{"id":4470,"date":"2012-09-12T11:47:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T15:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4470"},"modified":"2012-11-15T10:08:06","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T15:08:06","slug":"harrisburgaa-pitching-staff-year-in-review-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4470","title":{"rendered":"Harrisburg\/AA Pitching Staff Year in Review; 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<dl id=\"attachment_2360\">\n<dt>\n<div id=\"attachment_4480\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RosenbaumDan_hburg2012-via-wn.com_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4480\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4480\" title=\"RosenbaumDan_hburg2012 via wn.com\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RosenbaumDan_hburg2012-via-wn.com_-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RosenbaumDan_hburg2012-via-wn.com_-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RosenbaumDan_hburg2012-via-wn.com_.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danny Rosenbaum led the Senators staff in 2012.  Photo via wn.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=2367\">Click here for the 2011 version <\/a>of this post, for a look at how things were last year.<\/p>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the AA version of the 2012 season pitching staff review.\u00a0 I&#8217;m going down the line from top to bottom; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4462\">AAA is here<\/a>.\u00a0 As with the other reviews, we&#8217;ll look at the main rotation, the substitute and spot starters, then focus on key relievers.\u00a0 Rehab appearances are not discussed.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Harrisburg starters<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 The rotation started the season   with Gilliam, Demny, Mandel, Rosenbaum and Ballard.\u00a0 Lets see how the original rotation and other primary starters fared.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Robert Gilliam<\/strong><\/span>, the &#8220;forgotten man&#8221; in the mega <strong>Gio Gonalez<\/strong> trade in December, made the opening day start for Harrisburg but didn&#8217;t live up to his billing.\u00a0 He got 13 starts before going to the bullpen, and then eventually getting demoted to Potomac.\u00a0 Season AA numbers: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=571707\">3-7, 6.38 ERA<\/a>.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season:<\/strong><\/em> The team likes him as a starter; i&#8217;m guessing they give him another whirl in the AA rotation.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Paul Demny<\/strong> <\/span>took a step back in his progressive career with the Nats, going <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=518611\">6-8 with a 5.43 ERA<\/a> in 23 starts before moving primarily to the bullpen at the end of the season.\u00a0 He&#8217;s still very young (just turned 23) but he&#8217;s finishing his 5th pro season and 2013 will be his &#8220;walk year.&#8221;\u00a0 Interestingly, the Nats named Demny one of their <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/mlb\/events\/afl\/club.jsp?team_id=527\">AFL participants<\/a>, an odd selection based on his performance this season.<em><strong> Outlook for next season:<\/strong><\/em> as with Gilliam, I&#8217;d be surprised if Demny remains a starter.\u00a0 AA bullpen as a swingman unless the team needs a 5th starter.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jeff Mandel<\/strong> <\/span>started the year in the Harrisburg rotation and put in 11 middling starts before getting moved to AAA to replace an equally ineffective <strong>Mitch Atkins<\/strong>.\u00a0 This marked the third straight season he had started in AA and moved to AAA, a sure sign of an organizational arm who filled in where needed.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season:<\/strong><\/em> see AAA post.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Danny Rosenbaum<\/strong> <\/span>was supposed to be the Ace, the Star of this rotation.\u00a0 He was the highest-ranked prospect and was the Organization&#8217;s best starting pitching prospects.\u00a0 He didn&#8217;t really live up to his billing, going <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=572095\">8-10 with a 3.94 ERA<\/a> and a 1.31 whip in 26 starts.\u00a0 He looked great his first 10 starts and then struggled the rest of the season.\u00a0 He turns 25 in the off-season and is Rule-5 Eligible.\u00a0 I think the team has to protect him.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>Added to 40-man roster ahead of the Rule-5 draft but back in AA to start 2013, with an eye on a mid-season promotion to AAA.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Mike Ballard<\/strong> <\/span>was a Minor League Free Agent signed from Baltimore (after failing to make it in the Houston organization after 5 minor league seasons).\u00a0 You would have thought he&#8217;d have been in AAA but started the season in the AA rotation.\u00a0 After 12 up-and-down starts he got absolutely pounded on June 13th, hit the DL with &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.pennlive.com\/patriotnewssports\/2012\/06\/harrisburg_senators_endure_hef.html\">elbow discomfort<\/a>&#8221; and has been there ever since.\u00a0\u00a0 Final season stats: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=453040\">1-5, 4.31 ERA<\/a>.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season<\/strong><\/em>: released.\u00a0 You hate to cut a guy with a season-ending injury, but business is business.