Morning Prowl: Porcello, Videos, Relievers, and Old-Time Baseball

by Ian Casselberry on Mar 12, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Detroit Tigers News

Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel talks to assistant general manager about Al Avila about the growing phenomenon that is Rick Porcello. Once again, the comparison with Josh Beckett is invoked, but is Porcello ahead of him at this stage of development?

(The article is syndicated on Freep.com today, as well.)

Detroit Free Press photographer Eric Seals sent along links to a video he shot of the Tigers' picture day. It's pretty entertaining to see the whole roster go by in fast-forward. He also shot another video with fans getting autographs in Lakeland and thoughts from a few players about their signatures.

(The video is embeddable, so I can post them here later on. But for now, it only seems fair to point you to Freep.com.)

The Sports Mitten takes a walk on the bright side of Tigers Spring Training so far, and looks at what's shaping up to be a promising bullpen.

Speaking of that bullpen, Jason Beck highlights Scott Williamson's rebound from his disastrous Sunday performance with two perfect innings yesterday.

In that same blog post, Beck also mentions how Rick Knapp's knee-to-knee dril has really helped Casey Fien.

I don't feel quite as bad about not knowing that Netherlands WBC hero Yurendell de Caster was in the Tigers' minor league system, since Ramon Santiago had no idea, either.

As he did with the Tigers batters, Blake looks at what might have been with the Detroit pitching staff had the front office made different decisions with a couple of contracts.

The Daily Fungo posted a video you may have seen before, but one worth watching again: Conan O'Brien visiting some folks playing old-time (1860s-style) baseball and the surprisingly attractive women who watch them.

(Come back soon, Conan! Jimmy Fallon's pretty good so far, but he's no Conebone.)

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R.P.

I went looking for other examples of pitchers who had limited experience in the minor leagues being brought up for a full to semi-full season of work in the majors at age 20. Despite comments by people like John Sickels it tends to be something that happens quite often, though it still tends to be a pretty small sample.

(IP are rounded off)

2000 Ankiel: 175 IP (MLB)
2001 Sabathia: 180 IP (MLB)
2002 Oliver Perez: 90 IP (MLB) + 72 IP (A+, AA) = 162 IP
2003 Bonderman: 162 IP (MLB)
2004 Greinke: 145 IP (MLB) + 29 IP (AAA) = 174 IP
2005 Felix Hernandez: 84 IP (MLB) + 88 IP (AAA) = 172 IP
2008 Kershaw: 107 IP (MLB) + 72 IP (A+, AA) = 179 IP

(Other notables who cracked the majors but with limited IP at age 20 include Scott Kazmir, Edwin Jackson and Matt Cain)

The only big difference between these guys and Porcello is that they all had between 40 and 70 IP at levels that Porcello simply skipped (Sabathia had 85 IP, Ankiel had 161 IP, Bonderman had none).

Each had between 100 and 160 IP in A+ and/or AA the year before they were called up (Porcello pitched 125 innings at A+). When they were called up none pitched more than 180 IP that season whether or not it was combined with their minor league IP that year.

Porcello’s situation mirrors Sabathia, Ankiel, Kershaw, Bonderman and Greinke. Like Bonderman he’d start pitching in the Bigs right out of the gate (Greinke started in May). But unlike Bonderman he’d be on a team that expects to contend and may not be able to shut him down if they’re in the middle of a pennant race come September.

Sabathia, Ankiel and Kershaw were in a “postseason position” and The Dodgers in particular did a pretty remarkable job keeping Kershaw’s IP down. From the looks of his gamelog his pitch count was around 90 – 95 and he only went 100+ 4 times. The benefit to The Dodgers last season however was an excellent bullpen that could take up the slack for carefully handling Kershaw.

Provided The Tigers are as careful with Porcello as The Dodgers were (and are) with Kershaw I have no problem putting him on the team. The question is if the bullpen can handle that extra work load. I have no doubt that it could in normal circumstances but if the Tiger rotation continues to underperform there could be a huge problem.

by MacRae on Mar 12, 2009 10:46 AM EDT reply actions

Jimmy Fallon

I’ve only seen one of the shows, but he’s not so bad. I’ll give you that he’s no Conebone.

He seems to be trying (maybe a little too hard?) to appeal to young, hip people. With our iPods and Volkswagens and stuff.

I like it.

download my minimalist tigers wallpaper here

by explosivo2k2 on Mar 12, 2009 1:07 PM EDT reply actions

rings

Although the Conan bit has been around for awhile – and is somewhat misleading as to how vintage or historical base ball (two words in those days) is played – its been a good piece to generate publicity for the game. Michigan is one of the highest participation states for vintage base ball. See www.vbba.org or our local squad www.kentbaseball.com for more, links, and local clubs! Its a great “gentleman’s” game, played by true baseball fans!
I can also highly recommend the book “Baseball Fever” by Peter Morris, which details the development of the game, especially in Michigan. Its very well written, entertaining, and a “must” for anyone truly interested in the game.

The world's greatest wiffle ball tournament! TheFatty.com

by rings on Mar 12, 2009 2:32 PM EDT reply actions

Cone bone

I’d have gone with Conesy Bear myself.

I am not real impressed by Fallon. Honestly I think his failure is that he’s just not being himself enough. He is trying to put different spins on other people’s skits too much (with an obvious influence of Cone bone). But it’s not working. I think he is funny enough he could extend his monologue. But of course his monologue hasn’t really been funny. He needs to take advantage of doing impressions and will really have to find the right kind of guests to fit his style. When he does have the right guests, his show has been entertaining for the second half hour. But the first half hour is a struggle

I’ve heard his producer produced Attack of the Show on G4TV. So maybe that explains a lot. It feels like the show is presenting itself as a big time network production, but it’s presenting material from a second rate cable show. So it feels discordant.

I think a month or two or three down the line, he might settle in to a style that works for him. But for his sake I hope the audiene is willing to give him a chance after this rather poor opening.

I still think they should have given the slot to Carson Daly, for his musical guests alone. Having M83 on last night was awesome. But I suppose that doesn’t work as good at 1230…

Mack Avenue Tigers

by Kurt Mensching on Mar 12, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions