TT: Analysis of Mac Sceroler's major league debut

[Tony-OH]

On 4/11/2021 at 8:49 PM, Philip said:

@Tony-OH

I don’t want to be a party pooper, and I really hope that there was nothing wrong with Sceroler today, but was there anything wrong with him today?

Wells gave up a home run but was fine otherwise(“aside from that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?”) so I guess I’m asking for him too.

Ok, I went back and watched his outing and here's what I saw.

1. Command was terrible: He hadn't pitched in a week and maybe that was part of the reason he was all over the place, but he threw a loot of non-competitive pitches and really struggled throwing a high strike, missing by two feet or more at times. It bares watching since command was an issue at times for him in the minors, but this outing was mostly bad command against a red hot lineup that wasn't missing mistakes.

2. Stuff was the same: I looked at the statcast info and although the spin rates were a little lower on his pitches and his velocity on his splitter and curve were down a tick, he was getting good movement at times which is why he still had a decent Whiff rate on his offspeed pitches. 

Overall, I'm not too worried. I still see a starter's repertoire in him but maybe Hyde needs to find a way to get him more work and not sit him in the pen for a week after pitching just 2.2 innings last Monday against the Yankees. I don't know the last time Sceroler pitched before his initial outing, but basically he's probably thrown 2.2 innings over a two week span coming into that game yesterday. That's a long layoff for any pitcher, especially a young one that is used to a starter's routine in the minors.

I still like the stuff, and command could be due to the layoff so let's see if Hyde uses him after a few days off to see if his command looks better.

[Tony-OH]

36 minutes ago, interloper said:

LeBlanc on the roster has me scratching my head a little. What do you think the thinking is there now that Plutko is on the team? Just biding time with him until they can get back to a 4-man bench? So many other pitchers could fill his role right now. It feels like a bit of an overcorrection with the innings issue. 

LeBlanc is the 14th pitcher on the staff that can give some innings if needed and can also just pick up the trash innings in games that don't matter any more. His role is to find ways to save the staff and eat as many trash innings as possible.