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Ryan Perry<\/strong><\/span>, astutely acquired for <strong>Collin Balester<\/strong> (who failed to impress in Detroit and was DFA&#8217;d earlier this year) in spring training and he competed for the MLB bullpen.\u00a0 He featured briefly, was ineffective and was optioned to AAA.\u00a0 The team took a look at his repertoire and decided to try to convert him to a starter in AA.\u00a0 The results?\u00a0 Pretty good; a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=543634\">2.84 ERA and 1.11 whip<\/a> in 13 AA starts.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>here&#8217;s the problem with Perry; he&#8217;s out of options for 2013.\u00a0 He was added to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballprospectus.com\/compensation\/cots\/?page_id=150\">40-man roster in April 2009<\/a>, and burned options in 2009, 2011 and this year.\u00a0\u00a0 So he has to either make the MLB club or be DFA&#8217;d at the end of spring training.\u00a0 So look for Perry to compete for the #5 starter job or be considered trade bait in the off-season.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Kevin Pucetas<\/strong> <\/span>is another Minor League Free Agent who probably was too experienced for AA (as with Ballard); he spent the previous 3 seasons in the Pacific Coast League.\u00a0 For Harrisburg in 2012 he was excellent out of the pen early (posting a 1.59 era in 34 relief innings) and then was relatively mediocre in 12 starts (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=501879\">5-5 with a 4.81 ERA<\/a>).\u00a0 You have to think he was merely filler for a gap in pitcher development in this system and will be looking for work elsewhere for 2013.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>with another organization.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Trevor Holder<\/strong> <\/span>finally looked like he was putting things together early in Potomac, earned a mid-season promotion to Harrisburg and put up a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=457774\">3.78 ERA in 10 starts<\/a> (9 actual starts plus a 10th game where the &#8220;starter&#8221; went one inning on a rehab assignment).\u00a0 The knock on Holder was that he was a total signability pick in 2009 after the team spent big on <strong>Strasburg<\/strong> and <strong>Storen<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is good to see him putting some things together.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>AA rotation.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Ryan Tatusko <\/strong><\/span>got 8 starts in 27 appearances in a long-man\/spot-starter\/swingman role for the team.\u00a0 He was slightly better as a reliever versus a starter (<a href=\"http:\/\/ryantatusko.wordpress.com\/2012\/06\/03\/cmon-man-its-just-a-game\/\">his splits showing a 2.72 ERA<\/a> with greater than a k\/inning as a reliever, a 4.50 ERA in his 8 starts).\u00a0 I have always liked Tatusko (not the least reason of which is that he <a href=\"http:\/\/ryantatusko.wordpress.com\/2012\/06\/03\/cmon-man-its-just-a-game\/\">writes a blog<\/a>) and was eager to see him contributed after he came over (with <strong>Tanner Roark<\/strong>) in the <strong>Cristian Guzman <\/strong>trade.\u00a0 But his time with the organization may be at an end; he just finished his 6th minor league season and he took a step back with the organization.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season<\/strong><\/em>: I thought he&#8217;d have been in AAA by now; perhaps 2013 is the year.\u00a0 AAA swingman.<\/li>\n<li>Other guys who got spot starts here and there (non-rehab):\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Brian Broderick<\/strong><\/span>: the team&#8217;s former rule-5 pick never made it with St. Louis, and when he was released the Nats picked him up.\u00a0 He got a handful of appearances down the stretch and finished the season with 3 starts.\u00a0 The team clearly likes the guy and seems willing to give him a chance.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>AAA rotation.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Austin Bibens-Dirkx<\/strong><\/span>, he had a couple starts early before getting promoted up to AAA, where he probably should have started the season based on his experience. \u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>(as copied from the AAA post): with another organization.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Adam Olbrychowski <\/strong><\/span>got called up to make the last start of the season.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season<\/strong><\/em>: see High-A post.<\/li>\n<li>Of note: <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Chien-Ming Wang<\/strong> <\/span>made no less than NINE rehab starts in AA (and fifteen overall minor league rehab starts).\u00a0 You can argue whether or not the organization was &#8220;bending&#8221; the DL\/service time rules or not; either way I can&#8217;t see how Wang stays with this team for 2013 and beyond.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Harrisburg Relievers<\/strong><\/em>: taking a look at the relief corps at the end of the season.\u00a0 They used an awful lot of them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Marcos Frias <\/strong><\/span>finishes his 6th pro season taking a step back from his 2011 numbers in high-A.\u00a0 On the year, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=506728\">4.82 ERA in 65 1\/3<\/a> relief innings.\u00a0\u00a0 He&#8217;s still very young, being a DSL graduate and yet to turn 24.\u00a0 Technically he&#8217;s rule-5 eligible but its hard to see a team taking a flier on a RH reliever without knock-out stuff.