2016 Hagerstown Suns-The Pitchers

After the review of the 2016 Hagerstown Suns hitters,we move on and begin our look at the arms of the Suns.

These Suns lacked a huge prospect arm on staff like the previous two versions like Lucas Giolito or Erick Fedde and I'm not even sure if there are many prospects for the future.

On the surface,the three players that made 20 starts have a lot in common-tall,lanky righthanders that project to throw harder as their arms develop.
In actuality,the above notes are about the only things in common among these three.

My favorite was Pedro Avila,who impressed at 19 with a solid 3.48 ERA and 92 whiffs in 93 innings.
Avila has good command (only 38 walks)and his numbers at a young age in the SAL marks him as a player to keep an eye on.
Hard throwing Joan Baez touches the high 90's,has a premium fastball and struck 119 in 125 innings.
Baez does seem to suffer from keeping his mechanics in order and could use some refinement still.but with an arm like that,Baez gives me hope for the future.
Jefry Rodriguez continues to disappoint in his second Hagerstown stint,but I saw a few things to give me pause before writing him off.
Rodriguez's WHIP dropped dramatically from 2015 and opponents hit just .240 against him.
Rodriguez will turn 24 in the middle of next year,so his time is running out as someone remotely considered as a prospect.

The other starters are a mixed bag.
Taylor Guilbeau split time between the rotation and the bullpen and pitched better as a starter.
His 3.61 ERA looks interesting,but the league hit almost .300 against him and I just don't see it.
I really liked Andrew Lee in last year's review and I was surprised to see him back in the Hub City.
His numbers were good enough,before suffering a season ending injury after eleven starts.
I'm unsure of Lee's current status.
I really loved hard throwing lefty Taylor Hearn (31 K's in 22 innings),who suffered an ankle injury in his first start and came back firing.
Hearn was traded to Pittsburgh in the Mark Melancon trade.I would have rated Hearn as my top prospect of this bunch had he finished the season here.
The only other starter to reach double digits in starts was soft tossing James Bourque,who at 23 and an five plus ERA looks like organizational filler to me.

The relievers are usually questionable prospects as most teams like to see their top level prospects in the rotation,but still worth looking at.
The next four pitchers all were little old for the level,college draftees and three of the four had chances at high A,
Mariano Rivera III had three good months and two awful ones to end up with OK numbers.
Rivera doesn't throw as hard as you would think and he is awfully small (listed at 5'11,I might say 5'9),but will likely be a major part of Potomac's pen next season.
Matthew Crownover was dominant in ten outings in Hagerstown (ERA barely over one),but didn't pitch as well in Potomac and Tommy Peterson was about the same.
Considering both players were college draftees,that's about as good as you could hope for.
I saw more of Peterson than Crownover and both should be back at Potomac to start next season.
Jorge Pantoja was excellent in Hagerstown (9-1 2.63),but bad in Potomac (6.30 ERA,opponents hit .349 against him) in six appearances and was quickly returned there.
Grant Borne keeps the ball down (2.36 ground to air ratio) and was good (3.34 ERA) and is worth looking at as a potential situational guy.
If you can keep the ball down,you have a chance to stick as a reliever arm somewhere in the game.
Jake Johansen was a surprising late season return to Hagerstown and was great in 11 games (ERA under two),but he'll be 26 when next season begins and I wonder how many chances Johansen has left.

The rest look like organizational soldiers to me.
Trey Lambert had great numbers (2.44 ERA in 24 appearances),but he should have at 25 and was released mid-season to be signed by the Marlins.
2016 draftee Jacob Howell had a rough eight games after arriving from Auburn
Mick VanVossen was decent,but not great (3.71) in his 29 appearances,Phillip Walby was similar after being added after a release from the Yankees and Luis Torres was released in July.
Torres was nothing special,but teams did hit just .237 against him and he was 22.I guess what I'm saying is that I've seen worse guys of similar age and they got more chances.
Wonder what was behind that?

I'm not listing any pitcher that didn't appear in eight games or more other than Tyler Watson,who looked interesting in (16 K's) three late season starts and should return to Hagerstown.

I like three players on this team as potential prospects-Pedro Avila and Joan Baez along with Taylor Hearn,now with the Pirates.
None of the three are sure things,but I see enough good things to consider them prospects....
Hope you've enjoyed this brief synopsis of the team-I started this twice and wanted to get them finished before I got too busy.

Back later with Ohio State-Indiana and NLDS...

2015 Hagerstown Suns Review-The Pitchers

We finish our series on the 2015 Hagerstown Suns with a look at the pitchers.
The cutoff line is six games pitched.
If a player appeared in less than that number,I didn't offer an opinion on such a small sample.

There certainly were no Lucas Giolitos or Reynaldo Lopezes on the 2015 Suns,but there were a few interesting arms,especially a few that arrived in the waning days of the campaign.

The standout of the early season was Austen Willams,who composed a tiny ERA of 2.10 in 13 starts before a promotion to Potomac.
Willams doesn't throw gas as some do in the organization,but he has nice command (30 walks in 135 innings in two stops) and with his size (6'3) and ability to keep the ball down (allowed just 4 homers),I would say that Williams is a prospect to keep tabs on.
Williams should start next season in AA Harrisburg.

