Bertz

Pfaadt has huge L/R splits. I expected Workman yesterday but definitely today. Only question is whether it's for Nico or Shaw.

When it looked like Brown and Shaw were going to open up at Iowa, I think that team would have been the most loaded affiliate we ever had. Honestly even better than anything circa 2014. For good reasons it not quite that insane anymore, but I'd still say it will rightfully get the majority of eyeballs all year. The middle half of the farm is in super rough shape. Tenn's rotation is okay, as is SB's lineup, but this is what a ~25th ranked farm system looks like. One of Rojas/Hernandez Wiggins going supernova would go a long way. Myrtle is fun. There will inevitably be 4-5 hitters from this crew that we view as serious prospects six months from now. Good luck guessing who that will be though! Pitching looks rough even with the rosiest colored glasses. I think we might be due for another draft where Kantrovitz takes like 16 pitchers.

Pretty solid outing from Ethan Roberts too. Velo up a good bit from last year. Though still not back to where it was pre TJ.

Taillon sitting 93. Not all the way back but half an MPH above what he had last year.

Through 3 velo held at +1.5 and he is up to 10 whiffs

I presume all the AAA guys are going short ~3ish inning outings here to start the season but through Connor Noland's velo is up about 1.5 MPH and he has 6 swings and misses.

Honest to God I think that lineup is better than the Marlins. And probably not far from the Rockies or Pirates?

Luke Little too. I knew both guys had gotten into a few games this spring but wondered if they'd both be a week or three behind. And I could have seen the team go either way with Long at either Iowa or Tenn. He demolished Tenn but it was only 200 PAs. Great to see him open at Iowa.

Pressly was really good last year with his fastball a smidge under 94. He's been down under 93 his first two outings, however he had several outings at normal velo this spring. So there's a decent chance given the calendar he is simply in dead arm right now.

Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt both had pretty big L/R splits last year. I'd expect Workman to start the next two days, one for Shaw and one for Hoerner.

I vaguely recall the Athletic saying there was an expectation Flexen would stay in the org.

And we're back!

Good win. Not the best pitching day but this is a tough lineup and I expect the ump scorecard is going to be pretty colorful tomorrow. Tomorrow could be tough. Doubt Counsell's willing to throw any relievers back to back, and that might include Merryweather. Likely going to need to need to put another beating on Kelly (which is doable).

If Amaya is not only a guy you're okay having up at the plate, but in fact a guy you're glad to have up there? That changes the complexion of this lineup a ton.

I'd let Steele start the 5th but not let him face Moreno and that ensuing block of righties a 3rd time

Reds bullpen gave up 4 in the 9th to blow a strong Hunter Greene start It will not be the first time we write that I suspect

Would It Dong survived the transition to BlueSky!

I think for me, heading into the season I'm worried about 3 things 1. There are a lot of old guys on this pitching staff - I am generally agnostic about pitcher age, but even for me it's unnerving that we have more pitchers on the team over 35 than under 25. Shota is the median aged pitcher on the staff! Hodge, Pearson, Morgan and Brown are the only guys on the OD roster under 29! Some of this is a snapshot in time before Iowa arms start percolating up, but in the meantime there will be at least one of the older guys who goes all Kyle Hendricks on us. I just hope it's Rea or Brasier rather than Pressly or Taillon 2. The rotation and bullpen each feel a guy short - This feels a little less true than it did in February because Merryweather and Brown (and despite opening at Iowa, Wicks) all appear to be back at full strength. But still, for all of the great work done to build out this team's depth, unless Jed *really* nailed the Boyd signing this winter was light on adding impact to the top of the staff 3. The bottom half of the batting order has a chance to be a problem - Swanson and Hoerner are coming off injury and as you point out above the youths obviously come with question marks. Individually I expect each guy to end up within a stones throw of average offensively, but simple odds are one or two guys will faceplant. I ascribe to the belief that lineups with gaping holes tend to underperform the sum of their parts (call it the Heyward/Almora theorem). So if we have another situation like last year where PCA and Amaya were both catastrophically bad for multiple months, it could be a really big problem even if e.g. Tucker's hitting like an MVP

I can tell I'm getting older because the 9 pm start annoys me more than the 5 am games did I feel like we always struggle in Chase, and the Dbacks are a good team, so this weekend could be ugly. That said none of the individual pitching matchups are that scary and the team didn't have to travel far for this series so I am hoping for a split.

Yeah Armstrong looks pretty middle reliever-y IMO. In the pitch design era never write a guy off totally, but I'd guess he'll need the extra juice from working shorter stints to be a thing at the MLB level. That said an MLB career does look pretty likely.

Because of the weird roster machinations around the Japan series the team never actually had to IL Nico. So it's sort of a "no news is good news" thing because he'd only be involved in a transaction if he wasn't good to go.

Brasier and Miller both being hurt at the same time is annoying. That said until Merryweather and Keller have earned (re-earned in Julian's case) more trust i think all four guys would get similar pockets of hitters. So I'm actually pretty okay swapping Morgan in at the moment. Sounds like both injuries are short term. Hopefully two weeks from now Merryweather's been re-enshrined into the circle of trust and we can more stand slide in one of the ROOGYs.