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Blaine Knight


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#21 Mike B

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Posted 03 May 2019 - 09:02 AM

I think there are a few guys at Delmarva who are a level too low, and Knight is certainly one, but I think, they are following a developmental plan.  For years, we all have bitched about the Orioles not being able to develop players, but especially pitchers, so I am willing to wait and see if they have a better idea on how to bring guys along.


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#22 Mackus

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Posted 03 May 2019 - 09:16 AM

I am not capable of having enough trust in the new people to think that having a 23 y/o dominate at low-A is a wise strategy.  If he moves up within the next month then fine, I do think it makes sense to develop confidence, but he's two levels low if anything.   



#23 SportsGuy

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Posted 09 May 2019 - 03:19 PM

Being moved up?

 

Rodriguez pitched today and he last started on 5/3.

 

Knight last started on 5/2.



#24 JeremyStrain

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Posted 09 May 2019 - 03:22 PM

Being moved up?

 

Rodriguez pitched today and he last started on 5/3.

 

Knight last started on 5/2.

 

Nope, same thing, stretching them for a full season. Remember that Sally ball is the first FULL season team, so most of these guys are coming off college and a couple starts for ABD, or out of extended spring for a short season there. You don't want them to hit the playoffs, either here or at A+ and have thrown too many innings and you have to shut them down.


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#25 BobPhelan

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Posted 09 May 2019 - 03:34 PM

Being moved up?

Rodriguez pitched today and he last started on 5/3.

Knight last started on 5/2.


I wouldnt be surprised if it’s a combination of this and what Jeremy said. Extra rest with the next start being for Frederick. He’s ready. Maybe they’re waiting to make a chain reaction of moves.

#26 SportsGuy

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Posted 10 May 2019 - 03:50 PM

He is starting in Frederick tonight
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#27 SportsGuy

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Posted 10 May 2019 - 08:06 PM

Game was postponed

#28 JeremyStrain

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 09:11 AM

He is starting in Frederick tonight

 

Yeah saw that. Wrong on that one. Well at least half wrong, we'll see on the innings thing (I know they said that was going to be a major thing for the younger guys)


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#29 SportsGuy

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 11:54 AM

Yeah saw that. Wrong on that one. Well at least half wrong, we'll see on the innings thing (I know they said that was going to be a major thing for the younger guys)


He’s not that young anymore though.

#30 Mackus

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 12:12 PM

The innings management is perfectly fine. I have no objections to them skipping starts, giving extra days, or limiting starts to a few innings.

I just haven't liked the levels they've started guys at mostly across the board. If they are just trying to get players to start their seasons hot to generate confidence and move guys up quickly then it'll be water under the bridge, but there are a lot of guys who I consider prospects who are playing at very low levels for their age. Knight was perhaps the most egregious example, glad he's up to Frederick now but even there he's a bit on the old side.

#31 BobPhelan

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 04:47 PM

6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K in A+ debut
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#32 SportsGuy

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 05:46 PM

Gave up a homer but obviously a very solid debut, especially considering the layoff he had in between starts.

#33 JeremyStrain

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 07:47 PM

He’s not that young anymore though.

 

He's got like 9 games of professional baseball. That's young. Can't always focus on the numerical, some guys take longer to break out and get on the radar. Some guys come out of nowhere in a senior season. Some guys might be a value senior sign and then breakout right away. They don't all follow that traditional 20-21 out of college, 23-24 by AA pathway. He could finish this whole season at high A, go to AA next year and be right back on that traditional timeline. Means is a guy that followed the traditional path, and would struggle, then figure out the level and move on. Never spectacular numbers, but did well. Mid 3 ERA kinda guy. When you saw him pitch he was just kind of a bulldog and was better than his numbers typically showed, real consistent though. Knight may be the other kinda that is just lights out once he has a level figured out, so we'll have to see when he hits that point he's gotta battle (typically AA as they learn by the 3rd time around, guys there can figure them out, so they have to have a deeper arsenal and know how to pitch and set people up instead of just blowing them away with raw talent).


