5 ip, 1 h, 0 bb, 11k

Bet you've never seen a guy strike out the side, three innings in a row, and get yanked after five for it?  Me either.

..............

86 pitches and done.  Corroborates our suspicion that Swamp-Thing is battling through a bit of fatigue. 

That, or the Rainiers, River Cats, Zduriencik, and/or all of minor league baseball finally realized that there was no more point in his pitching to minor-league hitters.  Has never been any point, actually.  (For those just joining us, Zduriencik was reportedly at the game to "scout" Pineda -- whale of a cheek this guy has, blowing off SSI's crystal-clear reports -- and was spared the sight of the Safeco melodrama.)

You do have to see the humor in Frankenstein going out there, blowing down nine guys in three innings, and then being pulled after 86 pitches.  Reminds you of Peyton Manning getting yanked at halftime in preseason...

................

Here is a River Cats' point-of-view (Robbie Enos / Sacramento River Cats LOL) that grudgingly acknowledges "Mega Pineda" and his "unreal strikeout show."

Pineda now with 42 strikeouts in 34 innings, and, given PCL umping, defense, and scouting reports, that's about the best saber you're going to get on him, is the 11 strikeouts per 9.

For those just realizing who Pineda is - it's important to understand that other glamor pitchers don't (typically) fan 11 men per nine in the upper minor leagues.

Clayton Kershaw fanned 9 per game in AA.

CC Sabathia fanned the same once he got to AA/AAA:  one guy an inning.

David Price, right at a batter per inning.

OK, Felix his ownself did get to 10 men per nine innings.  But that's because he was the greatest pitching prospect since Dwight Gooden.

You can find a few -- Matt Cain went from 7.5 strikeouts to almost 11, right before he landed in the NL as one of its very best pitchers.

That's not an official study, no - it's just illustrative of what minors-followers will be aware of.  Pineda is manhandling the PCL not like you'd expect Max Scherzer or Brad Lincoln or Brandon Morrow or Luke Hochevar to do. 

Pineda is not doing the PCL like you'd expect a #2 overall pick to do.  He's racking up strike threes like you'd expect Tim Lincecum or Stephen Strasburg to do.

.

But the PCL results aren't the point.  The intersection of command and velocity is the point.  There will never come a time when human beings can beat Curt Schilling.

.

 

Comments

1
Moe's picture

I suppose you could argue that Ackley AND Pineda BOTH get to enjoy Tacoma until next nearly June.....
But it's not happening.
Heck, bring 'em up together...same game.  Ignite the crowd a bit.
M. Wilson, too....that would be fun.  But, alas....M's seem not too interested in Wilson.  Wish it weren't the case. 
But, after last nights debacle, here's to trying something interesting and exciting and fan-based.  Bring 'em up.  PUll a Felix with them in 3 years and extend. Avoid losing them that way!
Who would hav thunk that Milton Bradley would end up the Wak loving loyal one of the two vets we signed in the spring?
Go team.
moe

2

Churchill has a great piece up on Pineda.
I was struck by how careful they are going to be with the guy. The Rainiers pitching coach says he'll be shut down at around 140 innings. He'll be over 120 after tonight. Pineda's season is about over.

3

Pineda last night: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 HR, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Gerrit Cole (projected top-5 draft pick) for Team USA vs. Taiwan in Tokyo Saturday: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Tom Wilhelmsen (he's the former Brewer prospect who was out of baseball for 7 yrs after substance abuse suspension, now coming back at 26 -- not really sure how to evaluate him due to the age difference, but he's putting up great numbers); last night in low-A Clinton:
7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
Season (cumulative AZL/Everett/Clinton): 36.2 IP, 20 H, 7 ER (1.72 ERA), 5 BB (1.2 BB/9), 41 K (10.1 K/9)

4

Baltimore 32-73 (6-1/2 GB Ms)
Pittsburgh 36-69 (2-1/2 GB Ms)
Seattle 39-67
Arizona 39-67 (tied w/ Ms)
KC 45-61 (6 G ahead of Ms)
Cleveland 45-61 (6 G ahead of Ms)
Cubs 46-60 (7 G ahead of Ms)
Houston 46-59 (7-1/2 G ahead of Ms)
 
It is not out of the question that we could still drop below Pittsburgh to the #2 spot (ouch!).  Regardless, it is appears almost impossible to rally even to the KC/Cleveland level, since that would take a gain of 6 full games.
So it looks like the Ms will pick 3rd or 4th, with some chance of picking 2nd.

5
Taro's picture

Mechanics a "60"??? That just not accurate.
I'm suprised his offspeed graded around average with a 75! fastball. With that kind of fastball and command he'll be effective at the MLB level immediately if hes hitting his spots.

8

I still can't believe that Jack somehow spun Aumont, Gillies and Ramirez into Smoak, Beavan and Lueke, with an extra bonus of a half season of Cliff Lee.
That's the Rangers first round picks in 2007 and 2008 plus a nuclear reliever for three guys that might never see the bigs. Unreal.  

10
Taro's picture

Only one ST video. It wasn't enough to scout his stuff, so I defer to Churchill there. Hes usually really solid there.
Hes just wrong on the mechanics though. Pineda has a very bad timing issue and is very high risk. Even moreso than Morrow was.

11
Nathan H's picture

Surprisingly, the Mariner’s have a middle infield logjam down on The Farm. The organization needs to get creative to fit all of that talent onto the right rosters. Here’s what they have:
AA 2B Kyle Seager
AA 2B Matt Lawson
AAA 2B Dustin Ackley
Hi A SS Nick Franklin
AA SS Carlos Triunfel
AAA SS Nobody
We can’t move Triunfel to 3B because Alex Liddi, he of the futures game, is holding fort there. The only open slot is AAA SS. Lo and behold, Lawson is playing SS for the Javelinas. I'd be interested to see reports as to how he's handling the position down there.

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