Zach Britton Game Chat

[SurhoffRules]

Fanned him on a good change down and away.

Fastball down and away swung threw. Low and away sinker ground to short. Runner to secomd

[SurhoffRules]

Sinker(?) inside for strike at 84. Fastball low at 92. Sinker down at 91 chopped to 2nd for the last out of the 7th.

[SurhoffRules]

Looks like Egan may be throwing in the pen so that may be bit for Britton. Heck of an outing, a shame he's in line for the loss. His stuff looks electric.

[SurhoffRules]

Final line for Britton:

7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 HBP, 10 GO, 3 AOs.

The defense turned 1 double play behind him and commited 1 error. Egan on for the 8th.

[Elon Os Fan]

Let him taste Bowie please!!!!

[SurhoffRules]

Of Zach's 7 Ks, 6 were swinging. His stuff is of the swing and miss variety. On an unrelated note, Pat Egan is still very tall and very lanky. Everything he throws is downhill.

[SurhoffRules]

Rowell grounds out again but it was hit harder. Egan had a strong half inning as well. I know he's not a big time prospect but I've seen him a few times now and like his approach...maybe a pen arm.

[SurhoffRules]

Cooney on for the ninth. Here's hoping he gets through it and we see some ninth inning heroics.

[SurhoffRules]

The Keys made things interesting in the ninth but this one is in the loss column.

[bird watcher]

Is there any chance this guy makes some top 50 lists? He will most certainly be all over the 100 lists.

[SurhoffRules]

I just got back from Frederick. Aside from the offensive performance there were a lot of positives from the night.

I was very impressed with Britton. His four-seam fastball and sinker are two very different pitches. His sinker has very good drop on it. When the Dash batters weren't going fishing for it, they were pounding it into the ground. The four seamer had some extra zip and some late tail as well. I was actually quite impressed with the movement on his change up. It's falls off the table and away from righties. It could be a great weapon for him if he can learn to command it. He bounced it a few times, and left it up and away a few times. Seems like he knows it can be a good pitch and wants to throw it. Hopefully he'll develop a bit more consistency with it. It really complements the sinker/fastball to righties. I really didn't get a good feel for his slider. I'm not sure I could identify it 100 percent of the time and he seemed to only throw it to lefties. Britton did a fair job of holding runners tonight(outside of the SB he paid good attention to them). His pickoff move seems like it's designed to keep batters honest, not to actually try and throw them out. As far as his delivery, he ends up in good fielding position which will definitely help him being the groundball machine that he is. He was able to repeat it well it enough, but it did seem like he could use a little bit more work in that area. Although he scuffled a little bit in the middle innings, he lost the zone only once (in the third with 2 outs), and was able to get it back and get out of the inning without any damage. He doesn't have a nibble mentality. When he misses it's low. In fact, I vividly remember the only fastball he left up and hittable. It was in the 6th and the ball was smoked foul down the first base line (by a right hander). It really stood out to me because as far as I could remember, it was the only fastball up and in the zone the entire night. The double inside the bag that scored a run was unfortunate. It was hit hard(ish) but not killed, just in a place where the diving first baseman couldn't quite get to it. Those hits happen. It was just unfortunate because the offense couldn't muster anything in response.

I'm no scout, but Britton's stuff was just amazing. It really felt like he was confident in everything he threw. Erbe and him are very different pitchers, but watching Zach tonight it reminded me of the times I've seen Brandon. When they're rolling, there's nothing the opposition can do about it. Innings one, two, and the first two outs of the third were just nasty. The fastball/sinker/changeup combination was just unhittable. I don't know for sure but it seemed like he lost a little command in the middle innings so he mixed it up a bit. 10 goundouts, 1 fly out to the outfield, 2 lineouts to the infield, and 7 strikeouts. I really like that breakdown. Factor in all the swings and misses and I like it even more. He's not a smoke and mirrors lefties. Definitely a positive outing.

Other thoughts, Florimon can flash some leather out at short. He made several very good plays heading towards the second base bag including a diving stop to end an inning with runners on. The error he committed notwithstanding (he rushed a throw on a speedy runner), I was impressed.

Rowell was Rowell once again. I'm not spend time going to spend time and pile on the kid. I really do hope he turns it around.

You know what else? I like Egan. I've seen him maybe four times now between Bowie and Frederick and I think I'm a fan of his. He only brings it 88 to 91ish, but he's aggressive and throws very downhill. His secondary stuff could use some work and don't see him as a starter but he'll keep the ball on the ground most of the time. I'm not sure of the numbers, but it seems like he kills righties too. I'm not advocating him as a starter or anything but he could make it to the show as a bullpen arm. At any rate, I've enjoyed watching him pitch.

I've never seen Cooney before but he brought it in the low nineties with the fastball and looked like he had curve that came it in the high 70s. He kind of slings the ball in there from a three quarters slots (just above the shoulder). Seemed like the curve could use some tightening up but when thrown to righties it looks hard to pick up. He was effective and apparently has been all season at Delmarva. I wish him the best of luck.

At any rate, it was a fun night. Would've been better if they could've scratched across a run or two, but sometimes that's just the way things go.

[SurhoffRules]

Also, I'd like to apologize for the typos during the in game posts. When I post remotely I'm on a touch screen cell phone and sometimes my fingers(or the recognition software) betrays me. I really do make my best effort to keep it clean and readable.

[RedDevil00]

Also, I'd like to apologize for the typos during the in game posts. When I post remotely I'm on a touch screen cell phone and sometimes my fingers(or the recognition software) betrays me. I really do make my best effort to keep it clean and readable.

It all looks good to me, thanks for keeping us up to date and giving us your insight.

It's a shame Zach pitched so well and then the offense couldn't support him. Hate to hear he gets the loss after putting up good numbers tonight.

[bandy75]

Thanks for the play by play. It's nice to get a little bit of an idea how the kis pitches.

[BringBackMagic]

8/20 against Wilmington

Through 2 he has struck out 5, walked none and allowed 2 unearned runs.

In this game, Florimon committed his 34th error and Tyler Henson committed his 24th. 34 errors absurd, but 26 from Henson is more shocking. He's playing LF. Does anybody know if any of these errors were from earlier in the season at 3rd base because 24 errors from a corner outfielder is scary awful.