Seattle Sports Insider

Tom Wilhelmsen Gameday Pitch Data

Posted by

10/14/10

I don't recall if they did in the past, but the Arizona Fall League Gameday has the full data on the pitches, just like from the big-league games. As such, I thought I would grab the data from Tom Wilhelmsen's appearance, since I thought it was pretty interesting.

Recall, his first truncated minor league career ended in A ball, to which he returned this year. So the AFL is his first chance, ever, to face upper-level prospects. Also of note, he averaged 7.0 IP per start for Clinton. True, he was outclassing his league, but he was ahead of them only in age -- not experience. Anyway, unlike a lot of power arms, I think we need to view him as a starter until it is clear that he is not a starter.

Although he was pitching in relief, the 93-95 range is reportedly what he was throwing consistently in the LumberKing rotation as well. I really like how he recovered after a couple of wobbly at-bats -- getting the called strikes, and then the swinging strikes. He didn't have much confidence in the changeup, but he also didn't really need it.

I would love to see this guy sneak into the rotation in out-of-the-blue Paul Abbott style.

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Comments

2 more IP; 4 more K

No Gameday speed/movement data this time, so just the play-by-play:
Mesa Bottom of the 9th

Pitcher Change: Tom Wilhelmsen replaces Eric Berger.
Brandon Wood called out on strikes.
Matt Rizzotti strikes out swinging.
Mesa Solar Sox first baseman Matt Rizzotti ejected by HP umpire Darren Budahn.
Josh Vitters grounds out, second baseman Jason Kipnis to first baseman Michael McDade.
Mesa Bottom of the 10th

Kirk Nieuwenhuis strikes out swinging.
Jordy Mercer strikes out swinging.
Tony Sanchez grounds out, third baseman Matt Lawson to first baseman Michael McDade.
So between the two games that's 1 line drive hit, 1 ground ball hit, 4 ground ball outs, 1 walk and 8 K in 4.0 IP in his first shot against upper-level competition.

Maybe I like George Springer better

If it turns out we already have a Gerrit Cole on our roster.

Robles, Cortes, Lueke & Fields

Robles VWL: 3 G, 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Cortes VWL: 3 G, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 SV
Lueke AFL: 2 G, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Fields AFL: 2 G, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Can these guys produce a Wedge-proof pen? The 4 of them have a shutout so far this fall.

No pen for Robles yet

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20101018/BLOG05/101019801
Are the Mariners testing these waters to see if Robles can be a left-handed relief specialist, which they haven't really had in their bullpen since Arthur Rhodes was on the team in 2008?
Not at all, says Pedro Grifol, the Mariners' minor league coordinator.
"He threw a lot of innings this year. We wanted to limit his innings (in Venezuela) and still wanted him to pitch," Grifol said. "So he's getting his innings out of the bullpen. We have every intention of keeping him as a starter."
So forget the notion of Robles being a left-on-left specialist.
"He is way too talented to be a left-on-left," Grifol said.

So thank God for that, at least.
Robles is a 4 inning monster. After that, he loses his control. I'm no expert on short vs. tall pitchers but apparently shorter power pitchers have trouble getting enough leg drive in later innings. Roy Oswalt runs stairs to keep his legs strong enough to maintain that leg drive later in games. After suffering some this year Lincecum started doing lower body work too.
Personally, I'd make Robles run his stumpy lil butt off all offseason, get legs like Roger Clemens, and have him come to camp and compete for a starting role.
Because anybody who can put together 10K/3.5BB/7 hits per 9 numbers this year in AA and AAA through 4 innings (and has done it at every level of the minors, no flukes here) deserves his shot to start. If he can't start, then he'll probably close a la Eric Gagne. I don't see him ever being a LOOGY. He's better against righties, actually.
And I don't move Wilhelmsen to the pen unless absolutely necessary either.
Cortes, Lueke, Fields and Varvaro all have a shot at bostering the pen this year. If we KEEP Lueke, I think we've got a good shot at bolstering our pen significantly over what we had last year. Pryor, Bischoff, Burgoon, Snow, Cleto, Vasquez and co are all aimed at it as well in the coming years. We've GOT pen arms.
Robles,Wilhelmsen and (when we sign him) Paxton are all shots at a TOR starter. Let those guys stay in the rotation as long as possible.
~G

My 2011 bullpen.

I would place the depth chart for 2011 at:
- Aardsma (until he's traded)
- Lueke
- League
- Cortes
- Kelley
- Fields
- Varvaro
But that may jsut be me.

Ack is Back -- with 3 H

After a week off with a sprained finger, Dustin Ackley returns and goes 3-for-6 with a double and two singles. Overall he has two doubles, 1 HR and 5 H in his first 11 ABs in fall ball.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela, Johermyn Chavez -- after 52BB:131K in High Desert -- has either had a great turnaround in eye, or is finding the umpiring in his favor. He has 6 BB and only 3 K in his first 8 G, along with 12 H, including 3 doubles and a HR (.387/.486/.581).
Dan Cortes is being used in the closer role for Lara, and is unscored upon with 3 saves in 4 9th-inning appearances (the 4th one was a non-save situation). 3 walks and 3 Ks in 4.0 IP. Certainly appears to be a "grooming" situation.
On the down side, Alex Liddi (6-for-27 in VWL) and Matt Lawson (3-for-19 in AFL) are off to cold starts.

