Game 133, Angels at Mariners
Beavan vs. Pineiro, 7:10pm
Okay, I generally try to find something worth watching in every pitching match-up, but this is just… this is tough. The series itself is critically important to the Angels, which is why Mike Scioscia’s probably not that thrilled that injuries have forced him to turn to Joel Pineiro again. We’ve all seen Pineiro for years and we know what he throws. Age and injuries have messed up a fascinating sabermetric research project that someone could’ve done with Pineiro: how long does Dave Duncan’s magic fairy dust last? Pineiro’s clearly used up his entire supply, but thanks to his shoulder issues, we’ve got a confounding variable. Joel’s annoying at everything.
Blake Beavan is the ultimate pitch-to-contact guy. On the year, he has Fister-esque whiff rates on his four- and two-seam fastballs, and over his past few starts, they’re going lower. I like the look of his two-seamer on pitch fx; his height and the sink on the pitch gives it a great downward plane, but it certainly doesn’t get more whiffs than his four-seamer. On the other hand, it seems like it should be able to generate some grounders – and if all he’s going to do is watch batters put it in play, then improving his GB% would be nice. It’s been fairly effective against righties, but the fact that he doesn’t like to use it make the sample sizes too tiny to mean anything.
Overall, Beavan’s K rate/whiff rate is so insanely low, you don’t really watch Blake Beavan pitch – you watch what happens *after* Beavan pitches. He’s been a pleasant surprise, but I feel like I should be talking about Brendan Ryan or the day’s outfielders or something.
Speaking of which…
1: Ichiro
2: Gutierrez
3: Ackley
4: Carp
5: Olivo
6: Kennedy (DH… sigh)
7: Wells
8: Seager
9: Ryan
Justin Smoak’s in Tacoma tonight for a rehab start with the Rainiers, who open their last homestand against Tucson.
Hunstville’s taking on Jackson, and why yes, Vinnie Catricala DOES have a double already. How did you guess?
Minor League Wrap (8/22-28/11)
Second to last wrap of the year! The wrap next week will probably come on Wednesday because the regular season schedule won’t end until Monday for the full-seasons. The short-seasons will be cutting out early with Everett ending on Saturday, Pulaski ending on Tuesday, and Peoria ending today. Anyway, this week I have a lot of unusual things from High Desert hitters, a few names that I haven’t brought up before or at the very least often, and a half-blind stab at DSL happenings.
To the jump!
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