O's vs Red Sox at Fort Myers 3/18

[Frobby]

Rodriguez out after allowing a long run-scoring double.  Bad inning, with two walks, a wild pitch, a few other non-competitive pitches and a couple of fat ones.  Dave Johnson said he liked what he saw, but I didn’t.  

[OldNewGuy]

Walk followed by botched DP oppurtunity puts runners on 1 & 2. Then nicely turned DP puts runner on third. GRod then Throws curve to backstop allows runner to score. Holt to mound followed by double off monster. 4-0 Sox. Hyde to mound and pulls GRod.  This inning didn't work out to well. 70 pitches. Looked pretty sharp most of the time, but too many mistakes in the end.

[Tony-OH]

I will say this about Grayson Rodrigues, anyone who thinks he absolutely is ready for the big leagues is not watching him this spring. 

In the 3rd and 4th innings, he literally had no feel for his breaking pitches, the slider was crap, and his command of anything was not good. 

The worse thing is when he gets in the zone, he's getting hit very hard. It's pretty clear they want him working on his breaking pitches (I didn't see one changeup which is best offspeed pitch) because they are not very good. 

When you add in how hard he was hit in his last appearance, and the fact that the Orioles get the advantage long term if they send him to the minors for a bit, and he very well may be pitching himself of this team.

 

[Tony-OH]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Rodriguez out after allowing a long run-scoring double.  Bad inning, with two walks, a wild pitch, a few other non-competitive pitches and a couple of fat ones.  Dave Johnson said he liked what he saw, but I didn’t.  

Really surprised by Johnson doing his best Hunter impression with that comment. He usually is a guy who will tell it like it is, but that was a ridiculous comment. 

Not sure how you can say you liked what you saw when he cant get out of the 4th inning against the major leaguers. The Red Sox hitters were not very fooled by anything really and his 4th inning was an embarrassment. 

Something doesn't look right honestly. I hope it's just that he's slow starter, but he looks a lot like the guy who came back after the oblique last year. That guy couldn't find his breaking pitches very often and was getting hit in the zone. 

Its just spring training, but there is no way I'm feeling good about him starting the year in the Orioles rotation throwing like this. 

 

 

[interloper]

Why does his stuff not visually pop on camera as much as, say, Bradish? I've always thought this about Grayson whenever I see him pitch even pre injury. The data says his stuff is elite but for whatever reason it looks pedestrian to me on camera. With exception to when he throws the changeup well.

Edited March 18, 2023 by interloper

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Why does his stuff not visually pop on camera as much as, say, Bradish? I've always thought this about Grayson whenever I see him pitch. The data says his stuff is elite but for whatever reason it looks pedestrian to me on camera. With exception to when he throws the changeup well.

I've seen the slider and even the curveball at times be very good, but it's rare for them both to be on along with the changeup. He threw maybe one good curveball in the 3rd and 4th inning and the slider is not getting the depth that it had at some points last year in the minors pre oblique.

I don't have statcast data for today, but his stuff looked pretty flat and he kept throwing in the middle of the plate with that crap slider and that's not good.

My guess is the slider has been crap all spring so today he was told to work on it regardless of the results. Unfortunately, it was crap and he gets beat up. Saying that, I really would like to see more swing and miss on the fastball up. 

Let's hope his next few starts they let him pitch with his strengths but if his breaking stuff doesn't improve, he may need to work on that in Norfolk and allow Wells or Voth start off in the rotation.

[Tony-OH]

Nut shot for the ump! Ouch!

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

 

Something doesn't look right honestly. I hope it's just that he's slow starter, but he looks a lot like the guy who came back after the oblique last year. That guy couldn't find his breaking pitches very often and was getting hit in the zone. 

My feeling exactly. 

[Tony-OH]

Base loaded, Double-A lefty on the mound, 1-0 and you take a fastball for a strike Mountcastle? See, stuff like that is why Mountcastle is always going to be a talented, but limited hitter.

He's been in the league way too long to not sit dead red in that situation. He's supposed to be a "cleanup hitter". You don't take that pitch. Was it borderline high, perhaps but all the more reason to be sitting on that. 

Instead the pitcher throws him another 1-1 fastball which looked middle-middle that he fouls away, then strikes out on a shoe top slider. 

Spring training, sure. Crappy at bat from a guy the Orioles need to be a big time hitter, yep. This is one of those games that you watch that just deflates you as a fan. 

You get your top pitching prospect on the mound and he looks anything but a top prospect, your team can't hit, then when you get the bases loaded Mountcastle has a bad AB. 

Just a few innings, but a bad few innings by guys this team needs to step up this year.

[Tony-OH]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

Base loaded, Double-A lefty on the mound, 1-0 and you take a fastball for a strike Mountcastle? See, stuff like that is why Mountcastle is always going to be a talented, but limited hitter.

He's been in the league way too long to not sit dead red in that situation. He's supposed to be a "cleanup hitter". You don't take that pitch. Was it borderline high, perhaps but all the more reason to be sitting on that. 

Instead the pitcher throws him another 1-1 fastball which looked middle-middle that he fouls away, then strikes out on a shoe top slider. 

Spring training, sure. Crappy at bat from a guy the Orioles need to be a big time hitter, yep. This is one of those games that you watch that just deflates you as a fan. 

You get your top pitching prospect on the mound and he looks anything but a top prospect, your team can't hit, then when you get the bases loaded Mountcastle has a bad AB. 

Just a few innings, but a bad few innings by guys this team needs to step up this year.

Oh, and getting a Newman-Johnson booth in frustrating to listen to. lol

[interloper]

13 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Oh, and getting a Newman-Johnson booth in frustrating to listen to. lol

What, you didn't enjoy Frazier bouncing out weakly to 1B twice?

[seak05]

The rambling about bunting

[oriolediehard]

What's up with Frasier? He is an automatic out.

[Winter]

2 minutes ago, oriolediehard said:

What's up with Frasier? He is an automatic out.

hes left handed lol

[seak05]

5 minutes ago, oriolediehard said:

What's up with Frasier? He is an automatic out.

The fact that he’s going to make the roster over westburg might be the most frustrating thing that’s going to come out of this spring training