M&M boys in New Britain

[jorgenswest]

The "Talk to Contact" podcast this week had a great guest in Jason Parks from Baseball Prospectus.

 

Jason spoke about several Twin prospects including Meyer and May. He sees Meyer as a valuable late inning reliever and May at the back end of the rotation.

 

It caused me to wonder if the Twins should consider giving them a role in the pen as we get to the last third of the season. It used to be more common that pitchers would start with a role in the bullpen as they began their major league career.

 

Doing so would give them exposure to major league hitters. It would reduce their overall innings this year. It would come after any service time or super two considerations came into play.

 

Pitchers have different career paths than hitters. Injury is always looming and projecting out 5-7 years is much more difficult. It might be wise to find a way to give them the best chance of pitching successfully in the majors next year. Would a call up and role in the pen for 1/3 the season help them progress toward being a valuable major leaguer?

[Shane Wahl]

I certainly would not be thrilled with Alex Meyer as a setup man. Meyer heading the rotation with Gibson is . . . the point for the near future.

[jorgenswest]

I hope we see Meyer in the 2014 rotation. If not, I wonder if a role in the pen to begin his major league career will be as beneficial as 2014 time in AAA as a starter. Maybe that is a role that can begin this August or September.

 

The Twins acquired to big arms this winter. What is the best path in developing their talent?

[diehardtwinsfan]

Considering how they are both doing in AA right now, I'm not sure a reliever is in either of their cards... Perhaps that changes if they get rocked a bit in AAA or MLB, but I wouldn't be considering that at all at this point.

[Brock Beauchamp]

A reliever and back of the rotation starter?

 

Parks is not very high on Meyer and May.

[Thrylos]

I wonder how many innings has Jason Parks watched Meyer and May pitch...

[clutterheart]

I would not mind this. Cardinals have had glad great success moving relief pitchers into the rotation. But besides Santana I don't remember the Twins ever doing this.

[kab21]

I think using either of them out of the pen at the end of the year makes more sense if the Twins were good and didn't have room in their rotation. Service time also becomes a factor so you only do it if you almost sure that Meyer will be in the rotation at the beginning of the year.

 

May is further down my list and is the one that I think ends up in the pen.

[jorgenswest]

The Twins should not be concerned with service time and Meyer. He is already 23 years old. Pitchers do not have the same reliable growth path as a batter where you might trade some of his 24 year old season for the 31 year old season. Chances are much greater for a pitcher that an injury will occur in that 7 years and the 31 year old season isn't that valuable.

 

The only thing that matters is figuring out the best route towards developing the talent of this hard throwing pitcher that has difficulty with control. There are some similar pitchers have started their major league careers in the bullpen.

[kab21]

The Twins should not be concerned with service time and Meyer. He is already 23 years old. Pitchers do not have the same reliable growth path as a batter where you might trade some of his 24 year old season for the 31 year old season. Chances are much greater for a pitcher that an injury will occur in that 7 years and the 31 year old season isn't that valuable.

 

The only thing that matters is figuring out the best route towards developing the talent of this hard throwing pitcher that has difficulty with control. There are some similar pitchers have started their major league careers in the bullpen.

 

It's always nice to have the option of an additional year especially if it's a guy that is potentially an ace.

[Thrylos]

The only thing that matters is figuring out the best route towards developing the talent of this hard throwing pitcher that has difficulty with control. There are some similar pitchers have started their major league careers in the bullpen.

 

Re: Meyer

 

That bolded thing up there is another suburban myth. His career K/9 is 10 and K/BB is 3+ . These numbers show that he does not have a hard time controlling the ball.

 

The only (alleged) issue with Meyer was that he (allegedly) has only 2 pitches. Methinks that's a whole bunch of bull too. But I saw him pitch

[kab21]

Re: Meyer

 

That bolded thing up there is another suburban myth. His career K/9 is 10 and K/BB is 3+ . These numbers show that he does not have a hard time controlling the ball.

 

The only (alleged) issue with Meyer was that he (allegedly) has only 2 pitches. Methinks that's a whole bunch of bull too. But I saw him pitch

 

That's not true in all cases. there are a lot of guys that are effectively wild in the minors that get overwhelmed hitters to chase. The K numbers look great and the BB numbers are tolerable until they reach the majors and hitters aren't overwhelmed by the heat.

[jorgenswest]

Re: Meyer

 

That bolded thing up there is another suburban myth. His career K/9 is 10 and K/BB is 3+ . These numbers show that he does not have a hard time controlling the ball.

 

The only (alleged) issue with Meyer was that he (allegedly) has only 2 pitches. Methinks that's a whole bunch of bull too. But I saw him pitch

 

What typically happens with walk rate as pitchers progress through the minors? I am not sure. I did check Samardzija and Lynn. Both of them had significantly higher walk rates in AA and AAA. Lynn did not pitch very much below AA though. Lets hope Meyer stays at 3.