he can dominate Delmarva. His floor is high. However, while the results are nice, the questions about his major league potential remain the same until he does this at higher levels and/or we start getting reports about his command in the zone (high HR rate in college) and improved secondaries, particularly the change up. 

This guy could max out as not quite good enough, whatever that subjective statement means. He could also take a couple of developmental steps that really make his star shine more brightly and turn into a good or better ML starter. We just don't know from his glowing stats in Low-A ball if that is happening.

[Cumberbundy]

 

 

[orioles22]

He should be pitching Thursday, but he's not listed as the starter. Rodridguez is listed for Friday though.

[rudyrooster]

3 hours ago, orioles22 said:

He should be pitching Thursday, but he's not listed as the starter. Rodridguez is listed for Friday though.

Could possibly skip him this time around.  Limit his innings a bit.

[orioles22]

Maybe, but the Delmarva guys are only pitching 6 innings one game a week. I'd like to see him pitch two more strong games, then move on to Frederick. He could get a rest before moving up.

[Luke-OH]

8 hours ago, orioles22 said:

He should be pitching Thursday, but he's not listed as the starter. Rodridguez is listed for Friday though.

I’d guess either he’s getting promoted or Bleier is pitching the first inning as part of his rehab.

[Frobby]

In his Frederick debut, Knight allowed one run in 6 IP, yielding 2 hits and a walk while striking out 5.     He threw 53 of 80 pitches for strikes, getting 10 ground outs vs. one fly out.    Terrific start to his time in A+.

[LookinUp]

On 4/5/2019 at 7:49 AM, Luke-OH said:

... 

Blaine Knight was 90-93 mostly, some mild armside life, some general FB command, but not precise. Curveball with good 12-6 shape in the mid 70s, dropped in a few for strikes, not really used as an out pitch. Slider in the 82ish range, didn't have any command of the pitch, looked a little different than his college slider/cutter, less velocity more horizontal action, distinct from the CB, but like I said, didn't command it well enough to be useful. Only threw a couple changeups, and they weren't very good, kind of a slow fastball, decent arm speed, but didn't look like he had the pitch yesterday. 

The fastball for Knight is very hittable on the plate, especially in the low 90s, that's going to be the main challenge for him going forward. He needs to add velocity, improve FB command, or become more comfortable pitching backwards. I think there is a some chance all of those things happen to some degree, but until I see some of it, the reasonable ceiling for me is probably #4 SP. 

 

 

I just accidentally came across this post from Luke that I hadn't seen yet. It was on 4/5 of this year, and in the minor league game summaries tab in the Orioles Talk forum. It pre-dates this thread. I'd be curious to know how/if the profile has changed since just 6 weeks ago. I sure hope this was a relatively bad night for the kid, because it does temper my enthusiasm.

 

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, LookinUp said:

 

 

I just accidentally came across this post from Luke that I hadn't seen yet. It was on 4/5 of this year, and in the minor league game summaries tab in the Orioles Talk forum. It pre-dates this thread. I'd be curious to know how/if the profile has changed since just 6 weeks ago. I sure hope this was a relatively bad night for the kid, because it does temper my enthusiasm.

His feel for the offspeed pitches have improved based on the 5/2 start, slider and curveball have both been significant weapons for him. He’s did what I mentioned which is pitch backwards. His fastball still gives up a bunch of hard contact in the zone, he allowed 2-3 fence scrapers that could have gone out on a different night.

I think it’s good to temper the enthusiasm, teams didn’t just miss on him, he was available where he was for a reason (not to say he wasn’t good value at the spot, he was). But he allowed the most HR of any pitcher in the SEC last year by a comfortable margin. It’s because the FB is mostly straight with average spin and average RH velocity.

[Frobby]

Knight’s line tonight was a little misleading: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K’s.

Knight’s game started with four consecutive batters reaching base:  single, error, single, double.   Fortunately on the double a runner was thrown out at the plate.    Knight got the next two outs and limited the damage to two runs, one earned.

Knight pretty well cruised through the next four innings, allowing a double and a couple of walks and suffering a second Jomar Reyes error.

I was surprised that they sent Knight out for the sixth inning.   He allowed a walk and a single, then got pulled.   Unfortunately for Knight, they relieved him with Mathias Dietz, who then did what Dietz does: HBP to load the bases, wild pitch to score a run and advance the runners.   That allowed the second inherited runner to score on a ground out, so  Knight ended up yielding 4 runs (3 earned) on the night.

 

[orioles22]

I thought he was going to get out with a win. Pretty solid for five innings.

[bobmc]

On 5/17/2019 at 9:25 PM, Frobby said:

Knight’s line tonight was a little misleading: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K’s.

Knight’s game started with four consecutive batters reaching base:  single, error, single, double.   Fortunately on the double a runner was thrown out at the plate.    Knight got the next two outs and limited the damage to two runs, one earned.

Knight pretty well cruised through the next four innings, allowing a double and a couple of walks and suffering a second Jomar Reyes error.

I was surprised that they sent Knight out for the sixth inning.   He allowed a walk and a single, then got pulled.   Unfortunately for Knight, they relieved him with Mathias Dietz, who then did what Dietz does: HBP to load the bases, wild pitch to score a run and advance the runners.   That allowed the second inherited runner to score on a ground out, so  Knight ended up yielding 4 runs (3 earned) on the night.

 

Rich Dubroff was there and got some quotes.  Knight said:

“I thought it was O.K.,” Knight said. “ I was really battling with a lot of stuff. Couldn’t get my body synched up. I had innings I was really on, and I had innings I had to just battle. You’re not going to have your best stuff every time you go out so you’re always going to be battling something. Just got to go out and limit damage and keep your team in the game. I did that, so I’m not too upset about it.”

“The hitters are definitely better,” Knight said. “This reminds me more of college…The hitters have a little better approach. They’re a little more aggressive. More mistakes get hit. Nothing big. I’ve done it for three years in college, and I have to get used to facing those kinds of hitters again. Then, I’ll be all right.”

Knight has walked four batters in 11 innings for Frederick. That’s as many as he walked in more than twice the innings in the South Atlantic League.

“Their pitch selection is better,” Knight says of the hitters he’s now facing.

“They give you a lot of swings in the Sally league that you won’t get here. They don’t chase a lot. I try to keep them off the plate. I try to keep them from squaring everything up. Hats off to those guys. They made me work for it. “