The other pitchers that are worth discussing as interesting all came into Hagerstown later in  the season.
I really liked what I saw in two hard throwers out of the 2015 draft.
Andrew Lee was downright dominant in 29 innings that saw him start and relieve.
Hitters hit just .171 against him his ERA and WHIP (2.15 and 0.92) were microscopic and his number that impressed me most-34 strikeouts in 29 innings.
I've said before that when I evaluate pitching numbers in the SAL,the ratio of strikeouts to innings pitched is my top stat.
If you aren't striking batters out here with the hitters not being as disciplined in the strike zone,the odds are that the number will not excessively improve at higher levels.
On the contrary,a high number (anything above 1 is considered strong) shows a arm that has the potential to play as the competition increases.
Another interesting note on Lee,who was drafted out of Morristown Tennessee as a high school product-Lee is listed as 21 and will turn 22 in December..
Either someone made an error or Lee was one old high school senior!
Lee should start at High A Potomac and should be given the chance as a full time starter.

Editor's Note:I was told by a reader that Lee spent time in Knoxville as a Tennesse Volunteer,which wasn't listed on his page.
Things make so much more sense now!!

Koda Glover  is another 2015 draftee with a power arm that sits in the mid to upper 90's.
The Oklahoma State Cowboy had the same WHIP as Lee and in 24 innings struck out 27 while walking just one.
Glover is a simple pitcher matching pitch speed vs bat speed and in his last game against Kannapolis,Glover might have been close to 100 MPH as he fanned all three batters on 11 pitches and allowed just one foul ball.
Glover has the stuff and attitude to be a closer and is likely to start as the Potomac closer in 2016.

2014 first rounder Erick Fedde finished his first pro season in Hagerstown (six starts) with an ERA that was deceivingly high (4.34) due to a six earned run filled first start,but even that considered,Fedde was a mild disappointment to me.
Hitters hit  just .224 against Fedde and his WHIP was strong at 1.10,but he struck out just 23 in 29 innings,his stuff didn't seem overwhelming and looked to me to be a polished college pitcher that overwhelmed the less experienced SAL hitters.
I still think Fedde is a prospect as the UNLV product was in his first year of post-Tommy John surgery,but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be.
Fedde could start back with the Suns,but is more likely to be in Potomac....

None of the four pitchers that threw the highest number of innings truly stood out.
Luis Reyes struggled most of the season,but spent the season as a 20 year old in Hagerstown.
Reyes numbers were nothing special and he suffered an injury in his last start,so his future is clouded at best.

6'6 Connor Bach struck out 106 in 110 innings and hitters hit just .238 against him.
However,his control was spotty,WHIP was high and his ERA was just under four.
Combine that with being a little old for the level,Bach will need a strong 2016 in Potomac for prospect status.

Drew Van Orden's numbers look passable enough,but the former fifth rounder from Duke doesn't miss many bats (47 k's in 92 innings) and was old for the level (23).
Van Orden might project best as a long reliever.

Lanky Venezuelan Mario Sanchez spent the season in Hagerstown at 20 with a high ERA and stats that were not worth noting except for one-18 walks in 90 innings.
I'd return Sanchez to Hagerstown and hope for better results..

As for the rest
Phillips Valdez was excellent as a Sun including one memorable night at the Muni,where he threw seven innings of no-hit baseball,but his numbers fell after a Potomac promotion.
Valdez will start next season at 24,so 2016 is a make or break season.

Jefry Rodriguez started the season with high expectations as the brightest prospect of the pitchers.
Instead,Rodriguez posted an ERA over six,almost walked as many as he struck out and spent more time in short season Auburn than Hagerstown.
Still just 22,Rodriguez's time might be running out.

Jake Walsh didn't allow a run in 17 innings,but will start 2016 at 25.
If he is assigned to AA Harrisburg,the organization is giving him a chance.Any lower and they consider him roster filler....

Justin Amlung put up pedestrian numbers after being signed after the Cubs released him.
Amlung was 25 and didn't dominate,I'd be mildly surprised to see him next season.

Former top prospect Matt Purke started eight games in Hagerstown as part of an attempted comeback.
Purke used guile and smarts to outclass the SAL,but clearly lacked the toolbox that he once had.
That caught up to him when he was hammered at AA Harrisburg.
Purke looks to be finished as a prospect.

Two years ago,former third rounder Brett Mooneyham looked to be on the verge of being high on the Nationals prospect list.
After 19 brutal innings and a drop from a higher level,Mooneyham was released.
The end was pretty sad and fall from grace was quick as Mooneyham clearly either had lost his confidence or perhaps was injured as he was not even close to the pitcher that pitched in Hagerstown in 2013.

Robert Orlan was old for the level (25 in two weeks),but his 68 strikeouts in 55 innings jumps off the page to me and makes him worth noting.
Orlan might have a chance as a situational reliever,if he could post similar numbers at higher levels.

Soft tossing Ryan Brinley posted nice numbers in 11 games in August,but struck out just six batters and I'd bet he gets exposed at higher levels.

Kevin Perez was excellent with the Suns,but bombed in Potomac after being signed by Washington after the Royals released him.,
Hitters hit just .205 against Perez and he's still just 22,but he'll need to put it together soon.

Three pitchers appear headed for organizational soldier status after a second year in Hagerstown.
Andrew Cooper,David Napoli and Sam Johns all were undistinguished,although Cooper had the best numbers of the bunch and is the youngest (23).
None are of prospect status and other than maybe Cooper will be lucky to be around for 2016.

Deion Williams struggled with control and will be fortunate to be back next season.
Williams turns 23 before next season,so he's likely to get one more chance,but it will be his final one.

David Ramos was injured after 7 games and 13 innings of pretty bad work (ERA just under seven)
Ramos just turned 24,so he'll be lucky to get another year...

Hope you enjoyed the Suns series,still have more planned for this week,so stay tuned!