Shane Youman to Start Sunday

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 7, 2006 7:21 PM EDT in News

Shane Youman will start in place of Victor Santos against the Reds on Sunday.

I apologize for deciding this is an extremely bad idea before Youman has made his first big-league appearance, but this just seems cruel - to Youman, to the Pirates' bullpen, and to Pirates fans.

Perhaps Youman is a hardworking guy. Perhaps he is a good person. But he is not a major league pitcher. He has substandard stuff and cannot even strike out Class AAA hitters. He has never been a prospect. If anyone is aware of a decent big league starter who has a minor league profile anywhere near as bad as Youman's, please let me know. Next time someone wants to tell you about the Pirates' awesome pitching depth, please remind them that they are not only using a roster spot on Youman, they're letting him start.

This sequence of events reminds me of the movie "Rocky." Let's keep in mind that Rocky couldn't even win his first fight in the context of a feel-good Hollywood movie. I put the over-under on the length of this Rocky's start at two innings. Anything can happen in a single start, of course, but wow, is this a bad idea.

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Comments

Cruel?

As opposed to more Santos? At worst, he makes an early exit and that horde of young relievers they've got now gets some experience. I'm all in favor of experimenting at this point in another dead-end season. Anything is better than Santos and Chacon two games of every five.

by WTM on Sep 7, 2006 9:54 PM EDT reply actions

I'll take Santos.

You know I'm in favor of experimentation too, but I'm not in favor of experimentation that has no chance of working. It is possible for a pitcher to be worse than Santos.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 7, 2006 10:05 PM EDT up reply actions

It's also possible . . .

. . . that a randomly selected human with a healthy upper appendage could be better.

by WTM on Sep 7, 2006 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, you could have Chacon.

That's clearly worse than Santos.

by Willton on Sep 8, 2006 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Youman is like

A lot of the current Pirate pitchers. Only Gorzelanny had what you might consider a good K rate in the minors. The Pirates have a lot of guys that don't strike people out (look at Starling - he had a good counting stats, but his peripherals are on the low side).

Why not ride the lightning with Youman - this is more a reward than anything else. He may turn out to be a useful MLB pitcher (unlikely but it could happen). The Pirates know what Santos and Chacon can do.

by Greg Schuler on Sep 8, 2006 8:09 AM EDT reply actions

Like who, Greg?

I get your general point, but I can't think of a single current Pirate whose strikeout rates at AAA were that low, and certainly not at age 26.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 8, 2006 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Just a general point

Youman doesn't stand out one way or the other if you look at the entire system. Only Todd Redmond showed an ability to strikeout batters at a good rate in the minors, and this trend has been going on since Graham and Littlefield took over. That makes it, in my mind, a little more difficult to accurately judge what a prospect can do when he transitions to the majors. This is for starters only, or course. There were plenty of relievers that posted good rates, but that's not the point.

As for the current staff, I guess it really just applies to Maholm and Duke to a certain extent. Certainly Burnett (even before his injury) showed less than optimal rates.

To me, from my observation of the system, there are few starting pitchers up and down the chain that do strike out hitters at what is generally considered a good rate. That seems to me to be an organizational philosophy, which means another Youman could appear. Does this mean those pitchers will automatically fail in the majors - that I don't know.

Youman is just a journeyman pitcher who had a good stretch run and is being rewarded for his performance. I see nothing wrong with that in and of itself.

by Greg Schuler on Sep 8, 2006 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe ...

they think he's Floyd Youmans. He'd only be 42 now ... There's a sad career to look at. Comparable to Dizzy Dean at 22, out of baseball at 25, indefinitely suspended. Wonder whatever happened to him, if he's even alive now.

by bucdaddy on Sep 8, 2006 11:02 AM EDT reply actions