Did we all miss Marksberry?

rico43

rico43

<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
Now and forever, left-hander Matt Marksberry is the first member of the 2013 draft class to reach the majors, and has made a pretty good accounting for himself. My question is: did anyone call this guy as a fast riser? And by anyone, I mean folks here, Shanks, Gondeee, Talking Chop -- anybody. I want to shake their hand because I don't know if I even included his stats more than a couple of time when he wasn't the winner or loser.

Here is the background:

15th-round pick out of Campbell University. He debuted at Danville (1-3, 5.08, 12 games, six starts).

In 2014, started at Rome (22 starts, 5-10, 3.55, 112 IP, 100 H for a hideous team.

Promoted to Lynchburg, (1-0, 10.80) in two relief appearances.

In 2015, began at Carolina (3-1, 2.78, 2 saves) 22 games all in relief, 22 hits allowed in 36 innings (35 Ks).

Promoted all the way to Gwinnett, (0-0, 2.61, 1 save), 11 games, all in relief. 10 IP, 10 H, 8 Ks.

In the majors, no runs allowed in his first four appearances.

I look at those numbers, and I still don't see it!

FYI: He is the first Braves player to wear 66 in a regular season game.

(Jorge Julio wore 65, Ian Thomas wore 67)

And don't you love the glasses!
 
rico43 said:
Now and forever, left-hander Matt Marksberry is the first member of the 2013 draft class to reach the majors, and has made a pretty good accounting for himself. My question is: did anyone call this guy as a fast riser? And by anyone, I mean folks here, Shanks, Gondeee, Talking Chop -- anybody. I want to shake their hand because I don't know if I even included his stats more than a couple of time when he wasn't the winner or loser.

Here is the background:

15th-round pick out of Campbell University. He debuted at Danville (1-3, 5.08, 12 games, six starts).
In 2014, started at Rome (22 starts, 5-10, 3.55, 112 IP, 100 H for a hideous team.
Promoted to Lynchburg, (1-0, 10.80) in two relief appearances.
In 2015, began at Carolina (3-1, 2.78, 2 saves) 22 games all in relief, 22 hits allowed in 36 innings (35 Ks).
Promoted all the way to Gwinnett, (0-0, 2.61, 1 save), 11 games, all in relief. 10 IP, 10 H, 8 Ks.

In the majors, no runs allowed in his first four appearances.

I look at those numbers, and I still don't see it!

FYI: He is the first Braves player to wear 66 in a regular season game.
(Jorge Julio wore 65, Ian Thomas wore 67)

And don't you love the glasses!
Click to expand...

Got to see him pitch at Campbell and he had a tough time with his glove-side command and while he flashed a plus change up at times, his off speed lack behind that of his fastball (which he was able to get away with at that level)
 
I wasn't paying attention to him until he got to Gwinnett. Thought he might get a shot to take Avila'n's spot (didn't think it would be that soon!).
 
Didn't even know the name until someone (and by someone I mean Rico) noted his fast track promotion to Gwinnett.
 
Marksberry has been fine so far but I personally am still upset we didnt get better value with that 15th round pick. Marksberry wasnt even listed as a top 500 prospect by BA. We should be more like the Cubs who go by BPA and took a top 400 prospect a few picks later in Cael Brockmeyer. See how smart those Cubs are for drafting hitting. We could have even had the 229th rated player in Elvin Soto. Come on guys, we could have got Cael Brockmeyer or Elvin Soto, these are the elites of the elite. We gots to get that value for our picks. We could have had Brockmeyer and drafted Marksberry in round 67.
 
His fastball looks sneaky fast. Good number too.

We've got too many pitching prospects to keep track of.
 
Interesting guy. Funny how things work. This is the first season he's actually pitched well statistically. It looks like moving him to the bullpen has paid off. Going from High A to the big leagues in one year doesn't happen a whole lot. Could become a useful guy.

I follow the minor leagues closely, so I knew about him, but it looked like he was going to be someone who hung around for a few years filling a minor league rotation until this season. Just goes to show you. As much as we look at stats, we don't know what guys are actually working on and how the minor league instructional staff gauges guys' strengths and weaknesses and tries to discern adjustments that will elevate a player to reaching their potential. Sometimes that means putting a player into a different role.
 
Hard to say if he is major league ready given he has pitched a grand total of 10 and one thirds (don't want to forget that one thirds) innings above A ball before being called up. He did do well in those 10 and one thirds innings, but I would think the usual caveat about SSS applies.

He also now has 5 and one thirds major league innings. The strikeout rate is a bit low at 3.4% per nine innings, but again the SSS advisory applies.
 
The thing I noticed about Markberry's minor league numbers this season is that he was absolutely death on LHH. Again, it may be that the minor league staff saw something and put him in a role that played to his strength. I've always said that AAA is on a whole different planet than the bigs, which puts the lower minors in a whole different galaxy, but the staff has at least seen something in him that could translate.
 
50PoundHead said:
The thing I noticed about Markberry's minor league numbers this season is that he was absolutely death on LHH. Again, it may be that the minor league staff saw something and put him in a role that played to his strength. I've always said that AAA is on a whole different planet than the bigs, which puts the lower minors in a whole different galaxy, but the staff has at least seen something in him that could translate.
Click to expand...

He faced 18 left handed batters in AAA. Got 15 out, gave up 3 hits, with no walks and 3 strikeouts.
 
nsacpi said:
He faced 18 left handed batters in AAA. Got 15 out, gave up 3 hits, with no walks and 3 strikeouts.
Click to expand...

I was looking at his High A numbers. .087 BAA/0.51 WHIP. 18 Ks in 13.2 IP. I realize the leap from High A to the bigs involves quite a chasm, but the staff must have seen something that made them think this may be his role.
 
cajunrevenge said:
Marksberry has been fine so far but I personally am still upset we didnt get better value with that 15th round pick. Marksberry wasnt even listed as a top 500 prospect by BA. We should be more like the Cubs who go by BPA and took a top 400 prospect a few picks later in Cael Brockmeyer. See how smart those Cubs are for drafting hitting. We could have even had the 229th rated player in Elvin Soto. Come on guys, we could have got Cael Brockmeyer or Elvin Soto, these are the elites of the elite. We gots to get that value for our picks. We could have had Brockmeyer and drafted Marksberry in round 67.
Click to expand...

Long shots sometimes pay off.

Playing long shots as a strategy is a good way to go broke.
 
The 2013 was probably the weakest draft of the Wren era. Marksbury (14th round) is the first one to reach the majors. Others still with a decent chance: Hursh (taken with the 31st pick overall), Janas (round 6), Kyle Wren (8). There are a few more who I regard more as long shots at this point.
 
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