NorthSideSox72 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Keegan Linza, RHP Born 11/10/1988 in Salisbury, NC 6’6”, 225 Throws: R Bats: R OVERVIEW Keegan Linza is a big-framed 22-year-old college senior with a baseball and football background. The Sox took him in the 38th round, 1161st overall. After some mediocre results as a junior, he improved dramatically as a senior, garnering him draft attention. He has good control and a projectable frame. Found a snippet (link at bottom of profile) about Linza attending a camp as a 10th grader, and was already hitting 84 mph at that point. He is said to have a good slider, and tops 90 on the gun (but can’t find more specific data than that on his velocity – just that he was among a collection of pitchers at Liberty who all pitch better than 90). PERSONAL/PRE-COLLEGE NOTES Linza graduated from North Rowan High School in Salisbury, NC, where he was all-county and all-conference his junior and senior years. Was also named his conference’s player of the year in Football as a quarterback. COLLEGE Linza pitched at NW Florida State College (same school as 2011 Sox 9th round pick Matt Lane), then Liberty College, before being drafted by the Sox. At NWFSC in 2009, Linza posted a 3.67 ERA over 76 IP, striking out 76 while walking 27. He was named all-conference that season. After struggling his Junior year at Liberty (5.29 ERA in 64.2 IP, 34 BB and 44 K), Keegan improved dramatically as a Senior. He went 11-3 with a 2.08 ERA over 108 IP, walking just 22 while striking out 67. SIGN/DRAFT Drafted in the 38th Round by the Sox in 2011 out of Liberty. Assigned to Bristol Rookie team. MINORS This Season so far… Keegan has been assigned to Bristol (Rookie) in the Appalachian League, who open play on June 21st. OTHER PROFESSIONAL n/a REFERENCE No MiLB page up yet. Baseball Cube Liberty Team Stats page for 2011 Liberty College Bio Scout.com article, brief, scroll down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 Linza arrived in Bristol guns-a-blazing, putting up some surprising results for a 38th round pick. He did tail off a bit near the end of his season in Rookie ball, but his play got enough attention that he was given a late season reward promotion to Charlotte (where he got rocked in one outing). His core results were OK, nothing great, but his walk and strikeout numbers were solid. He was used primarly as a setup man. Final numbers in Bristol: 23 G, 22.2 IP, 25 H, 9 ER, 5 BB, 22 K 3.57 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, .278 AvgA, 0.87 GO/AO, 8.7 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 The control is quite good, and he is striking out close to a man an inning. But he was a 22 year old 38th round pick playing in Rookie ball. Given the quick assignment to Charlotte, that is usually an indicator they see something in him. I'd guess he's in Kanny next year, at age 23, and will still have a lot to prove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Linza's name does not appear on the Kannapolis roster, at least not yet, so he's probably headed for Great Falls (Rk) for 2012. Given his success in Bristol (and his late-season appearance in Charlotte), I was expecting he'd be making the jump to A-ball, but apparently not yet. As promotions occur out of Kanny, I wouldn't be surprised to see him added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 Linza is in Great Falls, which isn't a big surprise. What is a surprise, though, is that he started, instead of relieving. And it looks like he did reasonably well: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. 7 groundouts against 2 flyouts. That'll work for a first start. Hard to say if this is a permanent move, or if he's just holding a spot for some of the 2012 draft picks to show up. If he is indeed becoming a starter - which he was for both years at Liberty - and can be successful at it, that will significantly raise his stock, especially for a 38th round pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Monthly update... Keegan has done pretty well with his chance to start, though its only in three games so far. Pitching in a typically offense-heavy league, so far in 3 starts... 