Omogrosso to be 100% by spring training

[scenario]

Great news. Better than I expected or had heard previously.

 

Omogrosso to be 100% by spring training

 

Blackhawk’s Omogrosso gets spring call with ChiSox

Beaver County (PA) Times

Sunday November 22, 2009 09:04 AM

 

Brian Omogrosso got one of those “good news, bad news” calls last week.

 

The call came from Chicago White Sox director of minor league relations Buddy Bell. The bad news was that Bell, a Cincinnati Bengals fan, had to give Omogrosso the business about the Steelers being beaten.

 

Omogrosso, a Blackhawk High School graduate and Steelers fan, was able to take that bit of ribbing a bit easier thanks to the good news: The White Sox were going to put Omogrosso on their 40-man roster. That means Omogrosso will take part in major-league spring training in February.

 

The move was made official on Friday.

 

Omogrosso had been called up from minor-league camp to pitch in a few big-league spring games, but this will be his first experience to train with the major-league team.

 

“I was very happy about it,” said Omogrosso, 25. “I’ve been kind of waiting to see what was going to happen, whether they were going to expose me to the Rule 5 Draft.”

 

At the start of the 2009 season, Omogrosso was with Class AA Birmingham, and he got off to a great start with a 7-2 record. He earned a promotion to Class AAA Charlotte, but in four games, he posted an unsightly 15.88 ERA.

 

It turned out that he required some surgery on his right shoulder. He had been feeling tightness in the back of his shoulder beginning in early June, and he figured it was something he could simply fight through.

 

The shoulder never healed, and it got to the point where he wasn’t even throwing between starts. He was shut down at the end of June with the surgery following at the end of July.

 

“It ended up being a little clean-up in the shoulder,” said Omogrosso. “I’m already throwing again, and I’ll be a hundred percent by spring training.”

 

Noted for having one of the best fastballs in the White Sox’s farm system, Omogrosso is looking forward to testing himself against the competition in spring training. And he insists that nerves will not be a factor.

 

“I’m not nervous. There’s no point to it,” he said. “I’ve done this my whole life. I’m just going to go out there and give my best, and, hopefully, my best is good enough to get a job this year.”

Edited November 23, 2009 by scenario

[Disco72]

That is really excellent news!

[danman31]

I'll believe it when I see it. It's good news that he will be pitching that soon, but the key is if he has his velocity back by then.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

This is terrific news for us. Even if he's not ready out of ST, he should be up at some point next year.

[JPN366]

Well, that justifies the 40 man addition.

[ThunderBolt]

Yikes, he was torn up really bad too. This is great news.

[Chisoxfn]

Sox Interested in Upton; Omogrosso & Vizquel Updates

[simba43]

yes good to hear that

[WHITESOXRANDY]

This is great. Now I can sleep again when I think about who might be the last guy in the Sox bullpen in 2013.

[NorthSideSox72]

This is great. Now I can sleep again when I think about who might be the last guy in the Sox bullpen in 2013.

If he really is healthy in ST, Omogrosso might be in the pen in 2010.

 

[qwerty]

If he really is healthy in ST, Omogrosso might be in the pen in 2010.

 

His peripherals do not suggest he will ever be a factor in the majors, unless arm, after arm, after arm... etc... go down. He is a non prospect at this point, and should never be an option for a team trying to contend for a world series.

[Jordan4life_2007]

His peripherals do not suggest he will ever be a factor in the majors, unless arm, after arm, after arm... etc... go down. He is a non prospect at this point, and should never be an option for a team trying to contend for a world series.

 

Prepare to be tag-teamed by scenario and JPN.

[qwerty]

Prepare to be tag-teamed by scenario and JPN.

 

I'm not one to buy into unwarranted prospect hype. Jpn will still think cook has a shot to be a major league player in his mid 30's, pretty certain anyway.

[NorthSideSox72]

His peripherals do not suggest he will ever be a factor in the majors, unless arm, after arm, after arm... etc... go down. He is a non prospect at this point, and should never be an option for a team trying to contend for a world series.

