2011 Pitching Prospect Watch

[ORS]

Post your flames and lames here. Four games in....

 

A - Greenville

 

Stroup - out last year with an ACL injury - 5 IP, 6K, 1 BB, 1H, 0.00

Ranaudo - anyone ever head of this guy? - 5 IP, 4 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 0.00

Couch - 3/4 arm slot RHP living primarily off his sinker (Masterson redux) - 4 IP, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 H, 0.00

 

A+ - Salem

 

Drake Britton got kicked in the teeth in his first start.

 

AA - Portland

 

Stephen Fife - 5 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 0.00

Brock Huntzinger and Stolmy Pimentel started off the year throwing battting practice in live games.

 

AAA - Pawtucket

 

Rich Hill and Scott Atchison started off the year 4.2 IP and 8 K.

Okajima has allowed no runs in 2 appearances.

Nothing else of interest going on. Miller still has no control. Bowden is meh.

 

I'm curious about what they can do with Hill.

[boy racer]

I hope Okajima does good enough to get called up.

[ORS]

Stroup got bashed in start #2.

[ORS]

Ranaudo last night....

 

4.0 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 0 R

[Station 13]

Ranaudo last night....

 

4.0 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 0 R

 

He should be in high A by May.

[ORS]

Ranaudo

 

6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K

[ORS]

Ranaudo

 

4.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R (all unearned), 1 BB, 8 K.....0.46 ERA on the season.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Great article on Ranaudo - http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/alex-speier/2011/04/26/going-places-sox-top-pitching-prospect-anthony

 

Greenville Drive Media Relations director Eric Jarinko took stock of some of the best starts seen by top pitching prospects with the Single-A South Atlantic League affiliate. Through four starts, here were the breakdowns:

 

Clay Buchholz (2006): 2-0, 0.96 ERA, 18 2/3 IP, 22 SO, 4 BB

Casey Kelly (2009): 3-0, 0.90 ERA, 20 IP, 19 SO, 3 BB

Anthony Ranaudo (2011): 1-1, 0.46 ERA, 19 2/3 IP, 23 SO, 8 BB

[a700hitter]

Possible trade bait for King Felix.

[ORS]

Maybe a couple of years down the road, if he keeps this up, but he's far too green to warrant the kind of attention it will take to pry a pitcher as good and as young as Hernandez away.

[ORS]

Ranaudo got pwned in his last start. Looks like he got his professional ball cherry popped. Be interesting to see how he bounces back next time out.

[Station 13]

Ranaudo 6IP 1H, 1B, 6K

[ORS]

Ranaudo got fisted last night.

[Station 13]

Ranaudo promoted to high A Salem.

[boston22407]

Ranaudo promoted to high A Salem.

 

According to Greenville Drive Media Relations Director Eric Jarinko (via twitter), Red Sox pitching prospect Anthony Ranaudo has been promoted from Low-A Greenville of the South Atlantic League to Hi-A Salem of the Carolina League.

 

The 21-year-old right-hander -- a supplemental first-round pick in 2010 who received a $2.55 million bonus in line with one of the top 10 picks in the country -- is now 10 starts into his first pro season. He went 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 16 walks in 46 innings in Greenville. His season has had three separate segments to date: The 6-foot-7 mound giant had a 0.46 ERA in his first four starts, an 8.22 ERA in his next four starts (albeit in a stretch that featured one outing in which he tossed six shutout innings while allowing just one hit) and a 1.64 ERA with 11 strikeouts and one walk over his last 11 innings (spanning two starts).

 

Based on his performance to date, as well as track record of success both at an elite college program (LSU) and in last summer's Cape League, Ranaudo seemed a likely candidate for an early promotion almost as soon as he took the mound for Greenville. Indeed, he likely would have opened the year in Hi-A but for the fact that the Sox wanted him to gain comfort in a starter's five-day routine before moving Ranaudo up the ladder. That seemingly has been accomplished, allowing the Sox to move Ranaudo from a level where he is roughly the league-average age for pitchers to one in which he should face a greater challenge against more advanced competition.

