Lineup: Kevin Newman SS, Bryan Reynolds RF, Starling Marte CF, Josh Bell 1B, Colin Moran 3B, Corey Dickerson LF, Elias Diaz C, Adam Frazier 2B, Jordan Lyles P. Expect a spinning wheel in the outfield; there are four starters now and Melky's a pretty good fifth piece.
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| He's back - 2017 Donruss |
Pitchers: RHP Jordan Lyles (5-3/3.38) battles RHP Zach Davies (6-0/2.20). Jordan lost his last outing, which was against Milwaukee, 4-2. He went six innings, giving up eight hits and fanning five after overcoming a scare with a hammy tweak suffered during his previous turn. The guy he lost to was Davies, who spun eight innings of eight-hit ball. The righty has been tough, giving up more than two earned runs in just one of a dozen starts.
Notes:
- Corey, JHK and Michael Feliz are Buccos again. Cole Tucker was optioned to Indy, Rookie Davis went on the IL with a blister, and Nick Kingham was DFA'ed. Kang is the backup left side guy at 3B/short; K-Man and Redbeard remain starters. We also expect Corey to be phased in, much like they did (and are still doing) with Gregory, so OF will be a rotation for awhile. Not sure Tucker would have been on our short list to jettison, but everyday at bats won't hurt him and it's quite possible that service time clock-watching is involved also. Finally, with Davis and The King gone, looks like Mitch is on his way back to the bigs. His turn is due on Wednesday, which coincidentally is the old Kingham/Davis spot.
- Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 15 games last night.
- Willy tossed a sim game today, so he's getting close. He said he felt fine afterward and is on schedule to toss a rehab game in five days, then return to action.
I would have to think this is the end of Kingham's days with the big club unless nearly all of the pitchers get hurt. I have wondered if Kingham hasn't been hurt for most of his brief career. It is unusual that he started off so well but was consistently ineffective (or worse) ever since. I did a review of his minor league record and I will say that he was never really dominant while in the bushes, and most pitchers that eventually become good major leaguers usually have at least one really good season while they are down on the farm. So, maybe it was simply a case of a guy doing well for a few starts until the league got a book on him, and after that he simply didn't have the stuff to compete.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Nick could slot as back ender with a mid-rotation ceiling. I'm not sure if it's his stuff - he gets his share of swings, misses and K's - as much as his mental approach. It seems like after every game, he's always complimenting the other team on hitting good pitches instead of booting himself in the butt for serving them up. Dunno if that's just a post-game defense mechanism against a surly media or if he has a bad plan of attacking batters. I'm not sold yet on Diaz being able to call a game as well as Cervy or Stallings, so maybe pitchers need a little more maturity & self-awareness when he's their battery mate.
ReplyDeleteExcellent analysis, Ron, as always. My son pitched in highschool and I always told him to take ownership of his game. Don't trust the catcher, or the coach if he's calling the game. If you're getting shelled, nobody says that someone else is calling a lousy game -- they're saying that you can't pitch. So you have to take charge or take the results. What I'm saying is, Kingham had his shot and blew it. So now he can go somewhere else and put up all-star numbers, because we all know that's how it's shaking down. ��
DeleteThat's the key word, Joe - ownership. I really think when Charlie Morton turned it around, he finally quit parsing every little thing and just went to what he was comfortable with tossing. He finally figured it out - go with your strength with belief and good things happen. Seems like that's J-Bell's tale, too. On the other side of the pillow, Joey Bats has admitted that he was too comfortable in Pittsburgh, and when the Pirates dumped him to Toronto for a bag of balls, he decided maybe the coaches knew something after all. He made a plate adjustment or two with the Jays - and they were the same tweaks Pirates management had tried to get him to make - and boom. I kinda think that's true of Tyler Glasnow, too. Self-ownership and self evaluation are the keys to performance; know what you can do and do it. Those two opposites are why coaching is an art, not a science.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, Joe, how much his TJ surgery has held him back is part of the equation. The numbers suggest he's never been the same, although he shows flashes that make me think there's more than just a physical component. But no matter the cause, too bad to see a guy a solid MLB future ahead of him get derailed.
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