92 pitchers have at least 50 IP this year. Among them Ben Brown ranks (all stats oriented so 1st = best):
- 31st in groundball rate
- 43rd in walk rate
- 22nd in groundball rate
- 76th in hard hit rate
- 56th in barrel rate
- 23rd in xFIP
- 73rd in xERA
- 91st in ERA
He is getting hit hard, so he shouldn't have results as sparkling as his FIP suggests. But there's just not any reason to think he should have an ERA over 5, much less 6. Hell even with the hard contact you'd probably expect south of 4 going forward.
This is about as slam dunk a case of bad luck as you can find. If he was on any other team we'd be champing at the bit to buy low on him.
Setting aside any of the bad luck parts of Brown's performance (I can read the room enough here to know no one wants to have that conversation) why do you think a guy who has struggled so mightily in the first inning would be a good fit for the pen?
Jefferson Rojas walked with the bases loaded. It's a little thing that I really like seeing out of a young hitter. Speaks to a mature approach at the plate.
I'm sure Iowa's just a bullpen game that Pearson happens to be starting, but given everything going on I'd stretch him out for real like they've done with Keegan Thompson. Like what could you lose at this point?
SB is not great about consistent velo readings but I saw a 95 get popped in the 4th. And no idea how they grade out objectively but visually the slider and curve are pretty.
I think he might be a thing.
Ask yourself what it would take for you to deal PCA, discount it ~20% because of pitcher attrition, and that's what Skenes would cost. You're talking something insane like Busch, Shaw, and Horton.
Really interested to see what Ryan Gallagher does for an encore. 20 strikeouts over his last two starts. If he has another big K game that starts really setting off alarm bells, in a good way. Like is he a breakout, or is he bullying children with some plus secondary pitch a la Nico Zeglin last year?
Not the top story with the offensive fireworks but Luke Little with 5 Ks in two scoreless innings is a lot of fun
In 13.1 IP since getting back to Iowa, he has 17 Ks and has only given up 8 baserunners
This is Greene's first start off the IL, and he didn't do a rehab. You should expect a fairly short day from him, something like 70 pitches? So this game should be a little easier than it looks on paper.
I think with any long time Rockie there's some possibility for quick player development wins, as by acquiring them you're essentially time traveling them 10 years into the future.
But if he just is who he is, hard hard hard hard pass. Money is way too tight next season to burn that much on him.
I'm excited. The ceiling is probably not super high unless he can really level up at 3B, but the bat is legit. Maybe the most likely guy at Iowa to be an above average player?