Cosart Shut Down For the Year

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The Phillies announced last evening that Jared Cosart will be shut down for the rest of the season after suffering from continued elbow soreness.  He last pitched on June 26, and visited with Dr. James Andrews, a week or two ago.  The good news from the visit with Dr. Andrews, is that the elbow does not require surgery. Cosart, 20, was 7-3 with a 3.79 ERA in his 14 starts this year.  Opponents hit just .224 against him, and he was striking out well over a hitter per each inning pitched.  The Phils hope to have him ready for the Florida Instructional League in the Fall.

10 thoughts on “Cosart Shut Down For the Year”

  4. Since Tom mentioned player rankings, I thought I’d re-post my comment from the August 4 thread on Julio Rodriguez (apologies since this is slightly off-topic).

    I look at Julio Rodriguez as a top 10 prospect. Here is James’ evaluation of Rodriguez in his preseason top 30:

    Green Lights: Rodriguez was an obscure 8th round pick out Puerto Rico in 2008, and though the Phillies have been cautious with him, I see a lot to like. He has a very projectable pitcher’s frame, at 6’4/195 pounds with long arms and legs, and that should help him add a bit of muscle and improve an already average fastball. His secondary offerings are raw, as is his game in general, but he did manage to post excellent K/BB numbers in 2009, striking out 10.2/9 and walking just 2.6/9, both improvements over his brief 2008 debut.

    Red Flags: Rodriguez has thrown just 60 innings in 2 years, and is still very young. His success came as he was repeating the GCL, but he was age appropriate, so its not a huge concern. The big issue that jumps off the page is the home run rate, as he allowed 6 in just 49 IP, a 1.1/9 rate, and a big issue. The GCL is a very pitcher friendly environment, and the HR rate coupled with the low GB% is a worry going forward. His curveball was very soft and loopy when he was drafted, something that he’ll have to improve.

    Final Comments: When trying to settle on the last guy for the list, I tossed around a bunch of names, but I settled on Rodriguez for a few reasons. One is the quick arm action and long limbs. From the video, it looks like he’s releasing the ball on top of home plate, which adds some deception for him. Admittedly I’m no expert when it comes to pitching mechanics, but when I see a pitcher throw a baseball, my mind says to me either “that looks like it will work” or “that doesn’t really seem to add up”, and I stick with it until proven otherwise. I also picked him for the last spot because he is very young, and he’s shown swing and miss stuff at a young age. He has a long way to go, but I think he obviously has a shot to remain a starter. He has a solid pitcher’s frame, he could add a bit of muscle and velocity over the next 2 years, and if his secondary offerings are even average, he profiles as a #3/4/5 starter. Its obviously way too early to tell, and he could easily flame out, but its the last spot on the list, so I don’t really care, I’m going with a personal favorite.
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    Now let’s look at the two red flag areas – HR rate and GB%. This season he’s cut his HR rate in half, down to .55 HR/9 IP. In addition, his GO/AO rate has jumped from 0.38 in ’08 and 0.65 in ’09 to 1.20 across two levels in 2010 (1.14 in Lakewood). Meantime, he’s averaging 11+ K/9 IP (close to 14/9 IP at Lakewood)!

    Let’s compare those stats (and more) to Brody Colvin (appropriate, since Colvin is actually two weeks older than Rodriguez).

    Colvin:
    .56 HR/9 IP
    7.7 K/9 IP
    1.15 GO/AO
    1.277 WHIP
    3.46 ERA
    .246 OP AVG

    Rodriguez:
    .55 HR/9 IP
    11.2 K/9 IP
    1.20 GO/AO
    1.133 WHIP
    2.01 ERA
    .196 OP AVG

    The one caveat is that Colvin has logged nearly twice as many innings as Rodriguez this season (112.0 IP vs. 65.1 IP) – which is why I would still have Colvin in my top 5, as opposed to Rodriguez in the back of my top 10. I don’t think any pitcher has improved his standing in the org more than Rodriguez this season.

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  5. I thought the Cosart decision was made a good 2 weeks ago…not surprising that they’d shut him down to prevent an injury. He’s already pitched a good number of innings this year anyway.

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  9. TJC, you may want to wait before putting Rodriguez in your top 10. I was at the 9 strikeout game in Lakewood. For Rodriguez to move into top 10 territory, or anywhere close, he is going to need to add some significant velocity. He had good command and a good changeup, but his fastball was consistently in the 86-88 range. I think he touched 90 once, but he was mostly in the range above. He fooled a lot of hitters with his changeup, and had good command and control, but I think he is going to need more velocity to succeed as he moves forward.

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