Zach Burdi headed to Birmingham

[Bigsoxhurt35]

He hasn't walked anyone in the minors yet and didn't really do walk a bunch at Louisville. That fear seems somewhat irrational.

He walked 4 today in his AA debut

[elrockinMT]

I saw him at 102, and he's more often 98-101. I can't confirm 104, which came from his agent - I am skeptical, but wouldn't call it impossible.

 

I remember seeing the Sox in Denver in 2005 when Bobby Jenks hit 102 according to their stadium gun. Let's hope this guy can be the real deal and stay healthy

[ptatc]

Fulmer was a top 10 pick. Starter should be the expectation, not the upside. Winning organizations do not use top 10 picks for bullpen expectations. Sox passed on best college hitter in the draft, so I certainly hope that 3 or above Starter was and is the expectation.

 

Bullpen for #26 is dubious proposition itself, But for a top 10, it's ridiculous.

 

 

Then pick someone else.

As said above, it's unreasonable to expect him to be an ace right now. But the clock is still ticking. The value of 6 years of a top of the rotation guy, is now down to 3 or 4 because 2 or 3 years of service time are used for development.

 

And, at least in 2015, he should have been used in Chicago like he would have been used in the minors...development, including getting that change-up fixed as the priority over getting the next guy out. But that's hard to do in the majors. And it wasn't done. And it's understandable. Major league coaches are there to help pitchers get the next batter out...not to develop for 2 years from now.

 

And you wonder why I'm frustrated with this front office?

And I think it is. I was referring to the worst case scenario.

[ptatc]

Yeah, but there's a "cluster."

 

When Rodon's at his best, he's throwing 95-98 MPH fastballs, with 94 being the "middle ground" range.

 

When he's been getting absolutely hammered with the fastball (and usually, it's first pitch/earlier in games)....it's almost always at 90-93 MPH, but specifically 92-93 MPH, at least since the first month of the season.

 

It has been this same exact trend over and over and over again.

 

Nobody wants Rodon to (over)throw 97-99 and ruin his arm/shoulder. That's not the point.

 

Chris Sale can get away with this same exact strategy because of his slurve, different arm angles and especially having that change-up available in his arsenal. He certainly has the ability to pitch confidently when behind in the count, you can understand why Rodon hasn't/doesn't looking at his pitch selection (unless we want to blame all this on the catchers/Cooper.)

I think he is having such difficulty commanding the strike zone that he is "aiming" the fastball just to get strikes. If he "let's it go" he doesn't have the confidence it will be a strike. This or the tired arm. Each of these will cause pitches to elevate and he was leaving everything up yesterday.