Chayce McDermott 2024

[Tony-OH]

As was stated already, he just didn't have his command last night. He walked the lead off batter in 3 of the 4 innings he started and that's not good. Something to keep an eye on to see if it's an issue of him sitting for a period of time. 

Besides walking the 1st batter of the game on 4 pitches when he was only throwing 91-92 MPH, he had a real nice 1st inning afterwards. But then, the pitch count started to rise from that point on. 

As for his stuff, the curveball has absolute plus movement for a curveball in the 76-78 MPH range. His vertical movement was 66 to 67 inches on most and 12 or more inches of horizontal. Just looking through pitch arsenals in the majors, the best average vertical I could find was Matthew Liberatore at 66.5 and his vertical was 11.6. 

So while McDermott only threw the pitch 8 times, it's actually one of his best pitches movement wise. 

I don't have time to do his other pitches right now since I have to go into the matchups portion since minor league statcast doesn't give you movement numbers in their player breakdown unless they have already been in the big leagues.

[Malike]

I watched the game, they used the automated strike zone last night and a lot of breaking balls that looked good were called balls. He would have gotten some strike calls by a human. 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

 

As for his stuff, the curveball has absolute plus movement for a curveball in the 76-78 MPH range. His vertical movement was 66 to 67 inches on most and 12 or more inches of horizontal. Just looking through pitch arsenals in the majors, the best average vertical I could find was Matthew Liberatore at 66.5 and his vertical was 11.6. 

So while McDermott only threw the pitch 8 times, it's actually one of his best pitches movement wise. 

I don't have time to do his other pitches right now since I have to go into the matchups portion since minor league statcast doesn't give you movement numbers in their player breakdown unless they have already been in the big leagues.

When I saw him pitch at Bowie, he threw a bunch of devastating curves but also hung a couple that were absolutely crushed.   That was in 2022 shortly after he joined the Baysox after being traded, and a lot of development has happened since then, but I’m guessing that his command of that pitch still kind of comes and goes.  

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

When I saw him pitch at Bowie, he threw a bunch of devastating curves but also hung a couple that were absolutely crushed.   That was in 2022 shortly after he joined the Baysox after being traded, and a lot of development has happened since then, but I’m guessing that his command of that pitch still kind of comes and goes.  

100% it does. It's a 2900+ RPM pitch so he definitely can struggle to command it. Even the ones he landed for strikes were in the middle to upper part of the zone vs down at the bottom where you would like that pitch.

[interloper]

He looked so sharp in ST. Like, veteran ML pitcher levels of sharpness. I had hoped that was him kind of turning a corner when it comes to command, but alas. 

Sometimes I wonder if it's just harder to command the ball in AAA for some reason. 

[RZNJ]

27 minutes ago, interloper said:

He looked so sharp in ST. Like, veteran ML pitcher levels of sharpness. I had hoped that was him kind of turning a corner when it comes to command, but alas. 

Sometimes I wonder if it's just harder to command the ball in AAA for some reason. 

Sight difference in weather.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Sight difference in weather.

True, I hadn't considered the weather. 

[Frobby]

McDermott’s command is just awful right now.  Another 5 walks, 92 pitches in 4.1 innings.  He’s taken a big step backwards so far.  

[emmett16]

At what point do they transition him to the bullpen?  He is not a starting pitcher and nothing I’ve seen suggests he has a punchers chance at success in a starting role.  He could be a weapon down the stretch out of the pen IF he gets some control.  54% strikes last night.  

[sportsfan8703]

On 4/5/2024 at 2:40 PM, RZNJ said:

Sight difference in weather.

Yup. Weather matters. I know we have two openings in the rotation next year, but McDermott is at some point should just start to pitch out of the pen this year so we can see what we have pre-deadline. If it doesn’t work, or we acquire another reliever, then go back to starting. 

This dude could be a bullpen weapon this year. Especially if Means and Bradish both come back. No need to have him start. Let him learn to relieve before we ask him to do that in the MLB. 

[Just Regular]

Three turns in 120 balls is 20% more than anyone else in AAA.    Granted it is just about 15 guys who have made 3 starts so far.

[interloper]

50 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

At what point do they transition him to the bullpen?  He is not a starting pitcher and nothing I’ve seen suggests he has a punchers chance at success in a starting role.  He could be a weapon down the stretch out of the pen IF he gets some control.  54% strikes last night.  

Come on now. It's a few games. He was our minor league pitcher of the year last year and one of our top pitching prospects for a reason. Let's give him a little time and see if he sorts it out. 

[emmett16]

36 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Three turns in 120 balls is 20% more than anyone else in AAA.    Granted it is just about 15 guys who have made 3 starts so far.

Thats wild.  No pun intended.  54% strikes so far on the season.  

Last year he was at 57% strikes for the season.  This three game stretch doesn’t seem like an anomaly.

 

[RZNJ]

54 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

At what point do they transition him to the bullpen?  He is not a starting pitcher and nothing I’ve seen suggests he has a punchers chance at success in a starting role.  He could be a weapon down the stretch out of the pen IF he gets some control.  54% strikes last night.  

IF he gets some control he could be a starter.    I do agree that most likely he’s a reliever but I agree with Interloper.  Let’s see where he’s at at the end of June.

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, emmett16 said:

Thats wild.  No pun intended.  54% strikes so far on the season.  

Last year he was at 57% strikes for the season.  This three game stretch doesn’t seem like an anomaly.

 

Except, I bet his strike rate was better in the 2nd half last year and he looked pretty good in ST.   He showed progress in Norfolk last year and now is off to a rough start.  Not looking good but no one is pulling the plug  3 games into the season.