i hope they stick w/ him, i'm getting kinda sick w/ them bringing guys up, let them pitch 2-3 games back down they go....if u gonna do that, might as well let Wandy stay up here, atleast we can score runs for him and win while he's pitching
Sweet. I get to see Hirsch in action in person on Saturday...in fact it's nice to see someone other than Pettite pitch. No offense to him, but it seems every game I've watched the past few years has been a Pettite start.
I believe Hirsh will live up to the billing this Saturday and beyond. That will give us one of the top 3 starting pitchers (five) in the MLB, imo. Oswalt Clemens Pettitte Backe Hirsh. We can make a run if these guy pitch up to per (though Hirsh is an unkown now). Deja vu all over again [sic].
Yes, bring Hirsh up, hopefully he can be solid. Leave Nieve in the pen for the time being and hopefully we can make a run.
Wandy is pitching terribly at Round Rock right now. And, even though we like to joke about it, he really doesn't have the power to generate run support.
There's always an adjustment factor to coming up to the big leagues... and Hirsh is a guy who's always started off slow whenever he was promoted (but come on like gangbusters after he made adjustments). Hopefully, having guys like Ausmus, Clemens, Pettite and Oswalt will give him help to adjust at this level faster than the other ones... but as it is, I'm not going to be too let down if he gets roughed up a little in his first start (or the start thereafter). Plus, with Backe pitching some solid ball, its not absolutely critical that Hirsh come up here and be lights out. If they still can't win the majority of the games that Oswalt-Clemens-Pettite pitches, they're not going to win the wild card. (also, if he does get roughed up in his first few starts... please spare me from the Tim Redding comparisons. Hirsh is far and away the better prospect, and deserves the time to get accustomed to the MLB).
i can't wait to watch hirsh...this guy is sick 6'8" and 250! you can see one of his many K's here: http://www.jasonhirsh.com/ he reminds me of the old randy johnson a little. i'm not putting such lofty expectations on him just yet, but the way he blows by batters and looks so overpowering when on that mound (it doesn't hurt that he's won 12 games in a row)...man, the thought of having roy-o and hirsh back-to-back in the future (*hoping that roy comes back*) gives me goosebumps
Excuse my pessimism here, I've never been too familiar with the farm system, but other than his recent sparkling numbers, can someone explain to me the excitement by some of you regarding Hirsh? If not for his numbers, would he have been as highly touted as some of our former prospects stuff-wise? How does he compare to Oswalt, Miller, Hernandez, Redding, Nieve, Astacio, Wandy in terms of the level of prospect he is? Did he come out of nowhere and take everyone by surprise like Oswalt or has he been regarded as a Messiah early on like Hernandez and Redding were? I'm just trying to stay cautiously reasonable when I see some of you make statements implying that this guy can anchor a rotation alongside Oswalt in the near future.
He's no Oswalt or Liriano, but he's got goodstuff and looks like he can be a solid #2 or #3. His fastball is a lot like Jake Peavy's - he's got the ability to throw mid-90's , but like peavy he chooses to throw 90,91 in order to control it and spot it, which he does very well. His breaing ball accompany's his fastball really well, and when his changeup is working he's hard to hit. I think Brad Ausmus will really help him make the adjustment. I hope the Astros put him in the bullpen down the stretch as well - he would really help the bullpen.
He's not in Oswalt's class stuff-wise or control-wise (what made Roy truly special) but he's not too terribly far behind. Very much like Elarton when he came up (and people forget just how good Elarton was for a couple of years & how bright his future was...thanks Larry), but with a much better sinker & not as good of a slider, and without the hitch in his delivery that Elarton had. Not an over-the-top pitcher anymore (Stros re-tooled his mechanics his 2nd year or so to help him get better control, cost him a couple of MPH on his fastball), he's dropped to a little more of a 3/4 delivery, but since he's that tall he can still get a great downward plane on his pitches. You'll see lots & lots of a great, heavy 2-seam fastball with a ton of sink on it. He'll bust the 4-seamer upstairs to get Ks & popups, show the slider outside & he's got an emerging changeup that should end up being and excellent 3rd pitch. He works consistently in the 90-93 range, and can touch 95 on his 4-seamer when needed. The Stros think he has the mental makeup to be a top of the line starter, he'll battle guys & has a lot of poise when he gets into a bit of trouble. Long story short...be excited.
BT pretty much nailed it when describing the assesment of him... so I won't bother to repeat anything. But, your're pretty off when it comes to your above statement... I know looking back, it may have seemed this way in 2001, but it was hardly the case. Oswalt was the club's top prospect going into 2001... by far. The club already knew they had something special, they just had to find the perfect balance of not rushing him vs. fast-tracking him to the big leagues. When he dominated AA at the start of the year, nobody was suprised... and he got the call to AAA. Even though it took some injuries on the big league roster to get him up here, after he got to AAA (where he actually had 2 less than stellar starts), it was just a matter of when, not if. Granted, he exceeded expectations with his amazing performance for the rest of the year... but it still wasn't "out of nowhere." The hype with Redding, however, was likely more of a product of the farm system churning out gems like Miller and Oswalt in 2001...combined with his great AA numbers. After they saw the success of Wade and Roy, everybody figured that the club's system was flawless... and could seemingly churn out dominant starters consistently. Nobody bothered to check his mental makeup, or how he was utilizing his stuff... they figured that if he could put up as big of numbers as he was in his one year at AA, the same AA that Oswalt dominated, he'd be a lock. Since then, I feel the club has paid more attention to its pitchers... having a better sense of which young ones are going to succeed (possibly Hirsh, Nieve) vs. which ones may have good stuff, but not much else (Astacio). Also, there has never been a need to rush Hirsh... since Clemens, Oswalt, Pettite, and Backe have all held their own since Jason ever went to AA. Had this been 2001, he probably would have been forced to burst on the scene (as Oswalt did). (fwiw, Hernandez was highly touted before Oswalt... but that was because he was a lefty, was very young, and had amazing stuff... so naturally that sort of guy gets noticed more. If he hadn't gotten injured, he would have had a Liriano-like effect on the league... of course as I type this, Liriano has been placed on the DL.)
Nick - I stand corrected. I guess it was revisionist history on my part, but I always remembered the raves regarding Hernandez/Redding while they were coming up, but not so much Oswalt. Looking back on the "what if's?" in recent Astros history, it's not Abreu, Schilling, Santana (well maybe), or Elarton - it's Hernandez that gets me the most. I remember Peter Gammons' "best stuff of any lefty in the majors not named Randy Johnson" praise. Damn, what could have been had that guy stayed on his feet on the basepaths. Oh well. Here's to wishing for the best with Hirsh.
I literally get nauseous every time I think about Carlos and what could have been. Those first few starts when he came up to the bigs were electric... Buck, thanks for the scouting report on Hirsh. I hadn't seen such an in-depth analysis on him before.
