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© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,334 comments Add your comment
Patrick
August 16th, 2012
4:05 pm
Ben (CT)
Do you buy Sean Gilmartin being anything more than a #5 starter?
Klaw (3:05 PM)
I guess he could be a four. I don’t see more than that – not a league-average starter.
League average starters are #3’s?
Efrim, I think that’s true. When I think of the word average, I equate that to “good”.
So, when I think of a good solid starter, I think of a #3. A very good pitcher #2 and elite #1.
Gilmartin was another safe and CHEAP draft pick by the Braves.
TennesseePaul
August 16th, 2012
4:05 pm
League average starters are #3’s?
At the deadline Vargas was classified as an ace, top of the rotation starter, so… yes?
Arkansas Transplant
August 16th, 2012
4:06 pm
One thing is for certain.. throwing McCann out there day after day isn’t going to allow his shoulder to improve. I’d say, DL him now.. allow his shoulder to improve and get him back for the final couple of weeks of the season for the stretch run.
TheOnlyBravesFan
August 16th, 2012
4:06 pm
10Paul: Uggla looking good! highest SLG of the team!
MFin04 Guess we should put Ross in there.
McFann: Not the worst idea I ever heard…
McFann seems depressed
Sadly, it’s not even a function of whether the Braves will sign BMac long-term beyond 2013, but whether they will even exercise the 2013 option.
I think the option will get exercised unless he blows out a knee or shoulder or something and can’t play at all in 2013…. I just think the Braves are not as willing to shell out a long-term deal for him.
TennesseePaul
August 16th, 2012
4:06 pm
Saying he hit .300, Chipper would have gotten 3,000 hits with about 800-850 additional at-bats. That’s a season and a half for a healthy player.
And at his rate of HR hitting, he’d be at 500 for a career.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
4:07 pm
Guy has what, a career .835 OPS for the Braves, while playing great defense. And that is getting on and off playing time.
Ever think that he has a good OPS exactly because his playing time is infrequent?
cricket
August 16th, 2012
4:07 pm
feels like in-game blog, gotta get out
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
4:08 pm
“League average starters are #3’s”
Yeh, well I’m sick of classify guys anyways. I’m sure Greinke and Dempster are ranked high. I’m sure Sheets is ranked somewhere between a 8 or 9 pitcher, Medlen an 8 or 9 starter, Minor probably a 5 or 6 pitcher. Hudson probably a 2 or a 3. Maholm a 4 or 5. Just win games. Don’t care what rank of a pitcher they are. Maholm and Sheets have been great. Minor and Medlen have been great lately. And Hudson is an Ace for us and has outpitched every player we could have gotten at the deadline.
Shaun
August 16th, 2012
4:08 pm
I would say a #4 is still pretty good. If a pitcher can be a little below average but is good enough to hold down a rotation spot in a typical rotation, that’s pretty good.
I think we forget how few #1’s-#3’s there are. The pitchers starting on Opening Day are in that range. So I would say there are quite of few pitchers in the second spots in starting rotations that are actually in the #4 range, in scouting terms.
MiaBchBravesFan
August 16th, 2012
4:08 pm
I agree, MFin04. With Uggla, he was just shot to hell mentally, and the only way he would get out of his sub-funk was to play through it.
With BMac, playing through his injuries will only make a bad situation worse. There will be nothing worthwhile left of him if the Braves make the playoffs. He could use a 15 day DL stint, followed by an every-other-day-catch routine until 162.
Honestly, BMac right now is not any better than a relatively healthy Ross, who runs into a dinger or a double every other day.
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:08 pm
Abraham Lincoln – Bring on the Vampires!!!
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
4:10 pm
“Ever think that he has a good OPS exactly because his playing time is infrequent?”
Yes, to some extent he is fresher, but you still have to perform when your number is called and he has done that consistently with an almost .850 OPS for 4 years.
It is hard enough to hit a baseball, no less do it every 5th, 7th, 10th day.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
4:10 pm
I think we forget how few #1’s-#3’s there are
According to Law, there’s a whole crappin’ boatload of 3’s. That’s kinda the definition of “average”, Shaun. The big hump in the middle of the Bell curve, ya know?
