Redbird rookie Pitch F/X

(No Three Up, Three Down today. I’m thinking it will work better as a bi-weekly series.)

Admittedly, I haven’t quite jumped on the whole Pitch F/X bandwagon quite yet. It does make for a more enjoyable experience when you’re stuck in one of the MLB.tv’s (EXTREMELY STUPID) blackout zones. I can listen to Shannon and Rooney and watch gameday, at least getting a decent idea of how different pitcher’s pitches move and track the game a little better. Anyway, while I was unable to see Mike Parisi make his big league debut last night, I was able to get a better idea of his droppish/droppifying (?) curveball last night, and learned that he has a little more giddy up in his fastball than was previously reported. Thanks to this handy-dandy little pitch F/X tool by Dan Brooks, we can look do a little bit of scouting on Parisi.

Prospect Profile: Mike Parisi

Mike Parisi is closing in on the majors.

A peak at peak translations part 4: pitchers

As promised, we will now take a look at Clay Davenport’s Peak Translations for pitchers. This gets into a little more precarious ground, as pitcher projections are much hazier then projecting hitters, as pitchers can be pretty volatile lot.

A look at Mike Parisi

Lboros at VEB said yesterday that he found it interesting that the organization saw it fit to advance Mike Parisi over former 2004 #1 draft pick Chris Lambert. He wasn’t alone thinking that the plan was to give Lambert the sink-or-swim treatment this year, but Lambert didn’t do anything to prove he was ready for AAA out of camp. While Parisi hasn’t really done anything eye-popping, he hasn’t done anything poorly either. (With the exception of a miserable time in the Arizona Fall League.)

A 9th round pick of the 2004 draft out of Manhattan, Parisi has been moving up the ladder at the expected rate. He hasn’t repeated any levels without being advanced later mid season, and last year was the only time he didn’t receive an in-season promotion. (Though you could count being sent to the AFL as some sort of recognition.) AA was not very kind to him, his WHIP ballooned, his walk rate jumped up over a batter an inning from his career averages and his strikeout rate declined to the lowest point of his career. Still, he wasn’t awful by Texas League standards, if anything he was plum average. Parisi doesn’t have a dominant out pitch, but he has a workable sinker that he throws in the 86-92 MPH range and he has 3 variations of a curveball he can throw for strikes. His change-up is still a work in progress, but it’s coming around. (You can virtually say that about every pitcher in the game right now, like being able to throw a change-up is in your genes or it isn’t.) Command is an issue right now. Like the majority of pitchers in the system, he profiles either as a 5th starter or a middle reliever. It’s good to see him in Memphis now along with Hawksworth and Narveson to swing the balance away from the journeymen and over to the homegrowners.

(For more on Parisi, LBoros has an interview with him in the VEB archives. Credit due, that’s where I learned of his repertoire.)

Arizona Fall League Update

Sorry for the lack of updates here, I haven’t forgot about this blog and I’m sure as winter goes on it’ll be updated more often, at least every week or two.

Just a quick update on the AFL, things aren’t going so hot for Nick Stavinoha. In 52 at bats, Stavvy’s OPS is a paltry .624. He did just homer today, maybe he’ll get going. This is Arizona, where the balls are usually jumping off bats so I’m not sure what’s going on with Nick but he’s obviously struggling right now and will probably be heading back to A ball unless he can get jump started.

On the positive Amaury Marti is hitting .311/.360/.556 in 45 AB’s, and Brendan Ryan is also hitting well, to the tune of .349/.371/.465. Ryan has also made 6 errors in just 18 games, not what you want to see from the possible shortstop of the future but it’s good to see Ryan get some good AB’s after having a rather injury riddled season.

Mike Parisi has been a walking disaster, with a 10.64 ERA in 11 innings of relief work. Stu Pomeranz has been awful as well, giving up 19 hits and 12 runs in 10 innings. Eric Haberer has managed an ERA of 4.50, but he’s walked more guys then he’s struck out (7bb, 6k in 10 IP). Dennis Dove has a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched, with a low .86 WHIP.

The thing about the Arizona Fall League is that it seems like you really have to take it all with a grain of salt. Hitters usually go crazy in that hot air, pitchers struggle and the season is only 32 games long. The teams are full of prospects from different teams fighting for playing time so it’s not easy to get reads on these guys. Scouts can watch the happenings and get stuff, but when you’re just looking at scoreboards you know you’re not getting all the story.