The jerking around of Zac Lowther

[Frobby]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Both. He doesn’t throw hard. The fastball looks straight. The curveball and change don’t seem great, either.  

Look, if you’re gonna throw 91, you better have a devastating curve or a hell of a changeup.  He doesn’t appear to have anything better than average. 

 

I just think it’s a mistake to judge a guy’s stuff off of 5.1 innings innings in the majors.   The main point of Tony’s post is he has been shuttled around so much in the early going he hasn’t had a chance to get his stuff sharpened up.   His fastball has been known to play above its velocity, so I assume it is normally not as straight as it’s looked in his limited appearances.   And he was reputed to have great command of the curve but we haven’t seen that yet.   

Let’s not forget that MLB and AAA play with a different ball than they use in AA and below.    Lowther really hasn’t had a chance to adjust to that, either.   

In the ideal world I’d like to have seen Lowther start 8-10 games at AAA and have some success there before bringing him to the majors.   Because of the difference in the ball, I think there  is added benefit to giving pitchers a little time in AAA rather than jumping them from AA or yo-yoing them up and down.   

 

[Redskins Rick]

I am beyond baffled that they use different baseball.

It makes zero sense,

They are prospects, because they are learning, so you give them equipment that is different from what they will be using in the bigs?

[Redskins Rick]

Sound like Zach tossed 4 innings of shutout ball last night, so that is encouraging.

 

[Can_of_corn]

51 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I am beyond baffled that they use different baseball.

It makes zero sense,

They are prospects, because they are learning, so you give them equipment that is different from what they will be using in the bigs?

They can save hundreds, nay thousands of dollars doing it this way.

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

They can save hundreds, nay thousands of dollars doing it this way.

And hinder the development of the prospects?

Thats like sending you to a Ford Technical Motors College, and placing you in a GM dealership. I mean a motor is a motor, right?

 

[wildcard]

I am not sure what you want the O's to do.    They have 20 pitchers on the 40 man roster.    14 of those are on the major league 26 man roster.   That leaves 6 to be called up.

Means is on IL and not available 

Bauman is trying to work his way back to full health.

Alexander Wells and Mattson are trying to show they can be successful at AAA.

That leaves Kremer and Lowther to be called up when the O's need help in the majors.

What exactly to you want the O's to do when they need a pitcher in the majors?

[Can_of_corn]

22 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

And hinder the development of the prospects?

Thats like sending you to a Ford Technical Motors College, and placing you in a GM dealership. I mean a motor is a motor, right?

 

I hate to break it to you but MLB doesn't care very much about what is best for the players in the minors.

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

I hate to break it to you but MLB doesn't care very much about what is best for the players in the minors.

Your right, but how does that fit, with "the good of the game"?

So they save money, it just shows they dont care about guys able to be all they can be.

 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Your right, but how does that fit, with "the good of the game"?

So they save money, it just shows they dont care about guys able to be all they can be.

 

I'm not seeing a point here.

I think MLB has been pretty clear about this in action if not in word.

[waroriole]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I hate to break it to you but MLB doesn't care very much about what is best for the players in the minors.

Presumably they care about young players being able to make the adjustment to MLB (after all they do get paid less). It would be like the GLeague using basketball goals that were 9’10”, then acting surprised that guys can’t shoot when the get to the NBA. 

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

I'm not seeing a point here.

I think MLB has been pretty clear about this in action if not in word.

The point is, fix the stupid things like this.

The minors should be, about developing players for the big leagues.

 attendance has been trending down for several years, youngsters do not have baseball number 1 on their list. Some cases, not even in their top 10.

As long as MLB looks to the owners first and pocket book second, then the game is doomed. No, not this year or next, but longevity is suspect.

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, waroriole said:

Presumably they care about young players being able to make the adjustment to MLB (after all they do get paid less). It would be like the GLeague using basketball goals that were 9’10”, then acting surprised that guys can’t shoot when the get to the NBA. 

I don't think that they think it is that long a transition. 

Anyway they are changing the MLB ball on a yearly basis.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Redskins Rick said:

The point is, fix the stupid things like this.

The minors should be, about developing players for the big leagues.

 attendance has been trending down for several years, youngsters do not have baseball number 1 on their list. Some cases, not even in their top 10.

As long as MLB looks to the owners first and pocket book second, then the game is doomed. No, not this year or next, but longevity is suspect.

 

I don't think you actually want the minors to be about developing players for the big leagues.

[waroriole]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think that they think it is that long a transition. 

Anyway they are changing the MLB ball on a yearly basis.

It really makes Alonzo’s comments about the reasoning behind the ball changes make sense. Gotta suppress those FA classes. 

[Moose Milligan]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I just think it’s a mistake to judge a guy’s stuff off of 5.1 innings innings in the majors.   The main point of Tony’s post is he has been shuttled around so much in the early going he hasn’t had a chance to get his stuff sharpened up.   His fastball has been known to play above its velocity, so I assume it is normally not as straight as it’s looked in his limited appearances.   And he was reputed to have great command of the curve but we haven’t seen that yet.   

Let’s not forget that MLB and AAA play with a different ball than they use in AA and below.    Lowther really hasn’t had a chance to adjust to that, either.   

In the ideal world I’d like to have seen Lowther start 8-10 games at AAA and have some success there before bringing him to the majors.   Because of the difference in the ball, I think there  is added benefit to giving pitchers a little time in AAA rather than jumping them from AA or yo-yoing them up and down.   

 

I don't disagree with your premise, but the initial impressions aren't inspiring.  As I've said, I'm not ready to write him off and I do believe Tony's correct.  He should be in the rotation instead of Harvey.