RC
August 16th, 2012
4:11 pm
League average starters are #3’s?
League average is probably a #3. League median is likely a #4.
And to complicate things even farther, I’d say that at least 60% of pitchers currently in MLB are below league average (since the few #1s at the end of the bell curve are skewing the results upward).
Btw, of all the nerdy things I’ve ever posted, this one might be the all time nerdiest.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:11 pm
now that strikes me as strange, I never thought of it as any other way than that a #3 starter is pretty much league average. kinda like an Excellent, good, average, mediocre, poor kinda thingy
I guess that’s a good way of looking at it. For some reason, I often times associate #3 starter as slightly more than league average – I have no clue why. Maybe I think of mid-rotation guys as durable for some reason. Noit that it makes any sense.
keylargo
August 16th, 2012
4:11 pm
The shift has been modified for McCann making it even harder for him to get a hit. The second baseman is playing about a hundred feet into the right field grass knowing that he still has 5+ seconds to get the ball to first base. It’s very sad but hopefully it will make McCann prepare for next season with people who train professional athletes for a living.
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:12 pm
you have roughly 5 degrees of pitchers holding down rotation spots, I fail to see how a#3 is not average. This being the theoretical #3 and not a specific #3 on a particular team, there is a difference. of course within those 5 divisions there are better and worse too, some that might be borderline, but in general when a baseball person says a #3 they mean an average MLB starter
McFann :Ô: :Ô: :ô:
August 16th, 2012
4:12 pm
TOBF And to think that they weren’t overly concerned about it before…
Soon as Fredi said he wasn’t concerned, I knew it wasn’t going to be good…
McFann seems depressed
Well, I’ve got my Eeyore shirt on today— “Thanks for noticin’…”
But really—only about BMac…I’m fine in the rest of my life!…:)
TheOnlyBravesFan
August 16th, 2012
4:12 pm
One thing is for certain.. throwing McCann out there day after day isn’t going to allow his shoulder to improve
This…. and with that, I’m headed home, I’ll be back later.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:13 pm
According to Law, there’s a whole crappin’ boatload of 3’s.
They’re all on the Braves.
tdawgmoney
August 16th, 2012
4:14 pm
Is it possible the Braves retire number “10″ even before the season is over? I think that would be a nice tribute. Also, has there EVER been a 19-20 year guy with a career avg above .300 that ACTUALLY hit higher than that his last year? I doubt it.
McFann :Ô: :Ô: :ô:
August 16th, 2012
4:14 pm
Oh dear lord…I think it’s time to go make more cookies…
McFann :Ô: :Ô: :ô:
August 16th, 2012
4:14 pm
TOBF—
Safe ride!…
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:15 pm
geeze, now Mac’s arm is so fat it is falling outta his shoulder. Get that boy a spa membership B4 his career is completely ruint……
Braveone
August 16th, 2012
4:15 pm
From the previous blog which had 1,316 comments, Efrim led the way with 76 posts. There were 205 different poster names. Here are the Top 25:
Rank Poster Frequency
1 Efrim 76
2 TheOnlyBravesFan 75
3 Jerry 74
4 phil 48
5 SNEAKY PETE 40
6 abeeewright 35
7 Brian from SC 34
8 nolie 32
9 ncscoots 31
10 David O’Brien 30
11 cabravesfan 26
12 RC 24
13 McFann :Ô: :Ô: :ô: 23
14 Venice Jim 23
15 Heisenberg 22
16 anti-negative guy 22
17 Jay Dubu 21
18 brian 20
19 Arkansas Transplant 19
20 Shaun 19
21 JC Brave 17
22 Tomahawk Mafia 17
23 Capt.Mudd 16
24 TuffShhhtuff 16
25 kelevra 16
Shaun
August 16th, 2012
4:16 pm
At the deadline Vargas was classified as an ace, top of the rotation starter, so… yes?
He’s he best starter on one of the 30 major league teams, so he must be a #1 or #2, right? Nope. This is not the way it works, at least not in scouting terms.
