What's up with Appel?

To me, that's what is most disappointing. Kris Bryant is now consensus top-10 prospect. And he's a college prospect so I'd assume he was just as easy to project as Appel.

This wasn't like Correa/Buxton when both players were much harder to project. So even if Buxton turns out better, I would not blame the Astros for not taking him. Especially since their bonuses were quite far apart. Bryant's SB was only 350K more than Appel, so money was apparently not that much of an issue.

 

Kris Bryant last year did not have a can't miss scouting report. Major concerns were holes in his swing and whether he could hit for average in The Bigs.

 

I would agree that Appel's first two months have been disappointing. But that is all that can said. And even that has a surgery mitigating what we should have expected in the first place.

The future isn't written yet. Lets not panic.

 

Isn't this why teams have scouts so they can predict how a player would develop? I'm quite sure the Astros shouldn't be picking players based on publically available reports on these prospects.

 

Reported from AstrosCounty:

Keith Law mentioned it in his chat today, and Peter Gammons just tweeted that Mark Appel is dealing with tendinitis in his thumb, which is why he'll get almost two weeks between his starts.

 

I guess that's "reassuring"... as it is an actual medical issue affecting his throwing hand/grip vs. something that is randomly just happening.

That should get better with rest... hopefully they can ease him back without any flare-ups.

 

This is a remarkably bad start though. One of the worst ever. Matt Bush is the one guy taken at 1-1 who I recall having a terrible start to their career.

Even disappointments like Luke Hochevar & Byron Bullington got off to good starts in the minor league careers.

 

?? Blown out of proportion much? Sorry, but one bad start and an appendectomy don't constitute terrible starts to a career. He did decently last season and was on track before getting injured and rushed into playing.

It has only been a calendar year since he was drafted, and everyone (except Harold Reynolds and his crazy prediction) thought he wouldn't make it until 2016. Let's allow Mark to get healthy and make some starts before we drive off the cliff.

 

Harold is a fool

 

How is it blown out of proportion? He's off to a terrible start. That is a FACT. Nowhere did I say what he'll be one day.

It isn't one bad start. We are a calendar year into his career, and he has a 6.02 ERA in 15 starts acros A-, A, & A+.

BTW, most people assumed he'd be ready by 2015.

 

He was pretty healthy last season and did just "ok" (not dominating)... but people said he was likely fatigued after a long pressure-filled college season (and I tend to agree with that).

He's been relatively unhealthy this season, but also seems to have stamina/endurance/tendinitis issues that typically come with "overwork", so not sure what to make of it other than its affecting his ability to pitch well.

I just keep going back to the initial scouting reports on him that were somewhat less than glowing... always with a "he's good, but..." sort of projection. He seemed more like a "safe" pick, then a "can't miss" pick.... and I'm waiting for him to turn it around to make me forget all those other concerns.

 

I find it troubling when one of his knocks are that he has trouble missing bats.

I still think he is going to be a solid number 2 pitcher for the Astros.

I think we get our ace in a few hours.

 

I think saying Appel is not a dominant ace is way too premature. An appendectomy is not a performance related injury and having tendinitis is a result of taking time off to heal from that surgery (a common injury among pitchers in ST when guys start building up a pitch count).

Sure his 15 minor league starts are underwhelming but giving up 10 runs in his last start with tendinitis in his thumb. Who knows if it was multiple starts. And a fatigued start last year where he pitched more innings at Stanford and in the minors than had by a big margin in his whole pitching career are a major result of an inflated ERA.

This thread is the knee jerk of all knee jerk threads. The guy has outstanding stuff and I still expect him to be a dominant starter for the big league club starting in 2015. I will only be concerned if he hasn't put things together come August/September.

 

Appel pitched 144 innings last year

His junior year in college he pitched 123. I woulnd't say that's an enormous jump. We need him to pitch 200 innings a year at some point if he's to be a solid #2 guy.

Jon Gray pitched 106 innings his sophomore year...then 163 last year between OU and the minors. Horse.

 

Duly noted (although that's really only two months from now... and he's currently averaging just 1-2 starts/month at this rate).

Some are concerned prior to that, but will gladly take any glimmer of "progress" between now and then.

But, I don't think its "knee-jerk" to say he's had an awful start to his career... appendectomy/tendinitis/new truck all included in this assessment.

 

This is what's up with Mark Appel: tendinitis in his right thumb. (McTaggart)

Appel has tendinitis in his thumb

Mark Appel, the top overall pick by the Astros in last year’s First-Year Player Draft, was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday for Class A Lancaster after developing tendinitis in his right thumb, general manager Jeff Luhnow said.

Luhnow said Appel had the thumb examined in Los Angeles on Tuesday and was scheduled to resuming throwing again Friday.

“I talked to him this morning and he feels good,” Luhnow said. “He feels like he could throw today, but he’s going to follow the plan, which is one more day off from throwing. He’ll start throwing again tomorrow, and we expect he’ll be ready to make his next start, which is penciled in for June 12.”

Appel returned to the rotation at Lancaster on Saturday after spending a month at extended spring training and gave up 10 runs and 10 hits, including three home runs, in 1 1/3 innings. Luhnow speculated the thumb was a factor.

“If you ask Mark he’s not going to blame anything on the thumb, but certainly it’s something he felt the day after,” he said. “You would have to assume it may have had some impact. I’m not worried about the control. The ball’s were all in the strike zone for the most part. He threw close to 80-percent strikes. But when you talk about command, which is picking a spot in the zone and throwing it there, I think that’s what was probably not ideal for him.

“Anything you have in your hand is going to affect your ability to have command. I’m not concerned medically. I think he’ll be fine, and hopefully he’ll go out there on the 12th and do what we think he’s capable of doing.

Appel’s struggled to adapt to the tandem starter schedule at Lancaster earlier in the season. The Astros began the season using eight starters at each level of the Minor Leagues, though they recently went to a six-man rotation at Triple-A. Under the tandem system, each starter throws every fourth day and is followed in that game by another starter.

In four starts for Lancaster last month, Appel allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on 17 hits in 13 innings. He walked four batters and struck out 13. Last year, he went 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 starts between short-season Tri-City and Class A Quad Cities.

 

The excuses, appendectomy, adjusting to tandem pitching, lack of spring training, tendonitis in his thumb, I will buy for now.

But its not going to be long, should they continue, before they wear thin on folks.

 

They moved his scheduled start back to Thursday; the Stros minor league pitching coordinator is in Lancaster to work with him.

 

Since this thread was last updated, you can add wrist tendinitis that required a cortisone shot to his list of ailments.

He's either one or two "good" starts away from going to Corpus (which is wishful thinking, since he hasn't really had a "good" start all year)... or he's one or two more "bad" starts from being shut down for the year.