Just send Matusz to Norfolk already!

[QBsILLEST1]

I want to say this as objectively as possible, without making it sound as though I'm trying to curb my enthusiasm for Matusz. But, the Senators are AWFUL. I don't follow alot of minor league ball, but living here in Harrisburg I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Senators. They are terrible.

That said, Matusz has been on quite a roll and I would like to see him in Norfolk pretty soon. To be honest, part of me would like to see him in Baltimore on Sunday, but that just ain't gonna happen.

Regardless of how awful they may be to our standards, they are still professional ball players in AA. Its not like they dont know how to hit. All of the guys he pitched against were at a time the best players on their HS teams, the best players in their region, or even state. If Matusz made a big mistake, its gonna get hit. Maybe against a better team hed have himself a 3 hitter or so, but even then its hard to say because he seems to flourish against the best prospects he faces. Like when he went up against Alvarez and Moustakas. He dominated both of them with K's...

• Matusz spent a short amount of time in major league spring training. Then he spent a short amount of time in minor league spring training. Then he spent a short amount of time in Frederick. Now he's spending a short amount of time in Bowie. Are they really going to keep moving him around?! His head must be spinning. Has he gotten to know any of his coaches? Have any of his coaches gotten to know him? Has he gotten to know any of his teammates? Have any of his teammates gotten to know him?

  The adjustment to professional life involves more than just performance on the field. Heck, he's probably just getting used to the morning drive to the stadium. Imagine you just took your first job out of college, and after every six weeks you get reassigned to a new town... have to move to a new apartment... etc. And on top of that, your job already involves 50% travel time.

• For a starting pitcher of Matusz' caliber, the real test at a new level is going through the opposition a second time.

Let him settle down and stay in one place for a while. If it's going to be Bowie, then leave him there regardless of how much he dominates or struggles (or how much people whine about it on OH). If it's going to be Norfolk, then move him up now and leave him there the rest of the year. Let him spend at least half a season in one place.

I understand what you are saying, because to you or me it wo9uld suck being on the go so much, but you gotta think what Matusz's goal here is. Its to be a big leaguer, if he was transferred today, he'd be so happy to move, hed probably be 3 hours early to the plane. The goal at hand is within Matusz's reach and he knows what it takes to get there, and if that is seeing 3 different pitching coaches a year because hes being so dominant, so be it, but I can promise you, you wont hear 1 complain from Matusz. This is part of their job, and when a minor league prospect like Matusz meets their new pitching coach at the beginning of the year, he knows that he wont be working with him for very long, thats just the nature of being a ball player and getting prommotions.

[SJA]

Didn't Rhadames Liz throw a no-hitter against an equally bad Senators team a few years ago? :scratchchinhmm:

I know every player/situation is different, but I'm just sayin...

[Hank Scorpio]

Didn't Rhadames Liz throw a no-hitter against an equally bad Senators team a few years ago? :scratchchinhmm:

I know every player/situation is different, but I'm just sayin...

I'm pretty sure Radhames Liz has never gone 46.1 innings only allowing 1 earned run.

[BaysoxFan39]

I'm in total awe from that boxscore tonight! Does anyone know if the lone hit that Harrisburg got from their leadoff guy was on the first AB of the game?

It was a "seeing eye" dribbler in the 5th inning that Mike Costanzo (3B) and Cesar Izturis (SS) both got their gloves on. The lead off guy was fast and they had no chance anyway. The other baserunner was on an error by Eric Crozier (Formerly of the BlueCrabs) Tough scorer as it was a smash and got by him. Those were the only two blemishes. There was also to long fly balls and that was it for the outfielders.

[BaysoxFan39]

The organiztion puts player development ahead of accomplishments. Last seasons example was pulling players from a team that had the best lineup in the Eastern League and was about to win their first championship in history. The second example is this season as they call up players chosen for the Allstar game. The next step for the Orioles organization is to ALLOW these players to be on winning teams and accept and participate in awards given to them. This should be part of creating the "Winning Attitude". Unfortunately management has not thought that far ahead.

