DL Hall 2023

[RZNJ]

He can’t throw strikes consistently.  Period.   I haven’t seen anything to change my mind on that.   The chances on him being in the rotation this year are slim and none.

[Tony-OH]

16 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

He can’t throw strikes consistently.  Period.   I haven’t seen anything to change my mind on that.   The chances on him being in the rotation this year are slim and none.

This is still where I am. I'm glad to hear that he wants to start and of course his coaches are going to say the same thing publicly, but at the end of the day, he he has never been able to consistently throw strikes and throws way too many uncompetitive pitches which runs up his pitch counts.

I get it that it's tantalizing to think of him as a 4-pitch starter, but I think the best you get is a 3-5 inning guy on most starts and that's because his pitch cons will get too high.

And looking at his statcast numbers this year, I think it's a misnomer that he has four plus pitches. He has a plus fastball, a change that is plus, and a slider and curveball that can flash plus but is not consistent. 

The Orioles could use a good left-handed starter in the rotation and in the perfect world they'd have a couple of them because of the Walltimore in left field, but I think due to his injury and command issues, the best value they will get out him will be in relief. 

Now could he be a bulk guy or turn into an Arthur Rhodes type who can eat you 3 innings once in awhile and save your bullpen even in fairly close games? Sure. But he's a weapon right now against lefties and if his command is ok, he'd be fine against righties too.

I think we see Hall at some point in the second half or if anything happened to Perez or Akin. But I think we're going to see him as a reliever.

Now, he could get a spot start if an injury or something happened and they needed a starter on his his day of work since he's on the 40-man, but I doubt he'd be any better over an extended outing than say Rodriguez was.

[Mooreisbetter27]

14 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

This is still where I am. I'm glad to hear that he wants to start and of course his coaches are going to say the same thing publicly, but at the end of the day, he he has never been able to consistently throw strikes and throws way too many uncompetitive pitches which runs up his pitch counts.

I get it that it's tantalizing to think of him as a 4-pitch starter, but I think the best you get is a 3-5 inning guy on most starts and that's because his pitch cons will get too high.

And looking at his statcast numbers this year, I think it's a misnomer that he has four plus pitches. He has a plus fastball, a change that is plus, and a slider and curveball that can flash plus but is not consistent. 

The Orioles could use a good left-handed starter in the rotation and in the perfect world they'd have a couple of them because of the Walltimore in left field, but I think due to his injury and command issues, the best value they will get out him will be in relief. 

Now could he be a bulk guy or turn into an Arthur Rhodes type who can eat you 3 innings once in awhile and save your bullpen even in fairly close games? Sure. But he's a weapon right now against lefties and if his command is ok, he'd be fine against righties too.

I think we see Hall at some point in the second half or if anything happened to Perez or Akin. But I think we're going to see him as a reliever.

Now, he could get a spot start if an injury or something happened and they needed a starter on his his day of work since he's on the 40-man, but I doubt he'd be any better over an extended outing than say Rodriguez was.

We've seen the way Hyde uses his bullpen.  It's a minor miracle he used Akin for 2.2 innings yesterday.  If Hyde continues to be our manager, I don't see Hall ever being that 3 inning guy unless he is often used as an opener.  

[Sports Guy]

Connolly mentions in the article that his command has never been better.

I don’t know if that’s just fluff, if he actually believes that or if his command has actually been a lot worse in years past than this year.

[baltfan]

He isn't clearly better than anyone currently in the pen.  You would have to cut Voth.  Akin is probably just as reliable. Perez is coming around.  Just let him keep starting and hope that he figures his command out.  If not, bring him up when there is an injury.

[jamalshw]

44 minutes ago, Mooreisbetter27 said:

We've seen the way Hyde uses his bullpen.  It's a minor miracle he used Akin for 2.2 innings yesterday.  If Hyde continues to be our manager, I don't see Hall ever being that 3 inning guy unless he is often used as an opener.  

I think that's fair. We've only seen Voth go more than 2 innings three times and one of those was when he was supposed to the bulk guy. Though some of that is Hyde and some of that is the number of close games this team plays.  

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Connolly mentions in the article that his command has never been better.

I don’t know if that’s just fluff, if he actually believes that or if his command has actually been a lot worse in years past than this year.

OK, his command has never been better — but is it any good?  5.4 BB/9 in AAA this year says no.  

[Sports Guy]

20 minutes ago, Frobby said:

OK, his command has never been better — but is it any good?  5.4 BB/9 in AAA this year says no.  

Well that’s control although if you are commanding it better, I don’t think the BB numbers would be this bad. 
 

 

[Gurgi]

I am at the point if we ever get anything from Hall it will be gravy.  

[interloper]

Best case: the deload gets him his velocity back and he's a bullpen boost late in the season. They can tell him he's going to start all they want, but they're doing so knowing he's bullpen-bound this season. Because he could legitimately help the team that way. He won't help as a starter. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by interloper

[Mr-splash]

He doesn't throw hard enough to get by with poor command out of the bullpen. You need to be reaching 101, 102 if you want to get by with poor command.

[Frobby]

33 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well that’s control although if you are commanding it better, I don’t think the BB numbers would be this bad. 
 

 

Yes.  In my view, it’s possible to have low walk totals even though command isn’t good, but high walk totals almost always mean command wasn’t good.  

[RZNJ]

4 hours ago, baltfan said:

He isn't clearly better than anyone currently in the pen.  You would have to cut Voth.  Akin is probably just as reliable. Perez is coming around.  Just let him keep starting and hope that he figures his command out.  If not, bring him up when there is an injury.

The Akin I saw yesterday was plus plus.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure that version actually shows up.

[RZNJ]

Hall doesn't have one pitch, including his fastball, that he can be 90% sure of getting a strike when he needs it.  It's less than 50% on his secondaries. 

[Frobby]

41 minutes ago, Mr-splash said:

He doesn't throw hard enough to get by with poor command out of the bullpen. You need to be reaching 101, 102 if you want to get by with poor command.

I think it’s more complex than that.  Depends how good your secondary pitches are.  I think 95 with a really tough secondary can work even without great command. Josh Hader is a good example (though his command is better than Hall’s).   

I still believe in Hall’s stuff.  The command always has been an issue and we’ll just have to see if he figures it out.