Hunter Harvey called up

[Greg Pappas]

Just heard Bryan Harvey (former All-Star closer and Hunter's father) on 105.7 talking about watching Hunter live last night.  He was obviously excited and thought Hunter looked good, though he was concerned that the splitter was not at the level it needs to be.  Bryan also said it was notably better in AA, but has regressed a bit at AAA and last night. He went on to say that he'll help tweak it to get it where it needs to be, but these balls are much slicker than what he is used to. He also mentioned bad luck with injuries as part of the equation for what has delayed Hunter's progress.  Cool interview.

[TGO]

Several pitchers with splitters have complained about the ball this year. The one I remember is Tanaka. Will see if I can find that article. 

Edit: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/sports/baseball/yankees-masahiro-tanaka-splitter.html

[Flash- bd]

Does this mean we're officially giving up on him as a starter? 

[now]

5 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Not really, but I’d lump them in with Tate/Phillips/etc...  I think they’d be better in defined bullpen roles. Like how Buck used Castro on the “B” squad of the pen. 

In the ST bullpen format we have, I don’t think many will flourish and they haven’t. Only Means has emerged. But we’re not going to be in a position to have basically “defined” bullpen roles for a long time. 

We could have a decent pen If our rotation was top 20. 

CL - Givens

SU - Armstrong

SU/LOOGY - Fry

MR - Harvey

MR - Wojo

B squad 

LR - Rotate fresh arm from minors

2 of Castro, Bleier, Scott, Tate, Kline

But it’s an exercise in futility...

You lost me with 
CL - Givens

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, Flash- bd said:

Does this mean we're officially giving up on him as a starter? 

It does seem like that ship has sailed. His father even indicated that Hunter was more comfortable just going "out there to throw" rather than trying to go seven innings.

[Flash- bd]

That’s sad to me. I’d still like to see him given a chance as a starter if his arm holds up for a season or two. But yeah, it looks pretty definitive his move to the pen. 

[TonySoprano]

 

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

It does seem like that ship has sailed. His father even indicated that Hunter was more comfortable just going "out there to throw" rather than trying to go seven innings.

32 minutes ago, Flash- bd said:

That’s sad to me. I’d still like to see him given a chance as a starter if his arm holds up for a season or two. But yeah, it looks pretty definitive his move to the pen. 

24th in save opportunities,  22 in save %, and 28th in saves.   The Orioles will need to start winning again to really need a closer.

[wildcard]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

It does seem like that ship has sailed. His father even indicated that Hunter was more comfortable just going "out there to throw" rather than trying to go seven innings.

I would say he is a reliever for the near future.  Its hard to see that far into the future.  In a few years he could be tried in the starter role again depend on what the O's need going into the season.  JMO

[tntoriole]

Just now, wildcard said:

I would say he is a reliever for the near future.  Its hard to see that far into the future.  In a few years he could be tried in the starter role again depend on what the O's need going into the season.  JMO

Given the bleak landscape of our bullpen, if Hunter is even marginally capable, he will have a major league job for years.

[wildcard]

58 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

Given the bleak landscape of our bullpen, 

And rotation.

[yark14]

5 hours ago, Ripken said:

I don't care about the mullet but that pornstache gotta go.

They both gotta stay.

[24fps]

1 hour ago, yark14 said:

They both gotta stay.

Oh yeah.  Absolutely.  It's the Mountain Man beard look that has gotten stale.  

[Philip]

The interview with Bryan Harvey was really good because Harvey was looking at Hunter as a pitcher and not as “my son who can do no wrong.”

His comments were valuable and a far cry from the useless claptrap we have often gotten before.

the problem is that lots of guys seem destined for the bullpen: Tate, Wojo, Ortiz, etc. how many of our starters will actually  remain starters?

[Philip]

16 hours ago, wildcard said:

So you are giving up on Scott and Kline?

Ummmm I would love some encouraging words about Scott. It’s hard to give up on a 100 MPH Arm. But...

[sportsfan8703]

17 hours ago, Greg Pappas said:

Just heard Bryan Harvey (former All-Star closer and Hunter's father) on 105.7 talking about watching Hunter live last night.  He was obviously excited and thought Hunter looked good, though he was concerned that the splitter was not at the level it needs to be.  Bryan also said it was notably better in AA, but has regressed a bit at AAA and last night. He went on to say that he'll help tweak it to get it where it needs to be, but these balls are much slicker than what he is used to. He also mentioned bad luck with injuries as part of the equation for what has delayed Hunter's progress.  Cool interview.

This makes me feel like Harvey will continue to progress. He has the benefit of his dad being Bryan Harvey. We should embrace Bryan Harvey and see if he can teach the splitter to other pitchers.