Yeh, well I’m sick of classify guys anyways.
MFin04, that’s the whole point of scouting, and talent evaluation in general, to classify players so that you have a somewhat simplified picture of a guy that others can understand.
And you don’t classify starters as 8’s or 9’s. You would classify them based on where you think they best fit in to one of five spots in a rotation.
Most of the Braves starters are #3’s or #4’s, which is very nice. Hudson is probably a #2. Sheets, when healthy, is probably a #2. The Braves have one of the better rotations as things stand now, and they don’t have a #1…and they are loaded with #3’s and #4’s.
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:16 pm
yeah there have been tdawg, we went over that a week or so ago
McFann :Ô: :Ô: :ô:
August 16th, 2012
4:16 pm
AT One thing is for certain.. throwing McCann out there day after day isn’t going to allow his shoulder to improve.
True that. Last time Ross caught was Friday, for crying out loud…Is there something seriously wrong with him that we don’t know about? Sheesh…
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:16 pm
but in general when a baseball person says a #3 they mean an average MLB starter
Unless they throw “durable, innings eater” in front of it. That might have some more value…….
Arkansas Transplant
August 16th, 2012
4:17 pm
McCann just needs to start bunting down the 3rd baseline.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:18 pm
He’s he best starter on one of the 30 major league teams, so he must be a #1 or #2, right? Nope. This is not the way it works, at least not in scouting terms.
You really need to read here more to get what sarcasm is from certain posters and such, Shaun.
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:18 pm
if Mac is gonna bunt he needs to bolt on a supercharger first
PDOG
August 16th, 2012
4:19 pm
Don’t know how people can rate pitchers in the minors as 1,2,3,4 or 5. To all you genius I am sure because he only threw 88 mph that you would have rated Glavine and Maddox as 4 or 5, pitching is more then throwing the ball 95mph.
Trey
August 16th, 2012
4:20 pm
Gosh, nolie! You are losing it, man. You dropped from number 1 to number 8.
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:20 pm
Shaun is a pretty literal guy, they often miss facetious and sarcastic statements
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:20 pm
Yeh, well I’m sick of classify guys anyways.
It’s a really important part of things in this sport, I think. Classification of a guys projection – like in Football when they say a pass rusher can be a double digit sack guy. Not exactly the same thing, but I hope you get why such classifications exist.
McFann :Ô: :Ô: :ô:
August 16th, 2012
4:21 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEyes40uG6w
Arkansas Transplant
August 16th, 2012
4:21 pm
he needs to bolt on a supercharger first
Not with some of the extreme shifts I’ve seen.. I’d be okay if he bunted every time up if they are going to play the 3rd baseman as the SS.
Arkansas Transplant
August 16th, 2012
4:21 pm
only that, but it would save his shoulder as well.
AZBravoFan
August 16th, 2012
4:22 pm
Isn’t there a Molina out there somewhere that we could pick up off waivers and plug in until Mac is healthy?
DawgDad
August 16th, 2012
4:22 pm
The only thing “marginal” in relation to Chipper going in first-ballot is the judgment displayed by many of the Hall of Fame voters.
Francisco has been a beast lately. He took a lot of heat early, but he’s been a nice piece and ought to get a fair shot to win the third base job next Spring.
Medlen’s performance only highlights how ridiculous it is to go to a six-man rotation.
Arkansas Transplant
August 16th, 2012
4:23 pm
or maybe McCann could learn to hit as a right hander.
nolie
August 16th, 2012
4:23 pm
actually Trey, I have missed the cut entirely several times lately.
its a matter of projecting what you see at the time PDOG, which is why even the best are often wrong.
Glav is a poor example IMO though since so much of his success was helped by an extra 8 inches of home plate…….
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:23 pm
Don’t know how people can rate pitchers in the minors as 1,2,3,4 or 5. To all you genius I am sure because he only threw 88 mph that you would have rated Glavine and Maddox as 4 or 5, pitching is more then throwing the ball 95mph.
