Luhnow said ~ 3 starts ago that he wanted to see 1 or 2 more solid appearances from him before sending him up. He said this during a live broadcast where he was in the booth talking about how "great" the draft was, and how excited he was about Aiken (LOL in hindsight) He's had one "ok" one and one "horrible" one since then.
Sorry to burst your bubble but ... On June 22, June 27 and July 4, Appel threw 5 IPs and gave up 3 ERs. Those three starts were near quality starts. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=571446
do you think Luhnow had any idea about the ****ty start he had last start? that start right there sets him back couple starts if you want to talk about "production".
I guess we have a new definition of what "good" starts are around here. If he hasn't had a quality start, I'm going to stand by my previous statement that he hasn't had a "good" start. But, by this definition of "good"... he needed a couple more of those before being promoted, acc to Luhnow (and less of those awful ones like the last start).
Just saying what Luhnow said. I don't know if he meant "consecutive" solid starts, or just a total number.
I think it's a bad sign. He should be dominating. But I'd give him 2-3 years in the minors before giving up. He's shown potential at the NCAA so we have to give him a shot to develop. The K's are ok. The walks aren't too bad. The Fastball is in the 90's. So the real question is why is he getting hit so hard. One interesting option would be to bring in his old catcher in college and see if things improve, or simply, just change up catchers to see if pitch selection is part of the problem. A promotion to AA might remove that from the equation. I'm still optimistic. The change from college to manhood is a big one, and you really have no idea what could be impacting his pitching. It could be anything from lifestyle to drinking. It's such a big change think we need to see it play out. Ok with watching it play out at AA at this point. But by the end of next year think the welcome wagon will be long gone.
At this point the worst thing they can do with Appel is keep him in Lanaster. Keith Law was on 97.5 yesterday and said that he believes they have three options. 1) Move him to Corpus to get him out of Lancaster. 2) Send him down to Quad Cities for some easier competition as well as to get him out of Lancaster. 3) Shut him down for the rest of the season and get him ready for the fall league. In my opinion they should send him to Corpus to see if that helps.
sooo sending appel to better competition where he will get harder will "help"? you have a warped view of reality. or you don't know baseball. i will go with both.
sooo sending appel to better competition where he will get hit harder will "help"? you have a warped view of reality. or you don't know baseball. i will go with both.
The jump from AA from A+ ball is the most difficult leap in the minors. I'm with you that he should go to Quad and build up some confidence again. If he can even do well in Quad City at this point.
The mental aspect of some ballparks shouldn't be discounted. Pitching is more than just the physical mechanics of throwing #limatime
Appel 6ip 2er 5h 9k 0bb....thank god all mighty that is not an atrocious line. Hopefully Appel can run a string off and build some confidence. Let's get this pick back on the right track
Finally. His first "good" start of the year. Hell, maybe the best start of his pro career. Promote him!