Chris Vallimont 2022

[Three Run Homer]

He deserves a thread after throwing 5 scoreless innings tonight at Bowie with 10 strikeouts.    He's a 25-year old former 5th round draft pick who pitched well in the low minors prior to the pandemic but got cuffed around in the Texas League the last 2 seasons, including a 9.95 ERA in 19 IP this season, with 23 walks vs. 20 strikeouts.  The Twins gave up on him last month and the O's claimed him.  So far in 3 starts for Bowie he has a 0.69 ERA, 4 BB and 18K in 13 innings, including tonight's game. 

Maybe a small sample phenomenon, or maybe the O's saw something to tweak--or maybe he just needed to get out of the Texas League.  It looks like he is a flyball pitcher and that won't play well in the Texas League bandboxes; maybe he just needed the confidence of pitching in a more neutral park. 

Worth keeping an eye on in any case.    

[Brooks The Great]

Given how precariously thin the O's starting rotation is - especially with Bradish getting blasted recently - I actually think Vallimont should and will get a look for a spot start soon with the major league team.

I mentioned this in another thread, but Vallimont is already 25, stretched out, and pitching lights out at the moment (I know, small sample size, but might as well see if we can catch lighting in a bottle). He's also on the 40-man roster. 

Voth will get another shot because he delivered 8 scoreless outs in today's game, but I like Vallimont's repertoire, raw stuff, and upside more than Voth's. And Voth has been pretty bad over a long stretch in the majors. Hopefully the O's analytics and pitching coaching staffs have figured out some tweaks that have helped both pitchers, but I like Vallimont more both short-term and long-term.

[Frobby]

5 no-hit innings, 1 walk 6 K’s piggybacking behind DL Hall for the win tonight.  

[emmett16]

He looked fantastic tonight.  First time I’ve watched him pitch.  He looked completely in control.  I’m excited for his potential. Big guy with some good offerings that he seemingly commands.  I’ll be looking for his next appearance.  

[justD]

I posted on his other thread. I saw him pitch his first game in AA as a starter and he really got my attention. So I was glad I’d see him again tonight to see if he’d improve from his last outing, his first at AAA. Never expected this though.

What a great night for Os pitching. 

[ShoelesJoe]

Hall threw 71 pitches to get through four innings, one hit / one walk, while Vallimont only needed 57 pitches to finish his five innings, no hits / one walk. That's efficiency.

How's Vallimont's velocity? 

[RZNJ]

Vallimont was a pitcher of interest after that Bowie start.  A few more like tonight and you have to start wondering if we caught lightning in a bottle.  All of a sudden he's a strike thrower. 

[RZNJ]

Vallimont had 60 walks in 90 innings last year with something like 137 strikeouts.   This year he walked 23 in 19 innings before joining the Orioles organization.   Now is 22 innings, he's walked 6 batters and hasn't been wild in any one of his outings.

You would have to guess they spotted a mechanical flaw and he fixed it pretty quickly.

[SpOkane]

11 hours ago, ShoelesJoe said:

Hall threw 71 pitches to get through four innings, one hit / one walk, while Vallimont only needed 57 pitches to finish his five innings, no hits / one walk. That's efficiency.

How's Vallimont's velocity? 

He was #21 on MIN's 2021 list on MLB.com and #27 in 2020.

His '21 writeup says this: "

While Vallimont is 6-foot-5, he’s more about his complete repertoire than he is about power. The velocity of his fastball can fluctuate, sometimes touching 95-96 mph and sometimes floating below-average, though he always throws it with a lot of movement. His hard slider is his best weapon, a hard breaking ball with depth the Twins are trying to get him to throw more, especially to right-handed hitters. He mixes in an average curve and his changeup gives him a legitimate four-pitch mix."

His '20 write-up includes this:

"In high school in Pennsylvania, Vallimont was a tall and gangly pitcher who topped out in the upper-80s. His velocity has improved steadily since and he now employs a 92-96 mph fastball. His slider is his best secondary pitch, a mid-80s sweeping breaking ball that elicits swings and misses."

2021 Twins Top Prospects (mlb.com)

[Just Regular]

56 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Vallimont had 60 walks in 90 innings last year with something like 137 strikeouts.   This year he walked 23 in 19 innings before joining the Orioles organization.   Now is 22 innings, he's walked 6 batters and hasn't been wild in any one of his outings.

You would have to guess they spotted a mechanical flaw and he fixed it pretty quickly.

A year ago, this is more or less what happened with the Yankees and Pittsburgh's "broken" Clay Holmes, a "minor" move to improve their bullpen.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/yankees/2021/07/26/clay-holmes-trade-yankees-pirates-hoy-park-diego-castillo-deadline/5380223001/

Obviously we're 50-some weeks behind, but fun story to follow.   Stories like these are anecdotally why I feel with data these days Clubs control more of their team's pitching quality than the Pitchers themselves compared to history.    For sure all throughout history pitching coaches have seen Pitcher A and thought Adjustment B might work, but teams that can do World Series-caliber data analysis well is I think one thing that is not flat among the 30 Clubs right now.      Every pitch goes into dozens of AI's somewhere....I'm sure SEC schools, Driveline and Boras Corp have theirs too.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Vallimont had 60 walks in 90 innings last year with something like 137 strikeouts.   This year he walked 23 in 19 innings before joining the Orioles organization.   Now is 22 innings, he's walked 6 batters and hasn't been wild in any one of his outings.

You would have to guess they spotted a mechanical flaw and he fixed it pretty quickly.

It's something strange for sure. Would be interesting to know if they tweaked something that has improved the control. 

[jabba72]

 

[RZNJ]

He's been solid his last 3 outings.   Good post.    He came out of nowhere and now he's got to be in the conversation of "future rotation piece".   Obviously, we need to see how he continues to do at Norfolk but it's like we just picked up another Bradish type of prospect.   This is a pitcher who showed control issues previously and was a mess this year and now looks like a strike thrower with stuff.

Not as drastic as Bradish but the straight over the top.   The O's seem to like that.

[Teddy OBP]

I saw him pitch in Jacksonville. His slider was really nice. All the off speed actually. Fooled some guys for sure.
 

Got hit hard a couple of times and gave up a fluke HR  down the left field line. Tides were up 6-0 in a hurry so some of that might have been throwing strikes to move the game along.

[RZNJ]

Just a thought.  Vallimont threw 3 perfect innings in relief yesterday.   My first time watching him pitch.   He didn't knock my socks off but I did see a good fastball, a slider which is was okay but not the wipeout slider I'd seen reported by a BA scouting report, and a changeup he used effectively against a LH hitter.     3 innings, 0 hits, 2 strikeouts.    He's a longshot but he's on the 40 man roster and I would not be shocked if he replaced a Louis Head on the roster or was called up to help in the bullpen.