Firs off, didn’t Maddux sit in the low 90’s in his early years? Second, naming the rare exception of pitchers that can’t break 90 and are successful doesn’t mean the Sean Gilmartin’s of the world have ace potential. That’s ridiculous.
Look at the best pitchers around the league, folks. They don’t sit 86-88mph unless they are throwing a hard knuckler at 82 like Dickey is.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:25 pm
I mean, you have to have some serious command and plus breaking pitches to sit in the high-80’s, I think.
JC Brave
August 16th, 2012
4:26 pm
McCann is so slow, that even the RFer can come in running from the outfield, field Mac’s bunt and throw him out.
/exageratedsarcasm.
timthebrave
August 16th, 2012
4:29 pm
JC Braves….I laughed and then got mad for you making fun of B Mac…Good one
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
4:30 pm
Unless they throw “durable, innings eater” in front of it.
yeah, exactly. We gotta come up with all the characteristics that provide extra points on the term paper. Like “crafty”. That’s gotta be worth a few points on the curve. Let’s get ‘em in print, people! We’ll figure out the point values later.
PDOG
August 16th, 2012
4:30 pm
I am not ranking Gilmartin as an ace I am not ranking him at all, maybe Maddox was at 90 for a couple of years but the majority of his years he couldn’t break 90 and I pretty sure Glavine never broke 90. What makes Kimbrell so good the fact that he throw 97 or the fact that he throws 97 and then breaks off a nasty slider at 87.
Does Kyle Farnsworth bring back memories for anybody if you throw 100 at its straight major league hitters will catch up to it.
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
4:31 pm
I’ll stick with my 3’s and 4’s who pitch complete game shutouts and 8 inning 1 run games.
I’ll let other teams have the 1’s and 2’s of Greinke and Dempster. How about that. 
And no Sheets and Medlen really are considered 8’s or 9’s. Guys no one in their right might would be starting for a MLB team, but we are the Braves and we find a way to make things work. Kinda fun.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
4:34 pm
Does Kyle Farnsworth bring back memories for anybody if you throw 100 at its straight major league hitters will catch up to it.
Not unless you throw three or four or five of ‘em. People forget that the second part of “Big-league hitters can time a jet plane” is “…if they see it enough.”
ncgary
August 16th, 2012
4:34 pm
go braves
Venice Jim
August 16th, 2012
4:35 pm
JC – even if it’s right down the third base line? I mean, I can see if it’s toward first…
Shaun
August 16th, 2012
4:37 pm
Here’s the way I understand the classifications, from a scouting perspective:
#1 – A legit ace. These are very rare. These are the pitchers that consistently finish near the top of the Cy Young voting and aren’t just there because they happen to rack up a lot of wins. They legitimately belong there, year-in and year-out. They are the types that dominate games.
#2 – These are the guys that contend for the Cy Young in their best seasons. They are very good starters but they are clearly mismatched against the #1’s. However, they aren’t far off. They can dominate games fairly regularly but they are missing something or other that the #1’s have.
#3 – These are the solid-average major league starters. Maybe they lack the durability or the consistency of a #1 or a #2 but they are very good starters. They don’t dominate often but they’ll keep you in most games, if your offense can step up.
#4 – These are the below-average starters that will still give you some quality innings as starters. They are clearly good enough to hold down rotation spots in the big leagues but have pretty notable deficiencies that keep them from mid-rotation or higher, whether it be durability or stuff. A lot has to go right for them to dominate a game.
#5 – These are guys that you could throw out there to start and they aren’t going to absolutely embarrass themselves. However, they are very fringy. They might bounce around from bullpen to rotation or from Triple-A to the majors. They can hold their own in the big leagues, as starters but can’t do much more than that.
All of this is sort of fuzzy language because I think it’s kind of complicated and there are a lot of subjective elements to classifying starting pitchers in to their scouting definitions. But from what I understand, this is how it more or less works.
timthebrave
August 16th, 2012
4:37 pm
Most hitters would rather see 97 MPH “Straight” fastball than 90 with late movement
JC Brave
August 16th, 2012
4:38 pm
I wrote third base line, but deleted it because it would be too much of a stretch, as the RFer might get tired of running so much…
ncgary
August 16th, 2012
4:39 pm
hunter harvey
who should be braves scouting
ncgary
August 16th, 2012
4:41 pm
his dad was one of the walking wounded here back in the day
brian used to close for the angels
DAP
August 16th, 2012
4:41 pm
MFin04 How many problems can possibly go wrong with McCann?
when a problem goes wrong…does something good happen?
