Kyle McPherson Pitches Seven No-Hit Innings for West Virginia
by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2010 2:51 PM EDT
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PrintKyle McPherson pitched seven no-hit innings for West Virginia against Lexington today. Reliever Ryan Kelly gave up a single with two outs in the eighth to break up the no-hitter. McPherson struck out nine batters.
McPherson probably isn't much of a prospect, and as a flyballer, he might well get eaten alive at the higher levels as he faces hitters with more power, but he's only 22 and he's destroying the South Atlantic League. It would be nice to see him get a shot in Florida.
There have been some really crazy performances by Pirates minor leaguers in the last couple of days. Last night I was so distracted by the unexpectedly good games Tim Alderson and Gorkys Hernandez had for Altoona that I somehow missed the fact that Alex Presley had two homers, a triple, a double and eight RBIs. And now there's this.
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Mr. Smizik says all of these good minor league performances don’t mean anything, Mr. Wilmoth.
That is, unless it’s someone doing poorly that came over from a trade. THEN it’s prime fodder to be used to bash ownership.
Quite the tangent, I know…but whatever :)
Precisely....
I made similar points in a similar post regarding Smizik’s article last week on prospects.
Come to think of it…….Is Bob Smizik posting under the handle, Adam Reynolds? Their arguments are very similar…..
Plus, Charlie, wait until Reynolds starts going off on ages and MiLB levels. Your comment that McPherson is ‘only 22’ will enrage him……..
by CabreraKilledMyChildhood on May 25, 2010 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions
I would if he started making any sense.....
by CabreraKilledMyChildhood on May 25, 2010 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions
No need to bring it up in another thread.
by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2010 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions
You and the others started tossing straw men my way because I wasn’t parroting the Pirates management line on some of their “prospects”.
by Adam Reynolds on May 25, 2010 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Actually, it was because you weren't making very sound points....
I am by no means a FO-delusional person who thinks everything NH and FC do is golden. However, I do choose to give someone more than 150 at-bats before calling them a bust or opining that our lower levels are devoid of any hitting prospects.
Are our pitching prospects having a better start than our hitting prospects? Sure, I think we can all agree with that. Does that mean that we have no position ‘prospects’ at our lower levels? No, it doesn’t.
Sample sizes can make anyones point if used in an ad hoc fashion. When all the numbers are looked at in context, that should give us the fairest indicator of future performance. That is all I am proposing, Adam.
by CabreraKilledMyChildhood on May 25, 2010 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions
And I am proposing that you stop this conversation here and have it in the other thread. That’s it. Enough.
by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2010 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions
I didn’t call Gorkys and the gang busts, just that at this time they look like busts. Obviously they’ll have time to change course, but the early returns don’t inspire much confidence. I don’t think I need to go further in this thread.
by Adam Reynolds on May 25, 2010 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Heh, Smizik is making age relative to league points? If so, that’d be the one and only subject with which I agree with him.
by Adam Reynolds on May 25, 2010 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Age - MiLB Levels
What’s a good rule of thumb for what age a player should be at for each MiLB level?
thanks
Schmizimetrics
The process of shoehorning, mangling and/or manufacturing facts and analysis to fit the column you’ve decided to write.
However
The only facts worth considering are RBIs and Home Runs.
by MarkInDallas on May 25, 2010 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
believe it or not
and i might just get banned for this, but yesterday smizik had a good column comparing the free agents/trade acquisitions the pirates picked up over the last year to some of the more higher priced/bigger name free agents that other teams picked up (Marco Scutaro vs Ronny Cedeno at SS for example). Most of those were doing marginally better or worse statistically than the ones we got for way higher salaries. His point was, in not so many words, that acquiring FAs and trade acquisitions is somewhat of a crap shoot.
He was mostly right on the theory
But when you use only RBIs and HRs to prove your point, that’s not real good. In fact, some of those players that he mentioned were actually large upgrades over what we have despite the HR and RBI numbers being similar.
by MarkInDallas on May 25, 2010 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions
McPherson's last 5 starts
39 K, 3 BB. Flyballer or no, he definitely has no further business in low A ball.
Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn't.