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#34 SportsGuy

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Posted 11 May 2019 - 09:52 PM

He threw 122 innings between college and Aberdeen last year.

He could go 140ish innings this year and it shouldn’t be an issue for an advanced college arm.

You can be careful with him but you don’t have to treat him like a china doll, high school kid.

He can be extended...fairly easily.

#35 JeremyStrain

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Posted 12 May 2019 - 08:26 AM

He threw 122 innings between college and Aberdeen last year.

He could go 140ish innings this year and it shouldn’t be an issue for an advanced college arm.

You can be careful with him but you don’t have to treat him like a china doll, high school kid.

He can be extended...fairly easily.

 

That's what we don't know. 140 innings won't get him through the end of the season (assuming no injuries) If you want him going 140, 150, 160 whatever that number is, you gotta plan for it now, not in July when you are like OH, right. Skipping a start here or there is the easy way to get there.


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#36 SportsGuy

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Posted 12 May 2019 - 10:58 AM

Well 140 is on the low end..could go as much as 160 imo.

You don’t throw him 180 innings right off the bat but you don’t have to limit him the way you have guys in the past. The advanced college arms should throw more innings and more faster if they are good. If he pitches well in Frederick, he should be in AA for the second half of the season.

#37 JeremyStrain

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 08:27 AM

Well 140 is on the low end..could go as much as 160 imo.

You don’t throw him 180 innings right off the bat but you don’t have to limit him the way you have guys in the past. The advanced college arms should throw more innings and more faster if they are good. If he pitches well in Frederick, he should be in AA for the second half of the season.

 

That's almost exactly what was said about Bundy though.

 

If they have data and reasoning for whatever they are going to throw him at, I'm completely fine with it. There have been too many injuries in baseball over the last 20 years (I don't know if it's the same volume as say the previous 20, but I suspect it's higher). There's gotta be a correlation to higher average velocity and injury rates. I mean even at the common sense level, we've talked about it before, the harder you are throwing pitches with spin, the more torque and pressure you are putting on parts of your arm. Throwing an 87 mph Slider HAS to leave some serious wear and tear.

 

So whatever reason they want to lighten the workload, I don't think it can be a bad decision. Maybe more rest helps combat it? Maybe the muscle fatigue in the latter part of a season is what leads to injuries? I dunno, but we shouldn't be in a rush to see these guys move along. At least for another year or two. Say if that crazy pitching core gets to AA in two years and is still doing what they are doing, then yeah, maybe we are at the point we should start mapping ML arrivals and looking at the future, for right now, just let them pitch and succeed and gain experience.

 

Yes, fine line between succeed and dominate. If they are just completely destroying a league I'm all for moving them up, but I think the pitch limits should still be considered, and as you move up the impact of losing a SP down the stretch is even more important.


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#38 SportsGuy

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 08:51 AM

Bundy was a HS kid. He may have been more advanced but his arm didn’t have the innings, development or maturity in it that Knights does.
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#39 Mackus

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:06 AM

My problem with holding guys back is that you don't learn much about their performance if they are dominating younger competition at lower levels.  We've learned next to nothing statistically about Blaine Knight in the ~year he's been in the system because all he's been asked to do is pick on JV players as a senior.  He was 23 in the Sally League to start this year.  It's great that he's pitched well, or at least it's better than had he not pitched as well.  But it's close to meaningless in terms of putting any projection on him moving forward.  Age relative to competition is such a major factor in translating performance.  If you're much older than your competition, as he was at Delmarva, you simply get very little insight into if those numbers will continue at higher levels against age appropriate hitters.

 

The big negating fact to that is that at such low levels and young ages scouting is vastly superior than statistical analysis for future projection.  So you can still learn some things from a scouting standpoint, and maybe they were tweaking some mechanics or teaching something and wanted a lower pressure environment for him to start working it in.  That's all plausible and a perfectly reasonable approach.  And they did move him up to Frederick within a month, so that's good, and if he continues to move quickly if he has success that would put him up with his peers by the end of the season.


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#40 SportsGuy

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:14 AM

Of course..that’s why he should be in AA soon, assuming he is pitching well in A ball.




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