Zac Lowther 2021 (minors)

[Frobby]

Zac Lowther has really struggled since his poor first start in the majors.   Today he allowed 7 hits and 2 walks in 2.1 IP, resulting in 5 runs and a loss.   His MiL ERA now stands at 9.45.

Norfolk in general has been a debacle.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

54 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Zac Lowther has really struggled since his poor first start in the majors.   Today he allowed 7 hits and 2 walks in 2.1 IP, resulting in 5 runs and a loss.   His MiL ERA now stands at 9.45.

Norfolk in general has been a debacle.

This. The starters seem to have a hard time getting through 4 innings or even making it to the 4th. Most have high pitch counts (70+ after 3 innings)

[bpilktree]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Zac Lowther has really struggled since his poor first start in the majors.   Today he allowed 7 hits and 2 walks in 2.1 IP, resulting in 5 runs and a loss.   His MiL ERA now stands at 9.45.

Norfolk in general has been a debacle.

I always hate when you use your top prospects on the shuttle.  I think that hurts them and doesn’t get them into rhythm.  The problem is the starters in the majors are nit getting deep in games and taxing the pen so you have to bring fresh arms up.

[Frobby]

Lowther had a nice game tonight and seems to be finding his land legs.  5 shutout innings, 3 hits, one walk, 6 K’s.  That follows 4 shutout innings his last time out.

[Tony-OH]

Lowther made a rehab appearance in the FCL today, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings with 3 K. 

[Frobby]

After climbing the ladder from the FCL to Aberdeen to Bowie during his rehab, Lowther returned to Norfolk today and took the loss.   He threw 5.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s.   Not a great outing but not awful either.  Hopefully he can finish 2021 strong.  He’s still only thrown 42 innings on the year.   

[Sports Guy]

32 minutes ago, Frobby said:

After climbing the ladder from the FCL to Aberdeen to Bowie during his rehab, Lowther returned to Norfolk today and took the loss.   He threw 5.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K’s.   Not a great outing but not awful either.  Hopefully he can finish 2021 strong.  He’s still only thrown 42 innings on the year.   

That’s absurd.

[Big Mac]

11 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

That’s absurd.

I assume you are referring to the 42 innings on the year.  Sure, the injury slowed him a bit, but the low innings are still a direct result of how poorly he's been managed/utilized this year.  Really unfortunate after not having a minor league season last year. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Big Mac said:

I assume you are referring to the 42 innings on the year.  Sure, the injury slowed him a bit, but the low innings are still a direct result of how poorly he's been managed/utilized this year.  Really unfortunate after not having a minor league season last year. 

Yep.  There is no justification for it.

[Frobby]

29 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yep.  There is no justification for it.

I should have said 47.2.   42 didn’t count today’s 5.2

April - 1.0 innings

May - 13.2

June - 15.0

July - 3.1 - injured on 7-14 after 0.1 innings

August - 9.0.   Three rehab starts starting 8-16

Sept. - 5.2

I figure the injury cost about 25 innings.   Some of the rest was shuttling around between Baltimore and Norfolk, some of it was having short starts due to ineffectiveness.  Before today he’d had only one 5 inning outing all year.  All in all, it’s a mess.   
 

[Brooks The Great]

It really is poor and incompetent management and player development by the Orioles to have handled Lowther the way they have in a tanking season. 

[LookinUp]

16 hours ago, Frobby said:

some of it was having short starts due to ineffectiveness.  Before today he’d had only one 5 inning outing all year.  

I listen to a DC sports podcast that talks about the Nationals a lot. Patrick Corbin is a frequent topic of conversation. He apparently has the worst (?) ERA of any qualifying pitcher in MLB this year.

I bolded qualifying because Harvey's ERA is apparently higher but, even with 27 starts, he doesn't qualify for the ERA title because he's pitched so few innings. That is one of the most insane things I've ever heard in my life. 

I think that is a big part of the reason that many of our young guys with bad years, like Lowther, have so few innings. They're just not good enough for more when they've been healthy.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, LookinUp said:

I listen to a DC sports podcast that talks about the Nationals a lot. Patrick Corbin is a frequent topic of conversation. He apparently has the worst (?) ERA of any qualifying pitcher in MLB this year.

I bolded qualifying because Harvey's ERA is apparently higher but, even with 27 starts, he doesn't qualify for the ERA title because he's pitched so few innings. That is one of the most insane things I've ever heard in my life. 

I think that is a big part of the reason that many of our young guys with bad years, like Lowther, have so few innings. They're just not good enough for more when they've been healthy.

I agree with your general sentiment, but I also have little doubt that the sporadic way in which Lowther was used in the first part of the season contributed to his inability to get into any kind of a groove.  

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I agree with your general sentiment, but I also have little doubt that the sporadic way in which Lowther was used in the first part of the season contributed to his inability to get into any kind of a groove.  

I don't know one way or the other, but it's not like he started off on fire and hit a rut. Wasn't he bad pretty much from jump?

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, LookinUp said:

I don't know one way or the other, but it's not like he started off on fire and hit a rut. Wasn't he bad pretty much from jump?

He sat around until April 25 and pitched one inning then (no runs allowed).   Then he sat around until May 8 and had a very bad outing.   That’s an awful lot of sitting around.   Then later he had another 10 days of inactivity between June 24 and July 4.    He never made more than three starts in a row at Norfolk and never made more than two appearances in a row in the majors.   Admittedly, he didn’t pitch that well, but the circumstances have been far from ideal for a guy who never pitched above AA before this year.