Bring up Brandon Young for the bullpen?

[Sports Guy]

Young, a starter in AAA, is a guy many have said is likely to end up in the pen. In his minor league career, he has a 10.4 K rate(over 11 this year), has done a pretty good job of keeping the ball in the park and his BB rate is just over 3 both in his career and this year at AAA.

The issue is that he has been a starter most of his career, so would he be ready to pitch out of the pen?

@Tony-OH (and perhaps some others as well) can speak better about this but everything I have heard is that he has pretty good stuff and could be a good fit.

So, why the hell not at this point?  Send down Smith and see what he can give you. He also could give you multiple innings.

[eddie83]

At this point they have to be open minded to anything. From what I know about him not a high velo guy but obviously that can play up in pen.  

[rm5678]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

 Send down Smith and see what he can give you. He also could give you multiple innings.

I believe Smith would have to be DFA'd, but I'd be OK with that too.

[Sports Guy]

37 minutes ago, rm5678 said:

I believe Smith would have to be DFA'd, but I'd be OK with that too.

Fangraphs says he has an option…but if that’s wrong, he can just go. That’s fine.

[interloper]

Absolutely yes.

[Aristotelian]

I'd give him a shot.

[foxfield]

The Orioles need a couple of arms that can throw 2-3 innings at a time.  We are in a snowball situation.

We need an inning today from new pitcher.  He pitches well.  We use him tomorrow.  He pitches well.  We use him the next day he is successful but not as good.  A day or two off and then two more uses....

We are burning guys up like they are confederate money.  At some point we need to use folks in a way that is sustainable.  That is the path to reestablishing some consistency.

[Say O!]

25 minutes ago, foxfield said:

The Orioles need a couple of arms that can throw 2-3 innings at a time.  We are in a snowball situation.

We need an inning today from new pitcher.  He pitches well.  We use him tomorrow.  He pitches well.  We use him the next day he is successful but not as good.  A day or two off and then two more uses....

We are burning guys up like they are confederate money.  At some point we need to use folks in a way that is sustainable.  That is the path to reestablishing some consistency.

I don’t disagree about multi inning relievers. But the Os brass does…they prefer more frequent one inning type appearances, whether matchup dictated or staying less than 20# pitch count.  Two years ago, a guy like Akin would go 2-3 innings.  Now that rarely if ever occurs. 

Edited August 22 by Say O!

[sportsfan8703]

12 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Young, a starter in AAA, is a guy many have said is likely to end up in the pen. In his minor league career, he has a 10.4 K rate(over 11 this year), has done a pretty good job of keeping the ball in the park and his BB rate is just over 3 both in his career and this year at AAA.

The issue is that he has been a starter most of his career, so would he be ready to pitch out of the pen?

@Tony-OH (and perhaps some others as well) can speak better about this but everything I have heard is that he has pretty good stuff and could be a good fit.

So, why the hell not at this point?  Send down Smith and see what he can give you. He also could give you multiple innings.

I like Smith. I think we need to back off him a bit. Hyde rode him into the ground. 

Goof idea with Young. However, these dudes do need some adjustment time to a reliever role ideally. Also, can we afford to lose any SP depth right now?

If we’re 6 man rotation still to protect Burnes/Suarez/Kremer for a playoff series, then young is our #7 SP and next man up. Even if we have a doubleheader. 

I say fire the Morfe bullet in September. He might be  too young to realize the moment. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

I think Young could be a very good RP. He’s 6’6” and has an unusual delivery which has allowed his fastball to really perform well against minor league hitters, despite subpar spin and velo (averaging around 93 mph). Obviously, if he’s able to add a couple ticks in a relief role that will go a long way too.

He has a plus changeup, which gives him the important go-to secondary you need as a RP, and a high spin curve. He may be more of a reverse splits guy since he’s been that in the minors this year. He has a cutter/slider but it doesn’t seem very good and he hasn’t figure out how to throw it with the spin you’d expect based on his ability to spin the curve. As a RP I’d expect he shelves that pitch for now.

That said, I’d rather see them plug him into the rotation rather than the pen right away, and perhaps shift to the pen when we get Eflin/Grayson back.

[Sports Guy]

16 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

I think Young could be a very good RP. He’s 6’6” and has an unusual delivery which has allowed his fastball to really perform well against minor league hitters, despite subpar spin and velo (averaging around 93 mph). Obviously, if he’s able to add a couple ticks in a relief role that will go a long way too.

He has a plus changeup, which gives him the important go-to secondary you need as a RP, and a high spin curve. He may be more of a reverse splits guy since he’s been that in the minors this year. He has a cutter/slider but it doesn’t seem very good and he hasn’t figure out how to throw it with the spin you’d expect based on his ability to spin the curve. As a RP I’d expect he shelves that pitch for now.

That said, I’d rather see them plug him into the rotation rather than the pen right away, and perhaps shift to the pen when we get Eflin/Grayson back.

If you know he ends up in the pen, get him used to it now.

[Hank Scorpio]

At this point, I'd throw noodle arm @Moose Milligan out there.

See if you can wisecrack your way to three outs, slappy. 

[BRobinsonfan]

I like this idea a lot.  He's 25.  He's pitched 224 innings in the minors - 302 if you count college ball.  I think it's time to find out what he can do against Major League hitting.  Not to mention, we obviously have a desperate need for pitching right now. 

Edited August 22 by BRobinsonfan

[Tony-OH]

8 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If you know he ends up in the pen, get him used to it now.

I'm guessing they feel Young is "starter" depth so they're going to keep on starting him, but if they did think he's going to fill a reliever role, then they need to get him used to warming up quickly and pitching more often on less rest in AAA. You don't know how a pitcher can do those things until they've done them and asking a guy to do things out of his routing, at the major league level, seems to be a recipe for disaster. 

This is why I preferred McDermott be converted to a reliever this year. Maybe he would have been able to fill a bullpen role this year vice being on the shelf with an injury.  

[rm5678]

Roch says that Nick Vespi is on his way to Baltimore.