If there’s a specific area of technique they want him to work, the numbers aren’t as important as that.
they
will probably do the same thing they did with morris, they will keep him there for several more starts before they promote him. they want to see success sustained over many starts not just 5
At his age and given the jump is to high-A, not high-A to AA, it seems overcautious.
If we were talking 5 dominant starts at high A ball and a jump to AA, I’d give the benefit of the doubt to the F.O., but it’s hard to imagine there being things to work on in WV he’d have no chance to work on at the Ft Myers level due to the step up, which is signifcant but nowhere near FSL —> Eastern League. Not the end of my world, obviously, I just prefer pushing guys and moving them back down if necessary.
by tobynotjason on May 25, 2010 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions
At some point
we have to prioritize our excellent pitching performances. I don’t think anything McPherson does should have any impact whatsoever on Morris, Owens, Alderson, or Wilson, so that leaves one starting spot in Altoona for Jared Hughes and more deserving promotion candidates like Adcock and Locke.
However, there’s plenty of room in the Bradenton rotation where near-non-prospects Pribanic and Leach are starting and Adcock and/or Locke are probably moving up pretty soon. I think they should promote Laureano as well if they think he has any chance to be anything.
charity standing orders
I think it's a bit of a stretch...
…to call Pribanic a “near-non-prospect”. He’s not pitching well right now, but he has good stuff and a good pedigree, and he had a strong season ‘09. The team made Crotta work away from his sinker a few years ago, to better develop his secondary stuff, and it had a negative effect on his performance that season but was all to the good as far as his prospect status is concerned. Maybe they’re doing the same thing with Pribanic (who also relies on a sinker) this year?
Leach as a non-prospect I’ll give you. But don’t forget that Lorin will be coming back from his hip thing within the next month or so – he’ll need a rotation spot ready for him when he returns.
I guess I’m locking in on his K rate, which was bad last year before you consider he was a 22/23 year old in A ball. His GB% and K/9 – actually just about all his peripherals – are around the same as last year, but his BABIP went from .260 to .354. Some of that is luck, some is adjustment to a higher league. Either way, he’s got to K more batters for me to think his non-miracle ceiling is much higher than a replacement level pitcher (i.e. Crotta). I’m not calling him a non-prosect, just a near-non-prospect.
And the main thrust of my argument is that there are 6 legitimate prospects who probably deserve to be starting at Altoona and a bunch of old C/C- guys like Erickson, Pribinac, and Leach starting for Bradenton. Even if McPherson has indeed turned a corner and deserves to be promoted, he’s not going to Altoona.
charity standing orders
The K rate was low...
…but sinkerball guys are one of the few classes of pitchers where the K rate in the minors isn’t that big a deal (along with knuckleballers). Or at least, not as big a deal as it is for other types of pitchers. There are a surprising number of guys with that skill set who were down around 6 K/9 in A-ball. As long as they’re able to manage the walks and the homers (and Pribanic is doing OK with both so far this year), they have a shot.
McPherson
Every player in the minor and major leagues has some problem, what makes them successful is their ability to get around that problem.
McPherson might have a sinker and with the Pirate minor league philosophy he may not be allowed to throw it. They do control what pitches they want thrown in their minor league system, not sure if it is at all levels however.
If it isn't, it should be.
It’s a good way to train, in my opinion. If one has a good out pitch, one should know how to use it already. A better way to train is to work on pitches that are new in the repertoire, so one learns how to get people out with them too.
Minor League No-No's does not equal success in ML (see Ian Snell)
It is great to see our minor league pitchers doing so well, but don’t forget Ian Snell threw a no-hitter in AAA and we all know how that worked out. Hopefully, these pitchers have a better overall attitude and less of a chip on their shoulders.
So since our pitching appears to be ahead of the hitting, does this force the FO to pick a position player in the 1st round or do we try to find that elusive #1 starter?
No, it doesn't force us to do anything.
You should always take the best available player, regardless of what else you have in your system at that time. Players get hurt, get traded, and collapse or emerge unexpectedly. You can’t predict the future accurately enough to engage in that kind of slotting.
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