Shaun
August 16th, 2012
4:41 pm
I’ll let other teams have the 1’s and 2’s of Greinke and Dempster. How about that.
I would guess most scouts would say Greinke is a #2. Some may say he’s a #1. And I think most would say Dempster is a #3 right now, maybe even a #4. I would think most would say that if he’s a #3, at his age and with his skills, he’s probably not going to be a #3 for much longer.
brian
August 16th, 2012
4:42 pm
thanks for the blog Chief!!
Venice Jim
August 16th, 2012
4:42 pm
Tex with a steal (well, technically, defensive indifference, but still)…
Not enough to save the Yankees, however…
OTP
August 16th, 2012
4:42 pm
I’d be fine with Francisco taking over 3rd base next year, (after losing a few pounds), and Prado at 2nd. The guy just needs playing time.
PDOG
August 16th, 2012
4:42 pm
Pitching is about location and changing speeds so that you keep the hitter off balance and the truth is some pitchers never can get it some get it sooner then later and others get it later. Tell me Efrim and Shaun what was Beachy projected at 4 years ago?
ncgary
August 16th, 2012
4:43 pm
they were related to tony cloninger
Venice Jim
August 16th, 2012
4:45 pm
Yankees-Rangers finish in a crisp time of 3:34…
brian
August 16th, 2012
4:45 pm
McCann’s lingering injuries I know are frustrating to him (and McFann). It does make me wonder if the wear and tear of catching is catching up with him. As much I don’t want to say it, I do wonder if he would do better in the AL where he could DH 3 games and catch 2 of a 5 man rotation.
Venice Jim
August 16th, 2012
4:46 pm
Kevin McAlpin @KevinMcAlpin
Chipper: “I want to play every home game cause through texting and through Twitter people tell me all the time ‘were coming to the game’”
brian
August 16th, 2012
4:46 pm
McCann is too good a bat to let stubborness stand in the way of a long and productive career
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
4:48 pm
Can 4’s and 5’s pitch like 1’s and 2’s for an extended period of time is the real question.
This whole number game really is silly. Arbitrary and meaningless at best.
It makes sense for prospects I suppose, but really until guys get some starts at the big league level and you see how they react, it is only a number.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:48 pm
Just my opinion on how I look at things, but I think there is a difference between ace and #1. Just me though. Most people think #1 starter and then “ace”.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
4:48 pm
Unfortunately, starters don’t have a classification like WAR, where we could assign tenths of a point (”He’s a solid 3.2, but I don’t believe he’ll ever be a 3.8″).
Once you get past the top guy (who, if the team is lucky, is an order of magnitude better than the other four starters), it gets pretty murky. 2 or 3? Murky. Muddled. Shades of grey. 4 or 5? The most you can say is “not a 2 or 3, something less.”, but otherwise? Not very clear distinctions.
There’s the front of the rotation and the back of the rotation. Trying to refine classification further than that is just going to result in a headache.
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
4:50 pm
Braves starters as of late:
Sheets 2
Hudson 1.5 (new I know, I invented it to give more clarity)
Maholm 1
Medlen 1
Minor 2
Heck of a rotation.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:50 pm
This whole number game really is silly. Arbitrary and meaningless at best.
It makes sense for prospects I suppose, but really until guys get some starts at the big league level and you see how they react, it is only a number.
I’ve been on this blog since late 2006/early 2007 – you may be the guy that I disagree with the most.
Shaun
August 16th, 2012
4:50 pm
Efrim, I realize TennesseePaul was joking. I was trying to play along, but it’s hard to get the sarcasm to come across on a computer screen.
