The discredit can probably stem from a pitcher having no semblance of command, control, or in Ruppenthal's case, either of those aspects. I bet that 6 BB/9 rate did a lot to wash out his not-bad Stuff+ rating... just like the 500,000 pitchers before him who couldn't crack the big league level or crashed out in AA/AAA because they couldn't command.
Loperfido hit a HR in SL’s season opener last night. Arrighetti threw 4.1 scoreless innings but walked 5.
Misael Tamarez had a familiar scene tonight, got thru 4 looking great striking guys out with high 90s heat, then it all fell completely apart. But Loperfido, damn.
Tamarez has shown this limitation often enough to prove it is real. But I think there is a lot of value in a long reliever that can reliably give you 3 or 4 innings. The Astros are 0 and 3 in games that could have been wins if the starters had been followed by a player like Tamarez. And Loperfido, damn!
Loperfido started out on fire last year and cooled off as the year progressed. Maybe he is an early starter.
The Astros apparently acquired OF Austin Murr, the Tigers’ 2021 6th round pick. He was a league average bat as a 24 year old in High A last season. I saw a note on fangraphs where he has an extremely low swinging strike rate. He hasn’t shown much power or defensive value, but does carry an extremely low strikeout rate. There was no transaction log of Murr being released or traded by the Tigers, just that he had been assigned to the FCL roster.
That's the one. If it did indeed happen, it happened last Thursday. I'm guessing there was something wonky on MiLB's transactions page that resulted in him being assigned to the Astros.
Singleton, definitionally, underperforms. I suspect that the Astros want Loperfido to play everyday in AAA and will get called up if the Astros have an injury at first or OF. Worst case scenario is Loperfido gets called up August / September for the playoff stretch run, waiving Singleton if needed.
Loperfido came into last season as a fringey prospect. His 2023 moved him up a lot, and he came into this year as a guy who projects as a solid bench player or fringey everyday OF, but with potential to be a good everyday player who has an outside shot to be a star. His spring and the first 3 games are not enough to change that, and certainly not enough to call him up to displace Abreu; Singleton’s role is not big enough to warrant starting the clock on an important prospect. Loperfido needs 150+ pa where he continues to rake: >10% bb, <25% k, >.250 ISO, >130 wRC+. He gets to that point, he will project as a core piece who warrants moving guys around to make room for.