Wilhemsen is an intrersting

Wilhemsen is an intrersting story. Tom Wilhelmsen 19 years old signs with the Brewers. He impresses right away in A ball. Then Bod-A-Bing Bod-A-Bang he gets popped for smoking pot. 20 years old and the rug gets pulled out from underneath him and he is suspended for a year. But this didn't stop old Tom. He promptly quits baseball and becomes a bar tender. Party on dude! Well not promptly, but it sounds like he only made a half-hearted attempt to come back, and ultimately Tom left for the greener pastures of the bar scene. Now I'm not one to criticize here, because hey... chicks, booze & $250K signing bonus. Well I'll just say if I was 20 yrs. old I might be tempted as well. You guy's probably heard the gig. Baker did a feel good story on Tom last March. PBNW chimed in recently as well.

So 5 years of bartending pass by and Tom decides he wants to pitch again. How bout that. All you have to do is hurl it 95 and you're gifted. You're in. You get a second shot. And Jack is familiar with the guy so Tom has a few connections as well.

Can I just take the short cut and call him a reliever with a power arm. At 27 He's got very little time left to make up for baseball on the back burner. If he continues to progress and gets the oppturnity to fast track in the bull pen.... he won't pass it up.... I suspect. Not to mention the AFL is typically used to prep high leverage relievers.

Thanks Spec

Your updates on Fall ball are always appreciated. Thanks.

Wilhelmsen's ERA down to 1.29

2.0 scoreless innings, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K. Gameday had him 91-93 instead of the 93-95 he was throwing in the game in the main post. Could be random variation, could be strategic, or he could be tiring out. We'll have to see.
Fastball-curveball combo still getting everyone out. Changeup still being worked on.
We knew that Lueke and Cortes could get advanced prospects out. Now we know that Wilhelmsen can, too.
I think he could end up as the 4th most important development of the year, minors-wise, after the Pineda and Franklin bust-outs and Ackley-as-2b.

Check this one out

On base 6 times in 7 trips -- drawing 5 walks from 5 different pitchers!
Peo Javelinas Top of the 1st
Dustin Ackley walks.
Peo Javelinas Top of the 2nd
Dustin Ackley singles on a sharp ground ball to right fielder Caleb Gindl.
Peo Javelinas Top of the 3rd
Dustin Ackley walks.
Peo Javelinas Top of the 6th
Dustin Ackley strikes out swinging.
Peo Javelinas Top of the 7th
Dustin Ackley walks.
Peo Javelinas Top of the 9th
Dustin Ackley walks.
Peo Javelinas Top of the 11th
Mike McClendon intentionally walks Dustin Ackley.

Wilhemsen

Thanks for the background on Wilhemsen. I didn't realize he had been out that. I would take a 27 year old with a younger arm than an immature 20 year old with a torqued elbow for years. Looks like he had two great innings again.

Wilhelmsen ERA 1.08; Lueke 1.13

and Arizona not known for pitching.
Wilhelmsen was back to consistent 94-96 on the gun. Not sure what accounted for the 91-93 outing the other day. Walked 2, but struck out 3 in his inning.
Lueke was also consistently 94-95 FB, 81-82 on the change, 79 with the curve.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2009/index.jsp?gid=2010_11_01_scowin_per...
Wilhelmsen pitched the 7th; Lueke the 8th & 9th.
Folks are going to have to start taking notice of our ex-barkeep.

At first I thought we'd keep

At first I thought we'd keep Wilhelmsen as a starter for sure. Let him open up at AA, make it to AAA by the end of the year, and then see whether he's ready for a starter shot in 2012 if all goes well.

Now? He might be doing too well from the pen. JJ Putz became a deadly reliever around the age Wilhelmsen is now. Tom has far less experience, but with pitchers experience takes a back-seat to stuff, and Tom's stuff is as good as anybody's - and it'll be even better from the pen.
We can fix the pen now. Right now. Lueke + Cortes + Wilhelmsen = trifecta. Cortes is gonna be all wild smoke, Lueke is an unhittable surgeon, and Wilhelmsen is the middle road between their skillsets.
Add THAT to Brandon League and RRS in the pen and you've got basically 4 closers, a long-man, and one spot for a lefty reliever. And another wildman in Varvaro if you wanted him.
Maybe we'll choose to stagger our bullpen additions a little more, alternate their years of service so we don't wind up paying too much in future years at the same time.
Maybe we will choose to only MOSTLY rush Wilhelmsen instead of really rush him.
But Tom looks absolutely capable of pulling a Lowe and going from the low-minors to the bigs just on the strength of his arm.
I hope to see him in AA to keep refining his game and building arm strength from the rotation.
But if we decide we want all the best arms in the pen, or we trade Cortes or Lueke for another player, then Tom's name would have to be at the top of the list of candidates for bullpen duty.
Though that list of candidates has to be long. Between all the arms we added in the draft and the upper minors guys available for duty, bullpen is one thing we should be able to man internally for the next several years.
Another reason Aardsma won't be here in 2011, IMO.
~G

Yeah, G

I loved seeing Wilhelmsen go 7-innings deep time after time at Clinton, but he could obviously be electric in the pen in the short term. I think I'd keep him as a starter as long as I could, since he does have the potential to be a workhorse there.
Especially since the depth chart thins out pretty quick after Pineda (depending on whether you view Robles as sticking) (or . . . depending on whether you're a close relative of Luke French or Ryan Feierabend) but it may depend on other events, too. If Paxton signs and Cole or Purke comes in from the draft, then you need Wilhelmsen less as a potential rotation guy.
Lueke-Cortes-Wilhelmsen: "The Redemption Boys"