What Do the Orioles See in Shawn Armstrong?

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

It was 41 innings and he was 25 years old.

The year before, his MiL numbers were good but again, he was an advanced age for his league.

Its not really that impressive.

It probably buys him some time in Bowie to see if he can get straightened out.

[weams]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

There is some good upside in the arm of Armstrong..and he had some positive peripherals last year, despite a high ERA.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he becomes a solid BP piece for a while..just as it wouldn’t surprise me if he is a DFA guy and out of baseball in a year.

Right now, I think he is one the guys in the pen that should be used for high leverage situations.

 

I never need to see Carroll pitch again.  He isnt a MLer.  He has zero idea where the ball is going and while he throws hard, his stuff is pretty mediocre.

Armstrong appears to be a good dependable reliever who believes in modern pitching approaches and data analysis. I think that is what the Orioles see in him. 

[Ruzious]

Armstrong actually pitched fairly well at Baltimore last season.  He got hit much harder on the road.  

[HowAboutThat]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

I would not give up on Carroll yet. 

I would. It’s possible to look at a player and see a fundamental problem. Accuracy is the hardest thing to develop.

Everyone says “look at Randy Johnson” so yeah, it does happen, but a hard-throwing guy failing because he can’t control the ball may be the biggest group of failures. Mike Wright got three years.

[Big Mac]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

It was 41 innings and he was 25 years old.

The year before, his MiL numbers were good but again, he was an advanced age for his league.

Its not really that impressive.

I'd like to find some video of him in AAA in 2018...I have a pretty good guess as to how he was successful there and it won't work up here. 

[OFFNY]

14 hours ago, Oriole1940 said:

 

This is funny. For years when people put down a player on this board, he would come up with an excellent performance that very night, or the next day. Reverse psychology.  

 

o

 

Your overall point is taken, although the thread was started in February.

o

[OFFNY]

o

 

(AUGUST 4th)

 

Seeing Some Individual Player Improvement During a 5-3 Start

(By Steve Melewski)

https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2020/08/seeing-some-individual-player-improvement-during-a-5-3-start.html

 

 

Right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong has a chance to be another case. He believes that some adjustments the coaches worked with him on during four days of a January mini-camp could be beneficial.

In his first 4 years in the Major Leagues, in parts of 2015 through 2018, Armstrong pitched to a 2.95 ERA in 53 games with a 1.138 WHIP, a 3.1 walk rate and a strikeout rate of 8.2 per every nine innings. Then in 2019, he posted a 5.13 ERA with the Orioles in 51 games with a 1.546 WHIP.

So he went to work with coaches Doug Brocail and Chris Holt in January on everything from mechanics to the shape of his pitches, particularly his cutter/slider. Coaches even thought that there may have been times he was tipping some pitches.

“We made some changes with the shape of the cutter, just to play (better) off my fastball,” Armstrong told me in this interview during the first spring training. “We’ve got that nailed down pretty good right now. TrackMan (data) and my live BP showed that it was right back to where it was in previous years. I’m focused less on velocity now than attacking ........ attack, attack, attack. When I do get ahead, my numbers are pretty good.”

Armstrong’s throwing error was costly in Saturday’s win, and led to 2 unearned runs against him. But over 3 innings for the season he has allowed two hits and no earned runs, with one walk and four strikeouts. Last year he threw his fastball 59 percent, and this year (so far), that is down to 36 percent. His slider usage has gone up from 29 to 54 percent.

“Having those guys (Brocail and Holt) in your corner has been very beneficial,” said Armstrong. “You get all different perspectives of the game. Making those adjustments kind of just simplified the task for me to be more efficient and on time with my delivery. The most important thing is to be consistent. So, I feel good about where I’m at right now ........ I just want to come in and pound the strike zone. Get in and get out as quickly as possible. I want to keep it rolling and stay consistent.”

During a Zoom interview Sunday, Armstrong was asked if he is comfortable playing the Marlins right now after their COVID-19 outbreak. The clubs are expected to play (weather permitting) 4 games over the next 3 days ........ “I think so. The Orioles have done a phenomenal job doing everything they can possibly do to keep us safe. I don’t think that we are stressed too much about the Marlins coming in. We’re doing our part here on and off the field, and are controlling what we can control. We’re going to take care of one another, and hold each other accountable,” he said.

Armstrong is part of a bullpen that has lost Richard Bleier - via trade to the Marlins - but has been excelling without him so far. The Orioles' bullpen gave up just two earned runs in 14.67 innings over the weekend against Tampa Bay. Since the bullpen pitchers allowed nine runs on opening night in Boston, the ERA for the bullpen is 2.78 over the past seven games.

 

o

[weams]

 

[Woody Held]

Ben’s been hanging around too much with Mike Bordick

[OFFNY]

o

 

(vs. MARLINS, 8/06)

 

Entered the game with a runner on 3rd base, and only 1 out ........ he stranded that runner by striking out Berti, and getting Cervelli to line out.

He pitched an additional inning, getting all 3 batters that he faced.

5 Up, 5 Down.

21 Pitches )(14 )Strikes,)7 )Balls.)

 

o

[OFFNY]

o

 

(vs. NATIONALS, 8/08)

 

Another solid outing for Armstrong.

0 Walks and 2 Strikeouts over 1.67 scoreless Innings Pitched, although he did cede a Run to an inherited base-runner.

He has yet to be charged with an Earned Run of his own so far in this still very-young season, spanning a total of 6.33 Innings Pitched.

 

o

[HowAboutThat]

On 2/5/2020 at 10:13 AM, Frobby said:

Saying Givens is not as good as he used to be is understandable, saying that Armstrong is probably better is a difficult position to defend.   

After tonight’s(aug 8 against the Nats) I came back to the beginning of this thread and have read a lot of these early comments with interest.
I don’t know whether Or not Givens is better than Armstrong, but Givens has only four innings so far this season, behind everyone in the pen Except Fry, Carroll and the departed Bleier.

that probably means something, but I have no idea what. But maybe Weams wasn’t trolling? 

 

 

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, Philip said:

After tonight’s(aug 8 against the Nats) I came back to the beginning of this thread and have read a lot of these early comments with interest.
I don’t know whether Or not Givens is better than Armstrong, but Givens has only four innings so far this season, behind everyone in the pen Except Fry, Carroll and the departed Bleier.

that probably means something, but I have no idea what. But maybe Weams wasn’t trolling? 

 

 

Givens is having problem with ihs velocity.   He used to 95-96.  When his comes in a game now he is 92.  He does increase it as he goes along in the game.

[HowAboutThat]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Givens is having problem with ihs velocity.   He used to 95-96.  When his comes in a game now he is 92.  He does increase it as he goes along in the game.

So this is a typical start of the season for him? Or it is indicative of a problem?

[weams]

6 minutes ago, Philip said:

After tonight’s(aug 8 against the Nats) I came back to the beginning of this thread and have read a lot of these early comments with interest.
I don’t know whether Or not Givens is better than Armstrong, but Givens has only four innings so far this season, behind everyone in the pen Except Fry, Carroll and the departed Bleier.

that probably means something, but I have no idea what. But maybe Weams wasn’t trolling? 

 

 

Weams wasn’t trolling.