markos

Meyer pitched again on Wednesday, and I know I'm beginning to sounds like a broken record, but he again pitched well except for "one bad inning". This time, his "one bad inning" was the 4th, where he gave up 4 runs on 4 singles and a walk. He wasn't helped by a fielding error that prolonged the inning, so not all the runs were earned. At the end of the night, he faced 30 batters over 6 2/3 innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 walks to go along with 7 strikeouts. On the plus side, this was the deepest into a game Meyer has pitched so far this season, as well as the most batters faced. Meyer's season stats (in 9 starts): 49.2.0 IP, 20 ER, 49 H, 21 BB, 58 SO, 1 HR 3.62 ERA, 2.46 FIP 1.41 WHIP 10.51 K/9, 3.81 BB/9 One interesting tid-bit pointed out in another thread, Meyer is currently 5th in all of AA in Fielding Independent Pitching: http://www.fangraphs.com/minorleaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=5,6,7&qual=y&type=1&season=2013&team=0&players=0

I've seen one of Meyer's starts as well, and I completely agree with Andrew. He still needs to work on his game-to-game and inning-to-inning consistency.

If my quick research is correct, there 4 players that were signed in the supplemental 1st round for approximately $1 million over slot. Here are the four with their pick number, position, signing amount, and BA pre-draft rank Pick 39 - Joey Gallo, HS 3B, $2.25M, BA #33 Pick 41 - Lance McCullers, HS P, $2.5M, BA #13 Pick 50 - Matthew Smoral, HS P, $2M, BA #24 Pick 55 - Walker Weickel, HS P, $2M, BA #37 There were a smattering of additional over-slot picks in the later rounds, but I'm too lazy to dig for them all. If the Twins could save a million bucks by drafting Shipley instead of Stewart, then they could draft a Lance McCullers instead of a Luke Bard in the 2nd round (using last year as an example). In my opinion, I would only support this if they are able to snag a consensus top-25 pick in the second round. Judging from last year, that may be risky as there was only one available last year at #43.

Meyer started his 8th game of the year on Friday night. He improved from his previous two starts, as he only gave up 2 runs in 5.1 innings. More importantly, he did not walk a single hitter and only allowed 5 hits. However, one of the hits was a home run - his first home run allowed this season. Here is a recap of the game: The New Britain Herald : New Britain, Conn., and surrounding areas (newbritainherald.com) Meyer's season stats (in 8 starts): 43.0 IP, 17 ER, 43 H, 18 BB, 51 SO, 1 HR 3.56 ERA, 2.46 FIP 1.42 WHIP 10.67 K/9, 3.77 BB/9

Alex Meyer had his 7th start of the season on Saturday, and he ended up facing the Portland Sea Dogs for the fourth time this season. Though not as bad as his previous start, Meyer did struggle again, giving up 4 runs (3 earned) in 5 1/3 innings. He did strike out 7 batters, but gave up 7 hits and 4 walks. Meyer's season stats are creeping in the wrong direction. (in 7 starts): 38.0 IP, 15 ER, 38 H, 18 BB, 47 SO, 0 HR 3.55 ERA, 2.22 FIP 1.474 WHIP 11.1 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 For anyone interested, here are the season stats for the other New Britain starter, Trevor May (also in 7 starts): 39.1 IP, 14 ER, 30 H, 19 BB, 37 SO, 3 HR 3.20 ERA, 3.99 FIP 1.246 WHIP 8.5 K/9, 4.3 BB/9

Alex Meyer started his 6th game of the season on Sunday, and he once again had a decent start ruined by one bad inning. In this instance, Meyer was unable to get out of the 5th inning, giving up 5 runs in the frame. The inning went like this: walk single single - 1 run scored walk pop out strike out single - 3 runs scored double - 1 run scored pitching change One of the runs ended up being unearned, but still, much of the damage was self-inflicted with the two walks. It is disappointed to see that he was very close to limiting the damage of that inning, but then ended up giving up 4 of the runs with two outs. Notes: - This is the 3rd time in the young season that Meyer has started against the Portland Sea Dogs. Not sure if that contributed to his struggles, but they may have made adjustments against him. Meyer's season stats (in 6 starts): 32.2 IP, 12 ER, 31 H, 14 BB, 40 SO, 0 HR 3.31 ERA, 2.13 FIP, 1.38 WHIP 11.02 K/9, 3.86 BB/9

Thanks for sharing. Well done.

Alex Meyer pitched this past Tuesday on the last day of April against the Harrisburg Senators, the AA affiliate of the Washington Nationals. This was his worst start of the season, giving up 4 runs in 6 innings, with all the runs coming in the 3rd. Rather than my own commentary on the game, I strongly recommend reading the write-up from Twins Fan From Afar, who was at the game. It is an awesome article, so please read and enjoy. Notes: - The Nationals AA team has a decent lineup, with one major prospect (Brian Goodwin), several minor ("C") prospects, as well as a handful of replacement-level major leaguers (including former Twin Erik Komatsu). However, they have yet to hit well this season, and are one of the worse offensive teams in the Eastern League. - Another good article to read about Meyer and his knuckle-curve ball. Meyer's season stats: 28 IP, 8 ER, 26 H, 11 BB, 34 SO, 0 HR 2.57 ERA, 2.06 FIP, 1.32 WHIP 10.93 K/9, 3.54 BB/9