I'm not so sure. I certainly don't see him being an elite arm, but I think non-prospect is a bit harsh. He has tools that they have been trying to refine, and may or may not be successful.

 

My larger point was, its obvious with the way the org has moved him up, that THEY see something in him.

 

[qwerty]

I'm not so sure. I certainly don't see him being an elite arm, but I think non-prospect is a bit harsh. He has tools that they have been trying to refine, and may or may not be successful.

 

My larger point was, its obvious with the way the org has moved him up, that THEY see something in him.

 

25 and essentially no time above double a, while not being impressive in double A both times around...1.46 and 1.47 whip back to back seasons. He is a non-prospect. The sox are not fooling anyone (well maybe some) but not myself.

[NorthSideSox72]

25 and essentially no time above double a, while not being impressive in double A both times around...1.46 and 1.47 whip back to back seasons. He is a non-prospect. The sox are not fooling anyone (well maybe some) but not myself.

I don't think their attempting to fool anyone - I think they see a live arm with special potential, and being toolsy types, some of them will keep trying to tweak him into making best use of those skills, regardless of his performance.

 

In general, as other posters back here will attest to, I usually lean more on stats than some others. But that doesn't mean I think that certain players, particularly pitchers, with certain skills, can't be taught or molded, even at a later age or level.

 

[scenario]

Anybody who throws high 90's has a shot to make an MLB squad if they can get the ball over the plate with some consistency.

 

Omogrosso has had some control issues (and a few health issues) that make his minor league numbers look mediocre... but he's got a major league arm.

 

Not sure whether he can stick with the big club yet, but I'm glad to hear he's on the road to good health and going to get a shot in spring training.

Edited November 25, 2009 by scenario

[NorthSideSox72]

Anybody who throws can throw high 90's has a shot to make an MLB squad if they can get the ball over the plate with some consistency.

 

Omogrosso has had some control issues (and a few health issues) that make his minor league numbers look mediocre... but he's got a major league arm.

 

Not sure whether he can stick with the big club yet, but I'm glad to hear he's on the road to good health and going to get a shot in spring training.

Well, the walk numbers wouldn't concern me as much if he was also striking guys out a lot. A guy who hits 97 but doesn't K anywhere near a guy an inning, needs some work.

 

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

If you've seen Omogrosso pitch then I don't know how you could come away thinking "non-prospect." If he's healthy we should see him at some point in 2010.

[qwerty]

The only way omogrosso sees any time in the majors is if the sox have to do their yearly call ups due to the desperation of no one on the big league roster being able to record outs. He would likely come up, get smoked, and never be seen or heard from again.

 

If i went back through the years at all the candidates (relievers from the minors) that people have thrown out there... and i mean they truly believed they could make any sort of impact for the major league roster...well it would be amusing to say the least.

 

Age is such a key factor, even for relievers, that i cannot believe so many think so little of it. Sure there are aberrations, but that is why they aberrations and nothing more. I cannot stress strong enough how much age matters in the grand scheme of things. Generally if you do not make the majors by a certain age/time frame that the organization has in mind, they move on and you are thrown onto the back burner. There is always new up and coming talent, so the room for error is rather small. Just one set back may be your last.

 

I understand the farm has been depleted in recent years past, and that is why i feel some ''prospects'' here are giving unwarranted hype, but give me a break. If i knew absolutely nothing about the chicago white sox, and i stumbled upon soxtalk, i would think the major league roster was composed solely of minor league players.

Edited November 25, 2009 by qwerty

[False Alarm]

Age is such a key factor, even for relievers, that i cannot believe so many think so little of it. Sure there are aberrations, but that is why they aberrations and nothing more. I cannot stress strong enough how much age matters in the grand scheme of things. Generally if you do not make the majors by a certain age/time frame that the organization has in mind, they move on and you are thrown onto the back burner. There is always new up and coming talent, so the room for error is rather small. Just one set back may be your last.

prepare to be bombarded by KHP with a bunch of incoherent arguments against age-relative-to-league. bizarrely, at least one of said arguments will feature jerry owens as an example.