[BaysoxFan39]

It was an infield hit by Joel Guzman in the fourth inning that Cesar Izturis couldn't make a play on as retreated deep in the hole. Izturis sort of deflected the ball to the side as he tried to make a play which drew the ire of a few people when the ball was ruled a hit. I personally felt that the correct call was made, though my friend Jake Linger with the Bowie Blade-News felt it could've been ruled an error.

Either way, an error called on Eric Crozier in the eighth inning probably should have been ruled a hit. The ball was smoked off the bat of (who else) Joel Guzman and Crozier didn't have a chance.

I was at the game also and got the inning wrong regarding the hit. I must correct on the batter. It was the leadoff guy and his name is Michael Martinez. Joel Guzman played right field. He is about 6'5". It would have been great if he was running because Izturis could have recovered and thrown him out. But the rest is correct. Boy was that a performance we all can remember!!!

[Arthur_Bryant]

The organiztion puts player development ahead of accomplishments. Last seasons example was pulling players from a team that had the best lineup in the Eastern League and was about to win their first championship in history. The second example is this season as they call up players chosen for the Allstar game. The next step for the Orioles organization is to ALLOW these players to be on winning teams and accept and participate in awards given to them. This should be part of creating the "Winning Attitude". Unfortunately management has not thought that far ahead.

Didn't Wieters get held back last season so that he could play in the Carolina League ASG?

Also, there is a huge difference between individual accomplishments like an ASG appearance and the success of a team.

And to be honest, player development should be what it's all about. I can see the value in having a young player be part of a winning team, but it's somewhat intangible, and likely not as important as keeping him on good pace through the system by giving him the upgrade in competition when he needs it.

And to argue that they're hampering a player's development by not letting him play in a minor league ASG is pretty much baseless, I think. It's a one-day exhibition, forgotten as soon as the last pitch is thrown.

I would have doubts about any young player who would choose a High A ASG over the chance to immediately move up in the organization.

[QBsILLEST1]

The organiztion puts player development ahead of accomplishments. Last seasons example was pulling players from a team that had the best lineup in the Eastern League and was about to win their first championship in history. The second example is this season as they call up players chosen for the Allstar game. The next step for the Orioles organization is to ALLOW these players to be on winning teams and accept and participate in awards given to them. This should be part of creating the "Winning Attitude". Unfortunately management has not thought that far ahead.

The winning attitude comes from winning. The whole process of being selected for the AS game is the accomplishment, they just didnt get to pitch in it. Player development you must remember IS the msot important aspect here. So Norfolk is in the playoff hunt this year, thatsd not going to stop us from bringing up Tillman and Arrieta to the Big leagues, thatd be stupid on our part. If the Orioles do begin to follow by this method, they will be ibn a much worse situation than now....All star games are unimportant, but development is the MOST important....

[TakebackOPACY]

I understand what you are saying, because to you or me it wo9uld suck being on the go so much, but you gotta think what Matusz's goal here is. Its to be a big leaguer, if he was transferred today, he'd be so happy to move, hed probably be 3 hours early to the plane. The goal at hand is within Matusz's reach and he knows what it takes to get there, and if that is seeing 3 different pitching coaches a year because hes being so dominant, so be it, but I can promise you, you wont hear 1 complain from Matusz. This is part of their job, and when a minor league prospect like Matusz meets their new pitching coach at the beginning of the year, he knows that he wont be working with him for very long, thats just the nature of being a ball player and getting prommotions.

And I understand what you're saying. I agree 100% that Matusz would be excited to be promoted again. Last year, Adam Loewen said that when he was in the minors, all he thought about was getting that next promotion. But in hindsight, he thought players should stay put for a while and focus on the process and improving. (This is definitely a paraphrase.) He was talking about how he thought his approach to the minor league experience would be different this time around as a result of him naturally being more experienced and mature than he was at 20.

The excitement of achieving that next promotion and the anxiety from not being able to settle down and get into a routine are two different things. If mental stress eventually builds up and starts to effect his performance, he'll probably think it's the difficulty of adjusting to 'AAA', when it actually has more to do with constantly having to figure out how to get around a new town, find a new bank, find a new grocery store, etc.

