Some news from Lehigh Valley as the second half of the IronPigs season begins this evening with a double header against Syracuse. Starting Pitcher Tim Redding was released after several fairly brutal starts. With Scott Mathieson’s return from Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley rotation is full, with Mathieson taking Redding’s spot.
Reliever Phillipe Aumont was placed on the DL, retroactive to July 10 with an undisclosed shoulder issue. Aumont recently saw a shoulder specialist and sources within the organization say that the injury is relatively minor in nature. Joe Savery officially arrives from Reading today to takes Aumont’s roster spot.
Catcher John Suomi was called up from CLearwater, presumably in case Erik Kratz was not able to get back to Allentown in time for tonight’s twinbill after an early morning flight from Salt Lake City, Utah with fellow All Stars Michael Schwimer and Mike Zagurski. Tonight’s starting pitchers for the ‘Pigs are Brian Bass in Game One, followed by Scott Mathieson in Game Two.
Does that mean that the Pigs keep 3 catchers or is Suomi racking up frequent flyer miles with a quick return?
Ugh… anything but the shoulder.
I am very excited to see Scott Mathieson’s transition back to the starting rotation. When you throw as hard as he does, success is often much closer than one would expect. Baseball history is loaded with tales of hard throwers who suddenly figured things out and went on to be very successful. This year’s example is Ryan Vogelsong. Hopefully, Mathieson is next and if this start is anything like his first start (he was positively dominant and with stuff that would have played well at the big league level), the team might just find itself another starter.
I agree completely! As a reliever, what good is calling him up if you’re not going to use him? At least as a starter, he’ll be able to refine his secondary pitches.
Sorry for the anonymous-It’s dag5
Ryan Vogelsong is benefiting from the weird/unexplained fact that most pitcher that play full time in San Francisco have abnormally low NR/FB rates. Seriously. Fangraphs has been perplexed by the issue for years, but that right there is the reason for Vogelsongs great season.
That should be “HR/FB” rate, not “NR/FB” rate.
I was wondering why Aumont hadn’t pitched lately. Hopefully he recovers fully because he was pitching pretty well.
in today’s “On the Pharm” csnphilly.com A scout is quoted as saying Savery looks like he did when he was a freshman in college. If that is so he may be able to help the big club
Maybe some arm rest has helped Savery and hopefully that will help him add a few MPH, his control in a small sample size has been good.
I am also wishing good fortune to Mathieson, hopfully he can regain his touch that once made him a solid starter prospect.
Whether or not he does, I hope he can at least refine one of his off speed pitches and make himself a legitimate bullpen piece next year… for us or someone else.
Considering that Dallas Green has scouted both DeFratus and Aumont for use later this year, this is a setback for Aumont. I hope he is OK. They seem not to think it is serious. I also hope they are not rushing him. He needs another year in AAA just like Stutes did.
Probably not a surprise to anyone, but thought Id note that I was listening to 610 for a little earlier today and Gargano said Schwim, De Fratus, and Aumont are not legitimate prospects
They’re not. But possible quality mlb contributors they are.
That sounds like I’m undervaluing them… I’m not I think all three have a shot at the Phillies bullpen and having successful careers as relievers. My main point is when I see LEGIT prospect I think ACE, All Star, etc.
I don’t listen to WIP… I listen to 97.5 so I obviously didn’t hear what he said. I’m assuming what I said is what he meant… if it’s not then what I just said is useless.
I think any player who has a shot to legitimately help a major league team someday should be considered a “prospect”. There are just varying levels of how good they may be. Saying a guy is not a prospect is basically saying he’ll never make it out of the minor leagues for any meaningful amount of time.
Besides, I think De Fratus and Aumont each have a shot to be a back of the bullpen reliever. Good relief is very important, and the best ones do become all-stars. So even by your definition, I think those two guys are prospects.
It ended up being a rant where I lost my point. I was trying to decipher what Gargano would mean. My thinking was legit prospect is a term that is used for a guy who you build your franchise around. (Like a Harper, like a Singleton, Cosart, etc). The way I worded it was confusing.
WIP is like a circus show.
Gargano is clueless.
I couldn’t stand watching those guys (and Rhea Hughes) on DNL for the last week. Didn’t make me want to try the station out.
He says that until they get Amaro or Prof on the show, then its another tune.
I dont understand that statement, a relief pitcher isnt consider a legit prospect? i have seen these kids and schim is to me the real deal, defraus has a great arm, aumont is getting better, cant figure out what he meant,
Relief pitchers don’t have the value that a starting pitcher, or a catcher, or a short stop, etc have, for instance, if a guy’s ceiling is as a 7th or 8th inning guy. A closer is a little different, but generally they aren’t rated with the best prospects in baseball.
… was the point I was trying to make if you’re responding to what I wrote. I lost my point a little bit because of the way I worded my first post.
“Gargano is clueless” Its worse than that , One day he said the most important thing about the show is that HE was right. He deludes himself by not listening to the callers and being Mr Niceguy.
The morning show is a preteen sex outrage with no redeeming intellectual value .