30 Comments

This was great work! Love the effort into research.

Meuth would be the 5th best prospect in the system right now if I had a say in such things. 6th when Mike Burrows is back and healthy.

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Don't strongly disagree. He's basically had nearly identical, very good outings six straight times. You don't much see that kind of consistency at the rookie level. It's interesting that his W/L record is 6-1 because starters at the level aren't usually around long enough to get a win.

I REALLY want to see him in full season ball, though. His FB has a ton of arm-side run (one of them really took off on him and beaned a guy yesterday) and he combines it with a slider that breaks sharply the other way. I don't think these hitters can deal with that combination, so it's relatively easy for him to get locked in with those two pitches without necessarily having great command. I'm very eager to see what happens against more experienced hitters.

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Kellington throwing 80 IP in his first full season is interesting. I would imagine they keep the number under that number now.

Not that I think that it is in direct correlation with his current injury but definitely interesting.

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Yea he’s an interesting case because he missed time the year before, and then obviously this year.

Hard to tell if there’s a correlation between the two since he’s been injured prior. Then again, I’m not sure what the original was so, so we never know

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Jul 20Liked by Anthony Murphy

Great write-up and a solid follow-up to the 'workload' article yesterday. Much appreciated

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With 21 new possible players coming from the draft, with potential Latin signings, and with MLB now requiring teams to meet a specific roster size, I would enjoy a deep dive into how a system handles the new restrictions.

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Well, the O’s just put in a position player to pitch in the 4th. It’s the 4th straight game they’ve used one. More later.

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To follow up, the FCL O's flat don't have enough pitchers, apparently only nine on the roster. The Pirates haven't had that problem, but it seems to me they have just enough, based on the usage patterns I'm seeing. Before this year, they'd always have guys who weren't pitching much. Not great for them, but right now a string of injuries/promotions could leave them short.

Some of this clearly is the new draft timeframe. Until this year, FCL teams would get an infusion of players a week or two into the season. Now, draftees are going to sign and there'll be no place to go. There won't be nearly enough room on low A rosters.

I'm not sure about the overall domestic roster limit. When draftees sign they don't have to go on a roster right away. I'm not sure what's the longest they can wait. Beyond that, they can clear some space by releasing some guys and putting others on 60-day or full-season IL.

What's underlying all this, I expect, is a desire by MLB to shift most of development to the colleges, like the NFL and NBA. The quality of play will suffer, but the people running the sport don't care about that.

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I know when I talked to Horner when I was there, he had said he’s been very close on multiple occasions to having to use a hitter in a non blow out situation.

Can only think of once, maybe twice the Marauders have had to do it. Greensboro has done it a couple of times.

Pirates going so pitcher heavy the last two years may have saved them

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It irks me a bit, especially at the R level. You’re playing only 60 games, most of them just seven innings. Are you trying to develop players or not?

The O’s coaches were laughing about it. One asked a spectator if he wanted to pitch. Not much else they can do I guess. The MiL structure is f***d up now and moving the draft is gonna make it worse.

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Awesome comment Wilbur, thanks for sharing.

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having just one minor league team (like the NBA) is fine by me and would make minor league baseball more entertaining

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Need a downvote option . . . .

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at least for the minor league playoffs they should have just one team

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Thank you Mr. Manfred…

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They realized they can use college as a minor league they don’t have to pay for.

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well its not a minor league if the players have no connection to a major league team. serves no purpose for anyone.

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But it does have a purpose, for the majors. It’s a misguided purpose though. For the majors, it helps them weed out raw HS kids so they don’t have to spend onerous six figure bonuses on HS kids. MLB is always penny wise and pound foolish with stuff like this.

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I’m not much interested in the super wealthy “saving money”. The decision to shrink minor league baseball wounded a century old aspect of America and baseball. They hurt numerous little cities that were already hurting. Corporate America hates anything that can’t have a price tag attached to it. They want to make money for themselves and they don’t care about who or what is harmed.

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Oh I hate it too. It’s an absolutely coldhearted awful move for the reasons you cited.

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Yes, sorry I didn’t preface my remarks. I didn’t mean to imply you necessarily agreed with them, You were just stating the case.

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For those who'd like to get excited about Hartle, I submit: https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2024/07/20/pirates-josh-hartle-steal-of-mlb-draft-gwm

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It was a very good pick, I personally would have liked Sirota or Tears there maybe even Tristan Smith because I think they have a higher ceiling. If Hartle is back to his 2023 form, his floor is considerably higher than the others and his ceiling is close.

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We already get tears too much.

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There's no crying in baseball!

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Rookie ball can be interesting. Watching Solometo now. In the bottom of the first, Severino got to third with two out. LH hitter was up so the 3B was way off the bag. Severino came halfway down the line, distracted the P and provoked a balk.

Fwiw, this is a very aggressive team on the bases.

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How did Solometo look? The line looked at least somewhat promising

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Velocity was 88-90. His command would falter a little at times, but any time he needed to make a pitch he went with a change and the hitters just flailed at it.

Obviously, the velo is disappointing. It's hard to judge much else with him facing rookie level hitters. His motion alone probably creates too much trouble for them. No hard contact off him. Pretty good number of missed bats.

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Hopefully he can finish the season strong even if he doesn’t get the velocity all the way back up

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And Matoma’s a good juggler.

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