[Palodios]

Felix Doubront threw 3 1/3 shutout innings of one-hit ball in a recent outing in AAA. He probably knows that he's fighting for a spot in the starting rotation right now, glad to see he's stepping it up.

[Taz]

Was discussing with a mate of mine, who is not overly knowledgeable about baseball in general (I live in Scotland) about knuckleballs, why it does what it does etc & naturally enough I was using Wakefield as the prime example, but it got me to thinking, is there any knuckleballers in the Red Sox organization and if so what standard are they playing at? etc.

 

Anyone that has any insight, this info would be appreciated, as I've always really enjoyed watching knuckleballers pitch & normally makes for good entertainment.

[Palodios]

Was discussing with a mate of mine, who is not overly knowledgeable about baseball in general (I live in Scotland) about knuckleballs, why it does what it does etc & naturally enough I was using Wakefield as the prime example, but it got me to thinking, is there any knuckleballers in the Red Sox organization and if so what standard are they playing at? etc.

 

Anyone that has any insight, this info would be appreciated, as I've always really enjoyed watching knuckleballers pitch & normally makes for good entertainment.

 

I haven't heard of any recent prospects in the Red Sox system with a knuckleball, and I'm usually pretty up to date with AA/AAA players, so unless there is one hiding in single A, I do not think there is any. Generally, knuckleballers are incredibly rare, and I think the only other knuckleballer in the major leagues right now is R.A. Dickey, not sure about other team's minor leagues though.

 

Edit: Charlie Zink played for the Sox in 2008, forgot about him. He's in the indy leagues now though.

[AtWork]

A teammate of mine from college is at the Pawtucket game. He was impressed with Tony Pena Jr. who went 7 innings, allowing 4 hits and 2 ER to lower his ERA to 3.34. I asked him how his secondary pitches looked and he said, "Got some good bite. Easily would play in the majors."

[Dojji]

That's interesting. Pena is a converted infielder who got converted when he couldn't hit. He cameo'd as a pitcher a few years ago and flashed 90 MPH heat with a bit of wiggle to it and a slider that fooled a couple good hitters, without a lot of training or prep.

 

He gets his heat into the 92-93 MPH range and his command is good, he could succeed in the bigs. Heck use him as a junktime reliever and LIDR at short. He could pull it.

[Palodios]

Former top 100 BAA prospect, Junicha Tazawa has looked pretty solid in AA lately. Wonder how long it'll take to stretch him out, or if he'll ever make it back to the majors.

[jacksonianmarch]

His ERA has sucked, but the peripherals are solid. I havent heard anything about his stuff. You know, when the sox signed him, he was billed as a kid capable of running it up into the mid 90s, but when he got to the bigs, he sat 89-90 with the occasional 92. I am wondering how long his elbow was inflamed and if the guy we saw was actually who he is, or can he be better now that he's healthy.

[AtWork]

When we signed him out of high school he was advertised as a guy who threw in the low 90's and had above average breaking stuff. He's not a guy that blows hitters away.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/11/reports_tazawa.html

[AtWork]

I'm glad Tazawa is pitching effectively again. I'm interesting in seeing how it transfers to AAA and MLB where hitters are more proficient at hitting breaking balls.

[AtWork]

Alex Wilson was promoted to AAA. His line at AA:

 

112 IP, 3.05 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 103 H, 37 BB, 99 SO

[AtWork]

Tazawa looks ready for the callup next week. He's currently finishing a rehab assignment at Pawtucket where he's gone 11.1 innings, allowing 2 runs, walking one and striking out 15.

 

Bowden also looks good as a reliever. He has a 2.44 ERA, 1.14 WHIP with 61 strikeouts in 51.2 innings in that role at Pawtucket.

[Station 13]

Wilson with a 82 pitches 5 IP, 5H, 0R, 1BB and 9K game.

 

Tazawa pitch a 1-2-3 with a strikeout.

 

I think both guys can help out next month.