Poll: Which Os lefty SP prospect ends up with the best career?

[Jammer7]

Good question. I went with Zimm because he generally commands four pitches well and is a competitor.

Akin, for me, seems destined to be in the pen. His fastball plays up as it is, but in shorter stints could be even better. Has not shown consistent command of anything off speed, but the slider can be a swing and miss pitch for him. Needs to get serious about his conditioning as well. 

Lowther is interesting, and since I have not seen him much at this point. He apparently has great deception and throws his four-seam well up in the zone, and the spike curve is an above average pitch. If he can develop the slider and change to above average, then maybe he is the guy. 

Alex Wells, he just has so much to prove at this point. Like Lowther, I just have not seen him much to put him ahead of Zimm.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Hall.

Obviously, but not the concept of the poll.

[NCRaven]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Hall.

You are incapable of following directions!  Why not just pick Dave McNally?

 

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Jammer7 said:

Good question. I went with Zimm because he generally commands four pitches well and is a competitor.

Akin, for me, seems destined to be in the pen. His fastball plays up as it is, but in shorter stints could be even better. Has not shown consistent command of anything off speed, but the slider can be a swing and miss pitch for him. Needs to get serious about his conditioning as well. 

Lowther is interesting, and since I have not seen him much at this point. He apparently has great deception and throws his four-seam well up in the zone, and the spike curve is an above average pitch. If he can develop the slider and change to above average, then maybe he is the guy. 

Alex Wells, he just has so much to prove at this point. Like Lowther, I just have not seen him much to put him ahead of Zimm.

Good reasoning here. I could also see Akin going to the pen.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, interloper said:

Obviously, but not the concept of the poll.

I mean it isn't obvious.  I think Hall has a much higher ceiling but he could also fail pretty dramatically.   I wouldn't be shocked if one of the guys listed above ended up with a better career, disappointed, but not shocked.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

You are incapable of following directions!  Why not just pick Dave McNally?

 

Dave lost his prospect status some time ago.

[NCRaven]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Dave lost his prospect status some time ago.

If you can pick a guy that wasn't on the poll, so can I.

 

[SteveA]

17 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Hard to say.  I feel like if Akin was the best one of the group he'd be in Baltimore right now.  IMO, they all profile as 4th or 5th starters, IE guys that are fungible.  There's not a name on this list that can't easily be replaced.

Put me down for Lowther, I guess.  

He was in Baltimore before the others.

He might have come up instead of Lowther over the weekend if he hadn't cut his hand in a kitchen accident.

This team has run through an awful lot of really bad guys in the rotation in recent years.   If someone can be a legitimate #4 or #5 major league starter, I don't think that's anything to sniff at, and I don't think its necessarily that easy to replace like you say.   I can name 10 guys we've had in the past 3 years alone who got innings and probably failed to live up to being what anyone would consider an acceptable 4th or 5th starter... Wright, Wilson, Eshelman, Straily, Lopez, Wojo, Milone, Leblanc, Hess, Brooks, Yacobonis, Yefry Ramirez, ...

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

9 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

If you can pick a guy that wasn't on the poll, so can I.

 

[oriole]

I went with Zimmermann because I like the hometown story and I want to believe in those 2018 trades but honestly, it’s a toss up. I do believe that it’s probably between Zimmermann and Lowther. 

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, SteveA said:

He was in Baltimore before the others.

He might have come up instead of Lowther over the weekend if he hadn't cut his hand in a kitchen accident.

This team has run through an awful lot of really bad guys in the rotation in recent years.   If someone can be a legitimate #4 or #5 major league starter, I don't think that's anything to sniff at, and I don't think its necessarily that easy to replace like you say.   I can name 10 guys we've had in the past 3 years alone who got innings and probably failed to live up to being what anyone would consider an acceptable 4th or 5th starter... Wright, Wilson, Eshelman, Straily, Lopez, Wojo, Milone, Leblanc, Hess, Brooks, Yacobonis, Yefry Ramirez, ...

 

You say they're not easy to replace and then list a bunch of guys who have been easily replaceable.  The Fearsome Foursome that brother @interloperhas put in this poll don't really strike me as guys that are significantly better than a guy like Hess, Brooks, Yefry Ramirez, Yacabonis, etc.  They might be a little bit better, they might have some more upside, but will they reach it?  The big thing that separates them from a Milone/LeBlanc type is the age.  The Fearsome Foursome here do have some upside but practically every franchise has a guy like Lowther in their system that sits 89-92.  

I will grant you that none of us thought that John Means was anything when he came up, but that guy is the exception to the rule.  For every guy like Means you get, there are literally dozens of fungible guys that can be swapped out at any time with similar results.  

Look, I'm not saying these guys don't deserve chances because they absolutely do.  I'm just saying they all appear to be average.  

FWIW, missed the part about butterfingers Akin cutting himself while making breakfast.  I feel like that's a Crash Davis "When you get in a fight with a drunk, you don't hit them with your pitching hand," kind of a moment.  Someone tell Akin when he's chopping up ingredients for his omelette, don't let your pitching hand get in the way.  

 

[SteveA]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

You say they're not easy to replace and then list a bunch of guys who have been easily replaceable.  The Fearsome Foursome that brother @interloperhas put in this poll don't really strike me as guys that are significantly better than a guy like Hess, Brooks, Yefry Ramirez, Yacabonis, etc.  They might be a little bit better, they might have some more upside, but will they reach it?  The big thing that separates them from a Milone/LeBlanc type is the age.  The Fearsome Foursome here do have some upside but practically every franchise has a guy like Lowther in their system that sits 89-92.  

I will grant you that none of us thought that John Means was anything when he came up, but that guy is the exception to the rule.  For every guy like Means you get, there are literally dozens of fungible guys that can be swapped out at any time with similar results.  

Look, I'm not saying these guys don't deserve chances because they absolutely do.  I'm just saying they all appear to be average.  

FWIW, missed the part about butterfingers Akin cutting himself while making breakfast.  I feel like that's a Crash Davis "When you get in a fight with a drunk, you don't hit them with your pitching hand," kind of a moment.  Someone tell Akin when he's chopping up ingredients for his omelette, don't let your pitching hand get in the way.  

 

Lucas Giolito missed a start Sunday for the White Sox, he said "I was opening a glass bottle and I thought it was a twistoff and it was not".

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

I need to see Lowther either sit 91-92 over a start or prove that he can succeed at the big league level sitting 88-89.

Wells has similar velocity concerns, for that reason, I am going with Akin.

I think Lowther throws harder than Wells.   Both have better command than Akin, but Wells’ is better (in fact, plus command of several pitches is his calling card).   

[interloper]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

I mean it isn't obvious.  I think Hall has a much higher ceiling but he could also fail pretty dramatically.   I wouldn't be shocked if one of the guys listed above ended up with a better career, disappointed, but not shocked.

Yeah that's fair and I agree but the poll was focused around guys with similar stuff/prospect status. I was basically fishing for any interesting insights folks might have to differentiate these guys.

[Frobby]

34 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Lucas Giolito missed a start Sunday for the White Sox, he said "I was opening a glass bottle and I thought it was a twistoff and it was not".

Funny, when I try to open a bottle that I think is a twist off but isn’t, nothing happens.   The bottle doesn’t open and I go get a can opener.