16.2 IP, 17 H, 7 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 15 K 3.78 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, .266 BAA, 1.46 GO/AO, 1.1 BB/9, 8.1 K/9 Not bad for a 38th round pick who was a reliever last year. He's about a year older than you'd like him to be at that level, but if he keeps those K/BB numbers where they are and doesn't get shelled too heavily, he'll get his chances to move up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Monthly update... Keegan had a couple rough starts in July that hurt his overall numbers. One of those, on 7/13, seemed odd: he pitched just 0.2 IP, gave up 3 ER, but didn't throw many pitches either. Not sure if he was ejected, maybe he was ill or had an injury, hard to tell. He also got hit around on 7/30, but he pitched a more typical 5.1 IP in that case. July numbers: 28 IP, 36 H, 17 ER, 1 BB, 19 K... 5.46 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, .305 BAA (without the bizarro outing, ERA is 4.65) Overall numbers: 44.2 IP, 53 H, 24 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 34 K... 4.84 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, .291 BAA His control continues to be phenomenal, with an almost impossible 0.6 BB/9 rate. He walked 1 batter in the entire month of July, covering 6 games. His ground ball rate is also encouraging, at 1.59 GO/AO, and he's only given up 1 HR, so he seems good at keeping the ball down. Guys who pitch to contact and induce ground balls like that are sometimes hit around a little more in the lower levels, where infield defense may not be very good. For example, look at his 7/30 outing, where he gave up 10 H and 6 ER in 5.1 IP. Here are listed the people who reached base against him from the recap: --Brandon Dailey singles on a ground ball to shortstop Bradley Salgado. --Jesse Winker doubles (8) on a line drive to left fielder Patrick Palmeiro. Brandon Dailey to 3rd. --Seth Mejias-Brean reaches on a fielding error by shortstop Bradley Salgado. Brandon Dailey scores. --Seth Mejias-Brean singles on a ground ball to third baseman Tyler Williams. --Matt Lentz triples (2) on a fly ball to right fielder Yoandy Barroso . --Robert Ramirez singles on a ground ball to right fielder Yoandy Barroso . Matt Lentz scores. --Brandon Dailey singles on a ground ball to first baseman Brent Tanner. Robert Ramirez scores. --Jesse Winker singles on a ground ball to right fielder Yoandy Barroso . Brandon Dailey to 3rd. --Seth Mejias-Brean singles on a ground ball to shortstop Bradley Salgado. Brandon Dailey scores. Jesse Winker to 2nd. --Carlos Sanchez triples (6) on a line drive to center fielder Daurys Mercedes. --Robert Ramirez singles on a line drive to center fielder Daurys Mercedes. Carlos Sanchez scores. So out of 11 batters who reached... 1 was on an error, 4 were infield hits, 2 were ground balls that made it to the outfield, and 4 were real line drive or fly ball hits. Just an interesting illustration of life in the Pioneer League. With his superb control and good ground ball rate, in addition to his decent velocity, the question at this point is about movement and secondary stuff. I don't have any scouting info of that variety, but I think we'll get a better idea on that come 2013, when he'll likely be in Kannapolis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 End of 2012... Keegan's numbers in 2012 are a study in contrasts. His control is superb, and that is not an exaggeration: he posted a 0.7 BB/9 rate, which is almost impossibly low. He also posted a nice 1.69 GO/AO, so he's getting some ground balls. And as illustrated in the above post, when he is getting hit around, its a lot of ground balls that may be more on the defense than his pitching. On the other hand, he did give up a .306 BAA (had to say how much of that goes to the ground ball issue, without knowing the LD% or BABIP, which I can't find), and as you would expect with that number, his ERA was also on the high side at 4.78 (though in a hitters' league where sub-4 ERA's are uncommon for starters). His K/9 rate was 6.5, which went down from his numbers at Bristol. Given the organization took this 38th round pick reliever, and converted him to a starter, it appears they may see some potential here. The ground ball rate and excellent control are also things the team development people like to see. I'd guess he'll be in the starting rotation for Low A Kannapolis in 2013, as a 24 year old. The leap from short season Rookie ball to full-season A ball is one of the two "big leaps" (along with A+ to AA), so we'll probably get a much better idea of Linza's potential next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Released, per BA. Kind of a surprise, not sure what the deal there was. Closing thread, will move to archives later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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