Dillon Tate activated from IL, Phillips optioned

[Sports Guy]

14 minutes ago, wildcard said:

It was time to option Phillips.   Its a pretty high jump for Tate even though he is 26.   He has 9 innings AAA,

Tate would have started with the team had he not been hurt.  He was very good when moved to reliever at Bowie last year.

He certainly has a lot of improvement to go but I like the potential a lot.  No need for him to be in the minors.

[OFFNY]

o

 

With the Orioles' starters at-large not going deep into games, my general feeling is that the more that the AAA-Norfolk/AA-Bowie/Baltimore shuttle is used this season, the better (especially in regard to pitchers.)

 

o

[interloper]

I remember Tate doing better later in his stint with the club last season and the numbers mostly bear that out. 

He got into 16 games, which comes with an obvious small sample caveat, but:

First 8 games: 7.62 ERA (3 home runs in his first 2 appearances)

Last 8 games: 4.50 ERA (0 home runs)

The O's also started him off with multiple-inning appearances and then moved to using him more in 1-inning outings. Maybe that helped? 

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, SteveA said:

Heard my first rumbling yesterday when Roch reported Tate was close.

Who would have guessed Harvey would be out longer than Tate.   When Tate's injury happened, a few days later Brocail reported that Tate's elbow was swollen to the size of a grapefruit.   Harvey was "day to day" for the first several days he was injured.

Every time I've heard Harvey is day to day, he's been shutdown for a long extended time. So count me as a guy who is not expecting to see much or any of Harvey this year. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong but unfortunately the young man doesn't last long and doesn't heal particularly fast. 

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, interloper said:

Phillips has no upside or ability to command the baseball, but Tate offers both. I welcome this move.

I don't know about Tate commanding the ball already. That's really been his issue. His raw stuff is major league ready, but his command is what has held him back.

His sinker was his best pitch last year, particularly when he keeps it down in the zone, and the changeup was pretty good, particularity against lefties. The slider flashed plus at times but it flatters out occasionally and he can get hit pretty hard.

Either way, I like him way more than Phillips or Carroll and do believe he still brings a little bit of upside.

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

With the Orioles' starters at-large not going deep into games, my general feeling is that the more that the AAA-Norfolk/AA-Bowie/Baltimore shuttle is used this season, the better (especially in regard to pitchers.)

 

o

o

 

On the subject of Oriole starters not going deep ........

 

Orioles Praising 'Pen, While Also Searching for More Substantial Starts

(By Roch Kubatko) 

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/08/orioles-praising-pen-while-also-searching-for-more-substantial-starts.html

 

o

[scOtt]

6 hours ago, SteveA said:

Heard my first rumbling yesterday when Roch reported Tate was close.

Who would have guessed Harvey would be out longer than Tate.   When Tate's injury happened, a few days later Brocail reported that Tate's elbow was swollen to the size of a grapefruit.   Harvey was "day to day" for the first several days he was injured.

What is the latest word on Harvey? Really injured? Just being extra careful? Is he even throwing?

[Sports Guy]

You saw Tate’s issue last night.  The home run ball has hurt him early on.  He gave up one but almost gave up 3.  

He throws a lot of “bad strikes”.  He needs to get more command of the corners.  Thats what it will all be about for him.  He either learns that and could then become very good or he doesn’t and is just another 4.50ish ERA, dime a dozen BP arm.

[Can_of_corn]

11 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

You saw Tate’s issue last night.  The home run ball has hurt him early on.  He gave up one but almost gave up 3.  

He throws a lot of “bad strikes”.  He needs to get more command of the corners.  Thats what it will all be about for him.  He either learns that and could then become very good or he doesn’t and is just another 4.50ish ERA, dime a dozen BP arm.

I've yet to see anything from Tate that suggested to me he could be a lock down guy in the pen.  He looks like a guy.

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

You saw Tate’s issue last night.  The home run ball has hurt him early on.  He gave up one but almost gave up 3.  

He throws a lot of “bad strikes”.  He needs to get more command of the corners.  Thats what it will all be about for him.  He either learns that and could then become very good or he doesn’t and is just another 4.50ish ERA, dime a dozen BP arm.

Yeah, that's who he has been in the minors as well. He really can throw some nice pitches (so can Evan Phillips) but it's the quality of strikes that tends to hurt him. He just leaves too many of his sinkers up in the zone where they become very, very hittable. 

 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Yeah, that's who he has been in the minors as well. He really can throw some nice pitches (so can Evan Phillips) but it's the quality of strikes that tends to hurt him. He just leaves too many of his sinkers up in the zone where they become very, very hittable. 

 

I figured the new regime would have had him ditch the sinker and go four seam.

[interloper]

I don't know what the insistence on using him as multiple-inning reliever is about. The guy can shut people down for 3 or 4 outs. Stop using him in 2+ inning stints. There's plenty of other relievers! 

As I showed in a previous post, his early numbers last year were bad and it happened to coincide with the team giving him 2 or even 3 inning appearances. 

[MurphDogg]

21 hours ago, scOtt said:

What is the latest word on Harvey? Really injured? Just being extra careful? Is he even throwing?

 

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I figured the new regime would have had him ditch the sinker and go four seam.

It's pretty clear he's still throwing the sinker. He threw more four-seamers (at least classified by statcast as them) by percentage in his outing yesterday, but it's low spin rate 4-seamer. He not a guy who should elevate very often unless out of the zone.

[Roll Tide]

I wasn’t impressed last night. He was wild to the first hitter and nearly served a gopher ball to get out of the inning.