[NorthSideSox72]

The only way omogrosso sees any time in the majors is if the sox have to do their yearly call ups due to the desperation of no one on the big league roster being able to record outs. He would likely come up, get smoked, and never be seen or heard from again.

 

If i went back through the years at all the candidates (relievers from the minors) that people have thrown out there... and i mean they truly believed they could make any sort of impact for the major league roster...well it would be amusing to say the least.

 

Age is such a key factor, even for relievers, that i cannot believe so many think so little of it. Sure there are aberrations, but that is why they aberrations and nothing more. I cannot stress strong enough how much age matters in the grand scheme of things. Generally if you do not make the majors by a certain age/time frame that the organization has in mind, they move on and you are thrown onto the back burner. There is always new up and coming talent, so the room for error is rather small. Just one set back may be your last.

 

I understand the farm has been depleted in recent years past, and that is why i feel some ''prospects'' here are giving unwarranted hype, but give me a break. If i knew absolutely nothing about the chicago white sox, and i stumbled upon soxtalk, i would think the major league roster was composed solely of minor league players.

Age is key, but I don't agree it is AS key as some make it. I have always been in the school of thought that some organizations are focused on age to a point where they are significantly shrinking the pool of possible talent for themselves. And that makes no sense to me. If two players put up similar numbers in AA and AAA, for example, with similar physical and mental skill sets, but one is 22 in AAA while the other is 24, I don't think that should matter. What is more important is the reason WHY they are those ages. If one player was drafted two years after the other, and they spent the same time in the minors, then the difference between them is almost zero in my eyes (the exception to this being that one would have more "young" years in the majors than the other). Or, if one player is blocked by a superstar above them, that may be an indicator that they could be very effective, even if a couple years older than ideal.

 

And then, yes, as you said, there are the late bloomer aberrations occasionally.

 

I just think the focus on age is a bit overdone, more often than not, for no reason that has real consequence.

 

[scenario]

The only way omogrosso sees any time in the majors is if the sox have to do their yearly call ups due to the desperation of no one on the big league roster being able to record outs. He would likely come up, get smoked, and never be seen or heard from again.

 

If i went back through the years at all the candidates (relievers from the minors) that people have thrown out there... and i mean they truly believed they could make any sort of impact for the major league roster...well it would be amusing to say the least.

 

Age is such a key factor, even for relievers, that i cannot believe so many think so little of it. Sure there are aberrations, but that is why they aberrations and nothing more. I cannot stress strong enough how much age matters in the grand scheme of things. Generally if you do not make the majors by a certain age/time frame that the organization has in mind, they move on and you are thrown onto the back burner. There is always new up and coming talent, so the room for error is rather small. Just one set back may be your last.

 

I understand the farm has been depleted in recent years past, and that is why i feel some ''prospects'' here are giving unwarranted hype, but give me a break. If i knew absolutely nothing about the chicago white sox, and i stumbled upon soxtalk, i would think the major league roster was composed solely of minor league players.

 

I don't believe that the vast majority of posters on this board have unrealistic expectations about minor league players. They just like to read about and talk about them. If not here, then where? We simply try to cover as many players as possible in as much detail as possible to give people who are interested a way to learn about the players.

 

So, please don't feel the need to be a reality cop for minor league discussions.

 

 

[JPN366]

His peripherals do not suggest he will ever be a factor in the majors, unless arm, after arm, after arm... etc... go down. He is a non prospect at this point, and should never be an option for a team trying to contend for a world series.

 

I'm going to make this as clear as I possibly can for the hundredth time. I just think Cook deserves a shot, somewhere, with anyone, that's all. And that's all I'ver ever said.

[JPN366]

25 and essentially no time above double a, while not being impressive in double A both times around...1.46 and 1.47 whip back to back seasons. He is a non-prospect. The sox are not fooling anyone (well maybe some) but not myself.

 

Oh dear, he's 25 and a pitcher. He must be done. Bobby Jenks was already 25 going on 26 when he got his first shot in the majors.

Edited November 25, 2009 by JPN366