A brief mention in the Star Tribune yesterday about Meyer: Twins minor league report: Top prospect Meyer practices getting out of a jam | StarTribune.com

Alex Meyer pitched this morning for New Britain against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the AA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. He again pitched 6 innings, needing 95 pitches (61 strikes). He scattered 8 hits and 1 walk, giving up 1 run. He had 7 strikeouts. Obviously, it would be nice if he could have had given up fewer hits, but it was nice see him control the strike zone with only the 1 walk. Notes: - The Blue Jays traded away much of their farm system this past offseason in trades with Marlins and the Mets. Their AA team in particular is very week, with only a couple of players who could be considered even marginal prospects. Meyer's season stats: 22 IP, 4 ER, 21 H, 8 BB, 26 SO

Alex Meyer started a game this past Thursday against the Portland Sea Dogs, the AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. He pitched 6 very effective innings, with the following line: 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 4 BB, 5 SO Overall, these are Meyer's stats for the season: 16 IP, 3 ER, 13 H, 7 BB, 19 SO Notes: - The Sea Dogs lineup included Xander Bogaerts, Boston's consensus top prospect, and a top-10 prospect in all of baseball. Bogaerts had the only hit against Meyer, with his hit a ground-ball to shortstop. He also lined out to shortstop and grounded out to third. - Other than the line out to shortstop, every other ball-in-play was a ground ball.

Name: Alex Meyer Position: SP Height: 6'9" Weight: 220 Bats: Right Throws: Right High School: Greensburg, IN College: University of Kentucky Drafted with the 23rd overall pick by the Washington Nationals in the 2011 Draft. Acquired by the Twins from the Nationals in exchange for Denard Span on November 29, 2012 More information at Baseball Reference: Alex Meyer Minor League Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com Meyer signed too late after the 2011 draft to pitch in the season, so he started his professional career as a 22-year-old in low-A. He started 18 games there, and he showed the ability to miss bats while having decent control, averaging 9.7 SO/9 and 3.09 SO/BB. He was promoted to high-A for the final 7 games of the season, and continued his good performance: 10.7 SO/9 and 3.15 SO/BB. Overall, he pitched 129 innings between the two levels, with an ERA under 3.00 and a .211 batting average against. During the offseason, Meyer was featured on several top-100 prospect lists: #40 MLB.com #59 Baseball America #61 ESPN #63 Minor League Ball #78 Fangraphs #88 Baseball Prospectus Within the Twins organization he has battled with Kyle Gibson for title of best pitching prospect, and has been ranked as anywhere from the Twins's 3rd to 6th best prospect. This year, as a 23-year-old, he has been assigned to AA with the New Britain Rock Cats. He has started 2 games so far this year, pitching 10 innings with 14 strikeouts and just 3 walks. I was able to travel to Richmond to see his first start, and you can find my writeup about the game here: Alex Meyer's Rock Cats Debut - Twinkie Town

Alex Meyer

I'm a big fan of this new idea! Did you consider any of the prep shortstops for your list? JP Crawford, Oscar Mercado, Jan Hernandez and Chris Rivera have all been mentioned on various first round lists, though they each have significant fielding or hitting questions. If they are able to put it all together in the spring, they may move up quickly. I'm looking forward to following your updates throughout the spring.

MLB average is 4.19 -> 13335 ER in 28617.2 Inn AL-only average is 4.37 -> 6474 ER in 13342.1 Inn NL-only average is 4.04 -> 6861 ER in 15275.1 Inn

I hope so too! I should have been more clear - I hope the Liam Hendriks that gives up 0.72 runs per inning won't be back next year. If there is a version that only gives up 0.5 runs per inning, I'd love to see that version pitch 175 innings next year.

If you look at innings and runs rather than starts and ERA, it isn't unreasonable to foresee a 100 run improvement from the pitching staff next season. I did an analysis a few weeks ago, and was able to get a 113 run improvement: Pitching Improvement - Twinkie Town The short version: if you look at the 10 pitchers who (hopefully) won't be back next year (Liriano, Hendriks, Blackburn, Pavano, Gray, Marquis, Manship, Duensing as a starter, Walters, Maloney), there is a lot of room for improvement. Collectively, they averaged almost 7 runs per 9 innings over 580 innings. If those 580 innings are gobbled up by the new arms (Harden, Correia, Worley, Gibson, Pelfrey), the new arms average 5 runs per 9 innings (an okay rate, but not good or great), and everyone else on the staff matches last year's performance (yes, a lot of ifs), then the Twins would give up 113 less runs than last season. I think allowing 100 less runs next year is achievable.

I agree. My criteria for the return in a Willingham trade is at least 1 pitching prospect with the following characteristics: a) Unarguably a top-10 prospect in the Twins system. ETA to majors of at least 2015. These other characteristics would be nice, but not necessary: c) Consensus top-100 prospect in MLB (Meyer fits this) d) High-end stuff Basically, I would like another pitcher like Meyer for Willingham. I guess I could be talked into a middle-infielder, but I'd prefer another pitcher.

Didn't Goodrum play at Elizabethton last season?

Is Niko Goodrum too far away from the majors to be considered in this, or has he been moved to a different position?