Alex Wells 2021

[Tony-OH]

22 hours ago, baltfan said:

They wear masks in softball.  if you started in Little League kids would get used to it by the time they got to the majors.  it used to be that no one wore faceguards on batting helmets.  When I went to the Orioles game with the new nets I wondered why I had been so against them.  You may be right, but I could definitely see facemasks being more tenable than some sort of helmet.  

We live in a very risk adverse country, so who knows? And not all young ladies wear that mask, only those risk adverse ones. I was watching the softball World Series and none of the pitchers were wearing masks. 

[glenn__davis]

6/9 - Solid start from Wells tonight.

5IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 5K.

64 pitches through 5 innings, 44 strikes.  

In June he's pitched 9 innings allowing 1 run (a solo homer) and 0 walks while striking out 10.

Starting to look more like the Wells we know and love.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, glenn__davis said:

6/9 - Solid start from Wells tonight.

5IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 5K.

64 pitches through 5 innings, 44 strikes.  

In June he's pitched 9 innings allowing 1 run (a solo homer) and 0 walks while striking out 10.

Starting to look more like the Wells we know and love.

The problem i have is trying to find a current successful major league with similar stuff.  

Looking at baseball savant, Kwang Hyun Kim is a fairly close comp to Wells FB (87-89), curve (72), slider (79-81) and hard straight change but really no one else. I'm going to watch some video of Kim at a later time and see if they pitch similarly.

Wells got a lot of swing and miss on that below average velocity FB up in the zone last night, but not sure that works in the MLB.

[glenn__davis]

Agree Tony, that's always been the question.   I'm just glad to see him put up back-to-back good outings after a terrible start.

I think give him another 4-5 starts or so at AAA and if he consistently is putting up results, bring him up and see what he's got.  No better time to try than now, and he's not a guy in which service clock time is an issue.  I'm bearish on him but would like to see him earn a shot.

Of course I'm putting the cart before the horse just a bit.

 

[LookinUp]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

The problem i have is trying to find a current successful major league with similar stuff.  

Looking at baseball savant, Kwang Hyun Kim is a fairly close comp to Wells FB (87-89), curve (72), slider (79-81) and hard straight change but really no one else. I'm going to watch some video of Kim at a later time and see if they pitch similarly.

Wells got a lot of swing and miss on that below average velocity FB up in the zone last night, but not sure that works in the MLB.

If I'm Wells, or Elias, my bottom line is I need to figure out exactly what profile I have in my arsenal that works in the majors. If he doesn't go there with a good plan that he can execute, the stuff alone will get crushed. Heck, that happens with guys throwing mid-90's. Wells essentially has to pitch like a vet when he gets called up. In, out, up, down, pitching backwards, keeping people totally off balance. 

I'm not sure the stuff is comparable, but he basically needs to arrive able to pitch like a Mark Buehrle. It's a tall order.

[Frobby]

Wells is looking like Wells again.   5 scoreless innings tonight, two hits, no walks and four strikeouts.  In his last three appearances he’s allowed one run in 14 innings, allowing 6 hits and walking nobody.    

[orioles22]

Good to see him bouncing back. I hope the Orioles don't follow the advice of many on here and avoid rushing him up another level. I could be wrong, but it seemed he had a full season at the past two levels.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, orioles22 said:

Good to see him bouncing back. I hope the Orioles don't follow the advice of many on here and avoid rushing him up another level. I could be wrong, but it seemed he had a full season at the past two levels.

I think Wells will get called up sometime in the next month or two.    Hopefully, now that he’s got his land legs, he’ll continue to pitch in the manner that has been successful for him throughout his MiL career.   His stuff isn’t overwhelming but his command is top notch.   He’s on the 40-man roster so he’ll get his shot sooner or later.   

[orioles22]

17 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think Wells will get called up sometime in the next month or two.    Hopefully, now that he’s got his land legs, he’ll continue to pitch in the manner that has been successful for him throughout his MiL career.   His stuff isn’t overwhelming but his command is top notch.   He’s on the 40-man roster so he’ll get his shot sooner or later.   

Could be. I'd wait until Sept. 1, but I hope he's ready to go whenever it is.

[Tony-OH]

Well is interesting because he's got one of the "invisiball" fastball even though it 88-89. He must have real good true spin because batters swing through it a lot, particularly up in the zone. I just wish his change was better. I'm not a fan of that hard straight change that doesn't have a enough separation of speed from the fastball and not a ton of drop or fade.

I'm no against giving him a shot at some point if he keeps going well. I just can't find any successful comps for him besides Hwang and Hwang gets much more movement on his slider and better velocity difference on the change.

 

[survivedc]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Well is interesting because he's got one of the "invisiball" fastball even though it 88-89. He must have real good true spin because batters swing through it a lot, particularly up in the zone. I just wish his change was better. I'm not a fan of that hard straight change that doesn't have a enough separation of speed from the fastball and not a ton of drop or fade.

I'm no against giving him a shot at some point if he keeps going well. I just can't find any successful comps for him besides Hwang and Hwang gets much more movement on his slider and better velocity difference on the change.

 

Is there any comparison to a JV Greg Maddux? My memory is most of his career Maddux had a sub 90’s fastball, though I certainly remember a plus plus swing and miss change.

[Frobby]

Alex Wells had a good first start after returning to Norfolk: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K’s.   He threw 79 pitches, 51 for strikes  (65%).    Hopefully he’ll stay sharp until his next call up.  

[Frobby]

Returning to Norfolk once again, Wells pitched following a 2 inning stint by newcomer Ryan Hartman, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings, 2 hits, 1 BB, 6 K’s.   He’s been solid in AAA, pitching to a 3.78 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 8.2 K/9.   But it hasn’t translated to the majors yet.  

[sportsfan8703]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Returning to Norfolk once again, Wells pitched following a 2 inning stint by newcomer Ryan Hartman, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings, 2 hits, 1 BB, 6 K’s.   He’s been solid in AAA, pitching to a 3.78 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 8.2 K/9.   But it hasn’t translated to the majors yet.  

Hindsight is 20/20, I know we had to see what we had, but with all of these SP prospects being fringey, I think we shouldn’t have jerked them up/down so much this season. Most of them steamrolled through AA and now have struggled to even get AAA hitters out this year. 
 

I don’t think we learned anything about the group this year, or at least anything positive. 

[Just Regular]

I liked seeing the Following practice.   Its a skill like any other for a pitcher to get comfortable with.

If you excel enough at out getting, they'll stop messing with you.