Don't recall much of this at all, and I don't recall him ever having elbow/shoulder issues. He had a very heavy workload his Sr year and they babied his arm afterwards. Then the suspension threw another wrench in his schedule. Then he had the oblique issue last year, the only time he's been on the DL, but that can have very little to do with mechanics-related injury. I did just watch his last 2 starts on milb.tv, and his delivery is all ****ed up (that's a technical scouting term). Very inconsistent with his plant foot. Gets his body all out of whack and leaning. Seemed to get frustrated easily. He's all over the place with his pitches, and then seemingly just tries to get something over the plate and it gets hammered. Velocity was fine. As somebody mentioned earlier, when you have that much body to keep in the right place, it's easier for small inconsistencies to throw other things out of kilter. They may have rushed him to AAA this year, I dunno, he threw all of 26 innings last year. He's never had a stretch of baseball like this in his life, so we'll see how he deals with it mentally. eta: as was also mentioned, he's only been pitching every 6-7 days and I can also see how that could screw with him, but he was going every 5-7 in '17 and he did just fine.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/jose-urquidy-takes-a-giant-step-forward/ Urquidy throwing 97 is pretty badass. Could be an elite multi-inning reliever.
I won’t worry about Whitley until he suffers a major injury or throws 100+ shitty innings. He’s super young, not on a normal schedule, and facing the best competition he’s ever faced. Give him a full year. The main negative thing is that it’s pretty obvious by now that Houston should not be counting on Whitley to contribute in the majors this year, so that ups the pressure on them to add another pitcher at the deadline.
"Urquidy uses a good mix and commands well,” Astros Director of Player Development Pete Putila said Thursday. “In the last month we’ve seen a big increase in his velocity. He was in the 92-93 mph range and now he’s sitting at 95-96, sometimes 97. “He’s checking every box possible.” Urquidy had Tommy John elbow surgery and missed the 2017 season. “Those were 12 long months when I wondered what would happen to me,” he said. “Maybe it all worked out for the best.” https://www.statesman.com/sports/20...eed-jose-urquidy-shine-for-round-rock-express Everybody should check the Statesman every few days for RR coverage. If people read it, we might get even more of it.
I don't know if this guy is legitimate or not, but he's worked with MLB players, which is more than many of us can say: http://chrisoleary.com. I especially took notice of these tweets since they appeared before Whitley's injury run. If these reports have any truth to them, and if Whitley is indeed adjusting to avoid an injury-riddled career in any way, I don't mind the current results. From what Buck is saying, it sure sounds like he's working on changes.
I haven't had a chance to see his last few starts. I would love to go back and compare them to his pre-suspension starts. If Whitley was expressly working on a modified delivery, the Astros would have leaked it. They did with Martes and even discuss it at the big league level. I am sure his mechanics are a complete mess....... the question is why? Is he distracted? Has he just fallen into a bad habit since the layoff? The fact the velocity is still there is encouraging... the last thing we need is him going the Tim Redding route where he throws 98-99 in the minors, and then when he can't get proper command, starts throwing 92 mph fastballs in the zone. Redding and Duckworth were two of the hardest players for the coaching staff. Redding was so bad the coaching staff literally just gave up and watched him go down in flames.
Chris O'Leary is one of the most miserable humans to ever exist. A top prospect needs Tommy John and he goes on this "I was right, see?" dirge
I think I remember reading in spring training that he was trying to tweak something with his delivery, I want to say it had to do with loading his hips? I'm too lazy to find the article now. I thought he was going to try pitching out of the windup after exclusively pitching from the stretch last year, is he still doing that?
Nice catch prospecthugger. Just the fact that he's saying it could be a two-season adjustment indicates how significant it is.
Enmanuel Valdez hit his first home run in the Carolina League... he now has 4 home runs this year between both Class A affiliates.
Arm fatigue makes sense. He ended last season, then pitched in AFL, then spring training and now a new season. The arm fatigue explanation could make sense from that perspective.
I’m not the biggest Tucker honk in the world, but sure- that’s possible, especially against a righty.
IF Springer is going on IR, and by all means I hope he doesn't (it sure didn't look good), Alvarez may have blown his shot at getting a temporary call up by going 1 for his last 17. Maybe he, Fisher, Straw or Tucker (the hottest bat) may get the call to take Springer's place, we'll see, then get sent back down when Altuve and/or Springer returns to avoid Super 2. Maybe it's Fisher given he's the most likely to be traded for that #3, but it sure would be fun to see Alvarez for a couple weeks.
Tucker is FAR more likely. 1. Go with the hot hand 2. No 40-man roster move required 3. Better defense, which the Astros REALLY value 4. Won't affect Super 2/arbitration 5. Already has his feet somewhat wet in MLB