To be clear, I'm not arguing that he needs to stay in Bowie. I'm just throwing out food for thought, and explaining why I wouldn't just assume another move is as obvious as it first appears.

[allstar1579]

The winning attitude comes from winning. The whole process of being selected for the AS game is the accomplishment, they just didnt get to pitch in it. Player development you must remember IS the msot important aspect here. So Norfolk is in the playoff hunt this year, thatsd not going to stop us from bringing up Tillman and Arrieta to the Big leagues, thatd be stupid on our part. If the Orioles do begin to follow by this method, they will be ibn a much worse situation than now....All star games are unimportant, but development is the MOST important....

I'd honestly like him to get the feel for being in a real playoff race and people need to come to grips with the fact that Matusz is not coming up to start in the majors 13 months removed from his last college start. Let him have this full season, hopefully get a real good playoff race under his belt, maybe some post-season experience and we'll see him a couple weeks into next season.

Yes, he is tearing it up now that he is locating his fastball better, but there are going to be starts where he can't locate it that well, so he needs as many starts down here doing it as we can get him so that he can pinpoint and fix what is wrong when things go wrong.

[QBsILLEST1]

I'd honestly like him to get the feel for being in a real playoff race and people need to come to grips with the fact that Matusz is not coming up to start in the majors 13 months removed from his last college start. Let him have this full season, hopefully get a real good playoff race under his belt, maybe some post-season experience and we'll see him a couple weeks into next season.

Yes, he is tearing it up now that he is locating his fastball better, but there are going to be starts where he can't locate it that well, so he needs as many starts down here doing it as we can get him so that he can pinpoint and fix what is wrong when things go wrong.

I want him to get a feel for a playoff race as well, but he has a better shot at doing that in AAA, and thats not mentioning that he would experience the playoff race with the rest of the BIG 3 toegther rather than him down in Bowie toiling around with a bunch of ball players who will never see Camden Yards.....

I am not arguing for Matusz to come up to Baltimore, which is how it seesyou think I said, though I could be misinterpreting what you are saying. I am arguing that he is best off in Norfolk right now, there he will get the playoff race experience, and itll be experienced with his fellow top pitching prospects whom he will be experiencing it with in Baltimore for years to come....

[allstar1579]

I want him to get a feel for a playoff race as well, but he has a better shot at doing that in AAA, and thats not mentioning that he would experience the playoff race with the rest of the BIG 3 toegther rather than him down in Bowie toiling around with a bunch of ball players who will never see Camden Yards.....

I am not arguing for Matusz to come up to Baltimore, which is how it seesyou think I said, though I could be misinterpreting what you are saying. I am arguing that he is best off in Norfolk right now, there he will get the playoff race experience, and itll be experienced with his fellow top pitching prospects whom he will be experiencing it with in Baltimore for years to come....

Sorry, I wasn't saying you were pushing for him to go to Bmore, just some others are, and he's just not quite ready yet. I don't mind if he goes up to AAA as long as they are in a race, like legit race. Bowie is only a game or two out and if he has a better shot of seeing the post season there I'm ok with that too. You just can't duplicate the mental aspect and pressure of games that come in the post season or in a good tight race, that is always something good for these guys to learn before the majors.

AAA has become more of a holding ground for ML depth than an actual place to see top talent recently, so I don't really mind if some guys skip it all together, I just want to see him finish this whole season in the minors and then come up next season. Tillman should be the next call-up and Arrieta right behind him.

[SJA]

I'm pretty sure Radhames Liz has never gone 46.1 innings only allowing 1 earned run.

You're right. Maybe I should have qualified my post with...

I know every player/situation is different

My point was that I found it interesting that two of our (at the time) highly touted pitching prospects had an almost equally brilliant performance against the same team.

[AgentOrange]

I think the guy who got the hit off of Matusz last night should get promoted.

Thats how good he was.

[justD]

I'm in total awe from that boxscore tonight! Does anyone know if the lone hit that Harrisburg got from their leadoff guy was on the first AB of the game?

Um, a little "shameless plug alert," as Roch might say...you can see the hit in the the video thread here.