Chris
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Hey, that 55 MPH curveball might get my little brother out! :chuckles:
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Indians claim P R.J Swindle off waivers & option him to AAA Columbus
- Thread starter MoFlo
- Start date
Hey, that 55 MPH curveball might get my little brother out! :chuckles:
macbdog
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- Has been with 8 different professional baseball teams (6 bigleague organizations) in 6 years as a pro. Spent only one year with the BoSox org before landing in the Indy leagues. Then after 1 1/2 years in the indy leagues, landed with the Yanks for only one season then let go. Did his developing in the Phillies org, who then promptly let him go after 4 innings in the pros. Then ended up with the Brewers for a spell, then the Rays.
- Has filthy BB/K nos. His control looks surprisingly good for a guy who is 6'3". Really wonder how he is getting guys to swing-and-miss while throwing between 82-55 mph and supposedly a pretty straight fastball.
- While he has only surrendered 11 HRs as a minor leaguer, most of those innings where starting in the indy leagues. What the scouting report referred to where the 5 HRs he has surrendered in 11.3 bigleague innings. Even Tomo Ohka thinks those are crazy HR/IP numbers.
- That 55 mph 'curveball' sounds like Kaz Tadano's old 'parachute pitch'- basically a tall, looping changeup thrown very rarely trying to catch the hitter off-guard. This guy sounds like a young Doug Jones- slow, slower, and slowest. It took Doug until he was 30 to finally master the ability to get bigleague hitters out while throwing the equivalent of a whiffle ball.
- This looks like a guy that they are taking a look at, I guess, until the end of the season. The team only has 33 guys on the 40-man so they got spots to play around with. However, I don't see how hes sticks past this season since so many guys have to be added to the 40-man this offseason. He will in all likelyhood be looking for team no. 7 starting in October.
- Regardless, I am rooting for this guy. Any moderatly talented minorleague pitcher can do a cycle or three and start throwing 95 mph, but it takes a truly special pitcher to go out there with stuff that won't break the speed limit in some Texas counties and try to be successful.
- Has filthy BB/K nos. His control looks surprisingly good for a guy who is 6'3". Really wonder how he is getting guys to swing-and-miss while throwing between 82-55 mph and supposedly a pretty straight fastball.
- While he has only surrendered 11 HRs as a minor leaguer, most of those innings where starting in the indy leagues. What the scouting report referred to where the 5 HRs he has surrendered in 11.3 bigleague innings. Even Tomo Ohka thinks those are crazy HR/IP numbers.
- That 55 mph 'curveball' sounds like Kaz Tadano's old 'parachute pitch'- basically a tall, looping changeup thrown very rarely trying to catch the hitter off-guard. This guy sounds like a young Doug Jones- slow, slower, and slowest. It took Doug until he was 30 to finally master the ability to get bigleague hitters out while throwing the equivalent of a whiffle ball.
- This looks like a guy that they are taking a look at, I guess, until the end of the season. The team only has 33 guys on the 40-man so they got spots to play around with. However, I don't see how hes sticks past this season since so many guys have to be added to the 40-man this offseason. He will in all likelyhood be looking for team no. 7 starting in October.
- Regardless, I am rooting for this guy. Any moderatly talented minorleague pitcher can do a cycle or three and start throwing 95 mph, but it takes a truly special pitcher to go out there with stuff that won't break the speed limit in some Texas counties and try to be successful.
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Understandable about the indy leagues, but don't you think 11 1/3 innings in the big leagues is a very small sample size to make such a statement?
macbdog
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When you give up 5 HRs in that small a span, it can't just be ignored. Pitchers tend to have the advantage when facing hitters for the first time. Timing, release point, etc. So when a guy who supposedly mixes up his arm angles and changes speeds gives up HRs like that, it is an immediate red flag. If the hitters already can identify his stuff and tee off on it then how will he fair the 2nd time around?
He also has appeared in 9 games in his bigleague career, and surrendered runs in every outing but one- and in that one outing, he failed to record an out and was pulled after walking the one batter he faced. If in your small sample size you get rocked, hard, well that does say something.
He also has appeared in 9 games in his bigleague career, and surrendered runs in every outing but one- and in that one outing, he failed to record an out and was pulled after walking the one batter he faced. If in your small sample size you get rocked, hard, well that does say something.
Spectre
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Sounds like he fits right in with the mold of the relievers we've been chasing all season... journeyman has beens/wannabes dumped by teams who actually need bullpen help because they flat out can't cut it in the majors.
Anyone want to put an over/under on the amount of time it takes us to Winston Abreu/Jose Veras/Matt Herges/Greg Aquino/Luis Vizcaino/Vinnie Chulk this guy on the first train out of Cleveland?
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Yeah, completely ignore the fact that Abreu is 32, Veras is 28 & has 116 career appearances, Herges is 39, Aquino is 31, Vizcaino is 34, and Chulk is 30..
While Swindle is 26 & has 9 career appearances
But yeah, you're absolutely right, there's no difference at all..
tedginnjr
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Yep... this is RealCavsFans Rob Kurz esque.
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Joshy Boucher
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Yeah, completely ignore the fact that Abreu is 32, Veras is 28 & has 116 career appearances, Herges is 39, Aquino is 31, Vizcaino is 34, and Chulk is 30..
While Swindle is 26 & has 9 career appearances
But yeah, you're absolutely right, there's no difference at all..
You say his age is a good thing. How many solid players do you see get picked up and dumped 6 times (Boston, New York, Philly, Milwaukee, Tampa Bay and now us) in a 6 year career at age 26? His minor league numbers are fantastic and yet he keeps getting cut? That and his absurd MLB ERA (yes only 9 appearances but holy hell) tell me that he doesn't have big league stuff.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Shapiro isn't claiming some buried treasure that those 5 other teams missed. No offense meant by this - I'm as hopeful as the next guy that we'll actually get one of these rent-an-arm guys to work out, but if Swindle isn't dumped by year's end, I'll be surprised.