Don’t know how people can rate pitchers in the minors as 1,2,3,4 or 5. To all you genius I am sure because he only threw 88 mph that you would have rated Glavine and Maddox as 4 or 5, pitching is more then throwing the ball 95mph.
Garry Maddox? I always thought he was a hitter.
Oh, maybe you mean Maddux.
Who said anything about velocity alone being the basis for classifying pitchers?
As far as how people can rate pitchers in the minors as 1,2,3,4 or 5, it’s the same way we can rate pitchers or players in general as superstar, star, average, below average, fringe or whatever, pick your terminology. Rating pitchers this way is just part of the language of scouting, a way to make things simple and categorize. It would be pretty hard to communicate without language and categorizing and simplifying in this way. It has its drawbacks but what’s the alternative?
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:53 pm
There’s the front of the rotation and the back of the rotation. Trying to refine classification further than that is just going to result in a headache.
How about short pitchers, scoots? I mean, what do you really think of the sub-6 footers?
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
4:55 pm
Kris Medlen’s average fastball velocity is tops among Braves starting pitchers.
Kris. Medlen. All 5′10” of him, too.
Playoffs!!!
August 16th, 2012
4:55 pm
Hudson is a #2 starter at this stage of his career. And we have a lot of 3s, 4s and 5s
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
4:56 pm
So Greinke is a #2 and going to get 20-25 million a year. What good is a ranking system if he is a #2 and going to get paid like an Ace?
And why is it that we got the Cubs 3rd best pitcher, which makes him a #3 on the Cubs, which is probably a #4 anywhere else, and he is absolutely dominating the rest of the league?
I’m just not seeing the value of numbering guys who are established major leaguers.
Give me Hudson and Maholm all day long compared to Greinke and Dempster. Cheaper and apparently better pitchers.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
4:58 pm
How about short pitchers, scoots? I mean, what do you really think of the sub-6 footers?
Depends. Truth is, Hudson is a short pitcher (there is zero chance that he’s actually six-one; I’ve stood next to him) but he throws about eleventy-two different pitches and I happen to think Hudson is an excellent starting pitcher.
Coach (2012 Fredi's Beisbol Fandango)
August 16th, 2012
4:59 pm
DOB wrote:
Someone asked me this morning on Twitter if I thought Chipper would have 3,000 hits were it not for his two ACL knee surgeries. And I said yes, since the first of those surgeries cost him an entire season at the start of his career.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not to nitpick but that very same 1994 season was one where nobody played due to the strike. So if anything Chipper picked a good year to blow his knee out. Still, if not for all the nagging leg injuries Chipper has suffered over the years, there is no doubt he would have made it to 3000.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
5:00 pm
Kris Medlen’s average fastball velocity is tops among Braves starting pitchers.
this is not a cause for celebration.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
5:00 pm
Depends. Truth is, Hudson is a short pitcher (there is zero chance that he’s actually six-one; I’ve stood next to him)
Is he at least 6′0”?
Johnny Cueto is a rare one. He’s no more than 5′11”.
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
5:01 pm
ncscoots – I like Hudson too.
And Maholm….and Sheets…and Minor….and Medlen….and Beachy…(and Jurrjens 
) and Kimbrel and Venters and EOF and C-Mart (still pissed at Durbin) and Gearrin …
Coach (2012 Fredi's Beisbol Fandango)
August 16th, 2012
5:01 pm
Tim Hudson’s still an ace in my book until I say otherwise
JC Brave
August 16th, 2012
5:01 pm
Kris Medlen @KrisMedlen54
TEAM PHOTO DAY! For some reason Chipper turned down my request for a buddy pic with us each holding a bat on our shoulder… no idea why.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
5:02 pm
this is not a cause for celebration.
“Celebration” or half a bottle of Johnny Walker black by myself. Incredibly depressing fact of the Atlanta Braves rotation.
Whatever works, though, right?
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
5:02 pm
Is he at least 6′0”?
I don’t think so, but I didn’t haul out a yardstick. I can only say that I’m a legit six-one and I could see the top of his cap.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
5:04 pm
Speaking of short starting pitchers – J.R. Graham starting tonight for Double-A Mississippi.
ncscoots
August 16th, 2012
5:05 pm
Speaking of short starting pitchers – J.R. Graham
Throws gas. Redeeming feature.
