Tksymm7 said:
Some guys that are worth watching/following that have an actual chance of playing with the big club with Round Rock right now:
Sam Huff - OPS of 1.087 with 2 homers and 11 RBIs in 39 ABs
The only thing I can think of as to why he hasn't been called up yet to at least DH some is because they would like for him to get a few more ABs this season (and subsequently to give Knizner an actual look), but even that is a tough argument when the guy has almost 2000 minor league ABs. I'd like to see Huff full-time by the end of April.
Jack Leiter - 15 SOs to 3 BBs (KEEP IT UP)
We've talked a lot about Leiter and he probably needs to continue doing what he's doing for probably two full months before he's even considered, but it's been a promising start to the year for him.
Cole Winn - 9 SOs to 1 BB in 6.1 IP
Winn has been sneaky good to start the season and MAY have figured something out with moving to more of a bullpen/long reliever style of pitcher. Again, keep it up lad, you probably have everyone rooting for you.
Marc Church - 5 SOs to 3 BBs in 4.2 IP
Needs to work on command a bit more, as our bullpen already walks a ton of guys, so adding another guy who walks too many won't cut it. I bet we see him at the end of April.
Jesus Tinoco - 6 SOs to 3 BBs in 4.2 IP
Probably the same as Church above, but absolutely has the stuff to pitch in the bullpen because he throws straight gasoline.
Jonathan Hernandez - 4 SOs to 1 BB in 4.0 IP
We all know he has the stuff, he just needs to continue to fill up the strike zone. Like Church above, if he can continue what he's doing throughout April, I bet we see him sometime at the beginning of May or even late April.
this is a little lengthy, but I thought I'd add this here. Comments today from Scott Lucas on the immergence of Cole Winn:
Quote:
Brought into the 9th to air it out, Cole Winn began with a 92 MPH cutter, his fastest in two-plus seasons in AAA, and fanned two batters on 98 MPH fastballs, also both faster than anything he'd previously thrown. A fly to right concluded his evening. He added one strike-grabbing curve and a splitter. If you put that version of Winn in a Major League ballpark, he'd get people out.
Technically, this isn't his first time in this role, as he threw a single inning on Sunday, but that was the 6th inning of a getaway day, and he wasn't as successful. The outing just didn't resonate. Plus, I saw last night in person.
So, where has this been, or to put another way, why hadn't the Rangers tried him in this role before, given his beyond-lengthy struggles? I don't speak for the Rangers, but my answers are tied to his fastball and overall mix. One, his fastball was his worst pitch last year. His strike rate was poor, and a good many that found the plate were sent back hard the other direction. Two, he's always had a deep repertoire with everything grading at least average when he was in better form. Indeed, some of the attempted fixes have involved broadening and tweaking his pitch mix even more, such as sliders transforming into cutters and sweepers, and this year's splitter.
When I saw him two weeks ago, he wasn't outstanding but looked like he was taking the fight to the competition instead of fighting himself. Hopefully, the positive trend will continue, and for the first time in a long while, we can talk about the possibility of his MLB debut.
