Coach Fletcher's Wednesday Scouting Report
Wednesday, August 5
12:10 Seattle Mariners at Colorado Rockies
Taijuan Walker Goes to the Mound - Anything Can Happen
Taijuan Walker drives me crazy. It's like going to a restaurant in a foreign country that you have never heard of! You just don't know what to expect. That is Mr. Walker in a nutshell. Walker is 8-7 with a 4.73 era. You might wonder how he won 8 games with such an inflated era. In his last start he went the full 9 innings against the Twins allowing just 1 run and 1 hit (HR) while fanning 11. In his previous 2 starts he went a total of 10 1/3 innings allowing 10 runs, 8 earned, on 13 hits. He walked 3 and struck out 10. In the 2 starts before that he went 11 innings and gave up 11 runs and 13 hits and gave up 3 home runs. So in the 4 previous starts he went 21 1/3 innings allowing 19 earned runs and 26 hits. Prior to those 4 disasters he threw another 6 innings giving up just 1 hit and 0 runs. And before that he went 7 innings allowing 1 run and 7 hits. So your guess is as good as mine regarding his performance today. Walker opened as a -125 favorite.
4pm Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
New Pitcher Severino Goes for Bronx Bombers
Just who is Luis Severino? For one thing, he's the starting pitcher for the NYY today. He's spent parts of 4 seasons in the minor leagues. He has no experience in the majors. He's 6 feet tall and weighs 195 pounds and is only 21 years old. He's coming up from Scranton/Wilkes- Barre in the International League, at the Triple-A level. He went 7-0 there with a 1.91 era. Prior to that he was at Trenton in Double-A ball where he ws 2-2 with a 332 era in 2014. His K/BB ration dwindled as he moved up the ladder from A ball to Triple-a where it was about 3:1. Overall his minor league record was 23-11 with a 2.30 era in more than 300 innings. Severino has been considered the #1 prospect in the Yankee organization for the past 2 years. His name was bandied about in trade rumors for such names as Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto and David Price. But the Yankees refused to budge and include Severino in any trades. Severino opened as a -170 favorite which tells you what the linemakers think about him.
4:05 pm Minnosota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays
New Pitcher Duffey Goes for Twins
Unlike Severino, Duffy isn't getting any respect from the linemakers. He opened on the other side of -189 which quickly zoomed to -200. Like Severino, Duffy hasn't thrown a pitch in MLB regular season play. Duffey is right handed, stands 6'3" tall and weighs in at 220. He comes from Rochester in the Triple-A International League where he was 4-5 with a 2.72 era. Earlier Duffey was with Chattanooga in Double-A ball where he went 2-2 with a 2.56 era. Overall Duffey was 28-28 in 4 seasons of minor league ball with a 3.25 era. Duffey was drafted in the 5th round of the 2012 drafat out of Rice.
4:05 pm Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers
KC Batters Should Get Healthy at Boyd's Expense
Matt Boyd will make his first start for the Tigers after being acquired in a trade. Hopefully he will improve a great deal from his starts for Toronto. Boyd made 2 starts for Toronto and came away with a gigantic era of 14.85! All in all in MLB Biyd has thrown 6 2/3 innings in his 2 starts and given up 15 hits and 11 earned runs. A full 33% of those hits were 4 baggers. At least his whip was only 2.40. Boyd's K/BB ration was a nice 7:1. Boyd's major league struggles come as a little bit of a surprise because he had a good minor league record. He went 9-2 with a 1.62 era in the minors. At Triple-A Buffalo he had an era 0f 2.72. Unfortunately Boyd is going against Johnny Cueto. Cueto opened as a -170 favorite.
5:05 pm Houston Astros at Texas Rangers
Kazmir Brings Scoreless Streak to Globe Life Park
Scott Kazmir Brings a 14 2/3 inning scoreless streak when the Astros meet cross town rival Texas. Since being traded to the Astros from Oakland, Kazmir has yet to allow a run. His July era of 0.26 was the 3rd lowest in MLB history. Kazmire is 6-5 on the year with a 2.10 era which tells you what kind of support he got in Oakland. In his last 7 starts he has gone 3-1 with an era of just 0.93. In his firt 15 stars he went 4-5 with an era of 2.27. He's only allowed 1 earned run in his last 23 innings. Kazmir's era is 0.39 in his last 3 starts which doesn't bode well for the Rangers. Their starter, Nick Martinez, has a 7.63 era in his last 3 starts. Kazmir has shut out Texas twice this year, one for 7 innings and another for 8 innings. He only allowed 1 hit in each of those appearances. In his other start he went 6 innings giving up 3 hits and 3 runs on 2 round trippers.