Shaun
August 16th, 2012
5:06 pm
There’s the front of the rotation and the back of the rotation. Trying to refine classification further than that is just going to result in a headache.
Sometimes headaches are necessary for a better understanding of things. And you really think there is not a different classification for, say, Justin Verlander and Tim Hudson, both front-end starters.
it makes sense for prospects I suppose, but really until guys get some starts at the big league level and you see how they react, it is only a number.
You can say the same thing about any way to evaluate prospects. But that’s the whole point, making an educated guess about what a prospect might do in the majors. Why bother discussing anything? Also, tell me how that’s going to work from a team’s perspective if they just throw their hands up and say, “well, we really don’t know what we have until guys get up and make some starts in the majors”? How is a team going to know which guys deserve the chance first and which guys do not, etc.?
This whole number game really is silly. Arbitrary and meaningless at best.
I don’t see where it’s arbitrary. There is very much a rhyme and reason to it all.
JNick
August 16th, 2012
5:06 pm
Had the same injury to my right shoulder – mine was from years of wrestling, and the fix was lots of rehab (about 6 weeks worth of strengthening the rotator cuff muscles to “tighten up” the joint). Depending on the grade, he may need surgery though, especially if he has any separation at his AC joint.
VaBravesFan
August 16th, 2012
5:07 pm
I’d like to see the Braves have a rotation with 5 guys who have the ability to all produce under a 4 ERA.
BravePack(FreeFan)
August 16th, 2012
5:07 pm
Lots of Maholm fans on the blog…and I am one of them. Gets the most out of what he has and has been really good to great as of late. Good to great middle of the rotation guy who now has 11 wins after playing most of the season of a bad Cubs team. Could easily have 15 wins by now if on the Braves earlier in the season. I hope the Braves pick up his option after the season. Thank you Ryan Dumpster for refusing to come to Atlanta, now the Braves got the better pitcher.
Coach (2012 Fredi's Beisbol Fandango)
August 16th, 2012
5:08 pm
Ted Lyons 5-11 Hall of Fame.
Stan Covelesk 5-11 Hall of Fame
Eddie Plank 5-11 Hall of Fame
Mordecai Brown 5-10 Hall of Fame
Whitey Ford 5-10 Hall of Fame
Pedro Martinez 5-11 Will be in the Hall of Fame
Greg Maddux 6-0 and bound for Cooperstown
My work here is done…….later dudes.
Efrim
August 16th, 2012
5:10 pm
Throws gas. Redeeming feature.
Gets a ton of groundballs. K rate might not be there, but again, the ball doesn’t get hit in the air very much vs. this kid. He’s starting to become one of my favorite prospects in the system. Consider him hugged.
VaBravesFan
August 16th, 2012
5:11 pm
In 2011 Beachy, Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens, Delgado (7 starts) all posted under a 4 ERA. Mike Minor in 15 starts was at 4.14
So far this season only Beachy, Hudson, Maholm, Sheets (6 GS), Medlen (3 GS) have done it.
CB
August 16th, 2012
5:14 pm
So, a pitcher’s speed on his fastball is more important than his ERA or whether he performs well and keeps his team in the game? Also, when he stands on the mound if they call him an ace, a no. 1,2,3,4 or 5 this will undoubtedly make a difference? Just trying to get the rules straight here, don’t want to be uninformed. Really,guys, sometimes we over analyze just a tad here.
MFin04
August 16th, 2012
5:14 pm
“I’d like to see the Braves have a rotation with 5 guys who have the ability to all produce under a 4 ERA.”
So basically the current rotation!?
Last 30 days:
Medlen 1.09 3 starts, 8 games
Maholm 1.57 3 starts
Minor 2.39 6 starts
Sheets 2.53 5 starts
Hudson 3.08 6 starts (5-0)
CB
August 16th, 2012
5:16 pm
Also, the most enjoyable game I saw pitched recently was Maholm’s shut out last week. What was the top speed on his FB?