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season<\/strong><\/em>: back in AA bullpen.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Erik Davis<\/strong> <\/span>was generally excellent all season for Harrisburg, posting a 2.52 ERA in 64 1\/3 relief innings.\u00a0 He earned a late season promotion to AAA.\u00a0 The former starter and trade bounty for <strong>Alberto Gonzalez<\/strong> technically is rule-5 eligible but the risk of losing him seems slight.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>AAA bullpen, looking to become the next <strong>Christian Garcia<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Patrick McCoy<\/strong> <\/span>had a pretty good season out of the pen in Harrisburg; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=519003\">7-3 with a 3.70 era<\/a> in 58 1\/3 innings.\u00a0 He was rule-5 eligible in 2011 but didn&#8217;t get picked up.\u00a0 Now he&#8217;s one year from being a Minor League Free Agent.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>AA or perhaps AAA bullpen, whoever needs a left hander.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Hector Nelo<\/strong><\/span>, who was released by Texas in April of 2011, finished the year with strong numbers as the team&#8217;s primary closer.\u00a0 He had a 2.73 era and 16 saves in 52 2\/3s innings over 47 appearances.\u00a0 More importantly his K\/9 rates really jumped from 2011. \u00a0 He&#8217;s the kind of big-time arm that <strong>Mike Rizzo<\/strong> loves (he can reportedly hit 100mph) and should get some looks going foward.\u00a0 He&#8217;s tied to the organization for one more season.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>the closer in AAA.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Rafael Martin<\/strong> <\/span>was as unbelievably bad statistically in 2012 as he was good in 2011.\u00a0 How do you go from a 1.65 ERA across 2 organizations in 2011 to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?pos=P&amp;sid=milb&amp;t=p_pbp&amp;pid=514669\">6.69 ERA in 2012<\/a>?\u00a0 Perhaps the answer is either a late-season injury or fatigue; in his last four appearances in AA this season he gave up 11 earned runs; the 6 appearances before that just one.\u00a0 He&#8217;s no spring chicken though; he&#8217;s already 28 and is far far too old for AA at this point.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season<\/strong>: <\/em>bullpen in AAA and hoping for a rebound to 2011&#8217;s numbers.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Cameron Selik <\/strong><\/span>pitched 1\/3 of an inning in AA before a season-ending injury.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for next season: <\/strong><\/em>See High-A writeup.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Pat Lehman <\/strong><\/span>got promoted to AAA.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Joe Testa <\/strong><\/span>got demoted to High-A.\u00a0 See those write-ups for outlooks.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other Relievers who appeared in AA of note<\/strong> (not including Rehabbing MLBers): <em><strong>Outlook for next season<\/strong><\/em> for all of these guys seems the same: either continued &#8220;org guy&#8221; middle reliever or minor league FA in another organization.\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Zech Zinicola <\/strong><\/span>came back to the team after being rule-5 drafted in late 2009, and remains an organizational arm.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jimmy Barthmaier <\/strong><\/span>split time between AA and high-A.\u00a0 Org arm.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Corey VanAllen <\/strong><\/span>was demoted down from AAA and then got hurt in July.\u00a0\u00a0 Org arm, maybe a loogy in AA again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Harrisburg struggled to find a good consistent group of starters.\u00a0 My guesses on what role these guys will play next season list too many guys getting dumped into the bullpen, so it may be interesting to see who gets another shot at starting in 2013.\u00a0 Unfortunately these injuries and inconsistencies cost the team a near-certain 2nd half playoff spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Click here for the 2011 version of this post, for a look at how things were last year. Here&#8217;s the AA version of the 2012 season pitching staff review.\u00a0 I&#8217;m going down the line from top to bottom; AAA is here.\u00a0 As with the other reviews, we&#8217;ll look at the main rotation, the substitute and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[59,909,902,232,20,37,103,101,84,1219,851,61,385,64,89,82,66,903,56,673,129,63,908,57,69,672,543,73,55,88],"class_list":["post-4470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minorspitching","tag-adam-olbrychowski","tag-alberto-gonzalez","tag-austin-bibens-dirkx","tag-brian-broderick","tag-cameron-selik","tag-chien-ming-wang","tag-christian-garcia","tag-collin-balester","tag-corey-vanallen","tag-cristian-guzman","tag-danny-rosenbaum","tag-erik-davis","tag-gio-gonzalez","tag-hector-nelo","tag-jeff-mandel","tag-jimmy-barthmaier","tag-joe-testa","tag-kevin-pucetas","tag-marcos-frias","tag-mike-ballard","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-pat-lehman","tag-patrick-mccoy","tag-paul-demny","tag-rafael-martin","tag-robert-gilliam","tag-ryan-perry","tag-ryan-tatusko","tag-trevor-holder","tag-zech-zinicola"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4470"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5182,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4470\/revisions\/5182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}