Gotta be for the rotation, dont think it'd make sense to have him in the pen. A waste of his talents. A stunner he got called up, i joked he might get called up this year, and yeah...
Gotta be for the rotation, dont think it'd make sense to have him in the pen. A waste of his talents. A stunner he got called up, i joked he might get called up this year, and yeah...
If he's up to start, why be down a man in pen till the start?
6-man rotation? Shuster to pen?
When he went 7 the other day in the minors, the writing was on the wall. He’s not a BP piece. Better him than Shuster
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Did Elder die? if he is replacing Shuster, then why call him today and not when it is his spot to throw? You just created a hole in the pen... you could have called up any quad A reliever to take luca luser's spot until Shusters spot came up. So either Shuster is in the pen or AJ is.
Coppy
and for the record, I am here for him to start.. but I think they let him pitch from the pen to control his innings. I doubt they want him to work 150 innings (minors and majors) total this year. So this can be a pen role with spot starts if needed. He could get to 100+ innings combined if he is good enough to rely on from the pen.
Coppy
jpx7 (06-02-2023)
jpx7 (06-02-2023)
Remember when we had like 12-13 bullpen options in the spring and were wondering how we were going to fit them all?
jpx7 (06-02-2023)
I just hope he isn't a junk baller who walks 6 per 9 innings when we actually see him for the first time. we have like 6 of those already.
Coppy
I'm with 50 on this. Not really sure what to think. Not that he can't do it..not that his stuff won't play..but I would have loved to see him at a full level for a bit. He does have a great makeup..feel, etc...but....I'm happy and puzzled. Oh well...let's play
Odd move. He's at 33 IP this year, so there's no real need to limit innings in the BP.
For his 5/25 start in AAA I see the FA at 91.8-96.9, with that 96.9 coming on his 76th pitch when he was likely emptying the tank in his last inning. The spin rate on it looks to be averaging around 2200. That's mediocre spin on a FA, so I would expect 8" of rise or less (Soroka just spun his at 2400 and has below average rise on a FA that is clearly his worst pitch).
AJ spun the curve at ~2300, the slider/cutter at ~1900. For reference, the average MLB curve spins at 2506, and the average MLB slider/cutter spins at 2401 in 2023. Those are the MLB average...not top end...average.
I have a very hard time believing AJSS comes equipped with a 70 grade FA and a 70 grade breaking ball of any kind with those very mediocre spin rates, but we will see what the MLB statcast data says. FWIW, FG currenty rates them both as 50 with room to grow to 60s. That seems much more in line with what the AAA data shows.
Last edited by Enscheff; 05-30-2023 at 06:46 PM.