We'll do the reliever 3-pack together.
#13 Dan Runzler, LHP. MLB: 3-0, 3.03, 32.2 IP, 20 BB, 37 K's.
Runzler is still below 50 IP at the MLB level, but I believe he has officially graduated based on appearances or time on the 25 man roster. I'm not really an expert on those rules. I'm going to count him as graduated, so he won't be on the 2011 list. Runzler overcame residual wildness and a mid-season strained oblique to pitch well in limited action for the Giants in 2010, one of many players the Giants probably wouldn't have won the WS without. It's probably not an omen, but Brian Wilson suffered an oblique strain early in his Giants career. Right now, Runzler is #3 on the LHP relief depth chart behind Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez. He will start the season in Fresno, possibly as a starting pitcher as insurance in case of injury. Dude has the stuff to be a closer someday. He just needs to tamp down the wildness just a bit more.
#14 Waldis Joaquin, RHP. MLB: 0-0, 9.64, 4.2 IP, 7 BB, 2 K's. AAA 1-2, 4.93, 34.2 IP, 22 BB, 33 K's.
Another guy with great velocity who has trouble finding the strike zone. Joaquin had a strange odyssey this season. He made the 25 man roster early on but couldn't throw strikes to save his life. Sent down to Fresno, he saw limited action including 5 starts with mixed results. After the season, he was waived from the 40 man roster to make room for players the Giants wanted to protect from the Rule 5 draft. He was claimed by the White Sox, but refused the claim and opted for free agency. I didn't even know a player could do that! I guess you learn something new every day! He eventually signed a minor league deal with the Giants. All this is interesting because the Giants are loaded to the gills with bullpen options. I mean, Waldis will not even be the first injury replacement option now that Guillermo Mota has signed a minor league deal. I wonder if the Giants promised him a chance to be a starter in Fresno and that's why he signed. That seems like his best bet at this point.
#15 Jason Stoffel, RHP. A+: 2-4, 4.80, 50.2 IP, 24 BB, 66 K's, 25 Saves, GO/AO= 1.77. AFL: 1-0, 5.27, 13.2 IP, 4 BB, 11 K's, GO/AO= 2.00.
Jason Stoffel seemed like a guy who could fast track to majors as a reliever with his closer experience in college. He got roughed up a bit in the Cal League, probably bumping him off the fast track. the K/9 is there, but the control/command is not. I saw him pitch twice. He does have a good hard fastball that might be a bit straight. He tends to rush things and try to work too fast. He pitched in bad luck both times I saw him, but tended to dig himself deeper once he got into trouble. He seemed to lose velocity rapidly in the second inning of work. Once the velocity went down, the lucky hits turned into screaming line drives. The second time I saw him he slowed was in the playoff finals against Ranch Cucamonga. He was more deliberate in this game and seemed to throw more and better quality off-speed stuff. His strong points are velocity, K/9 and ground ball rates. Negatives are poor control and stamina. IMO, the Giants need to make him work more innings at a time, maybe even as a starter to build his stamina and force him to diversify his pitch arsenal. Certainly still has a high ceiling, but lots of questions about whether he will ever reach it.
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Of these three, I have the most faith in Runzler figuring everything out and becoming an impact reliever. Second, I'd put Stoffel. His first full season produced a LOT of positives. AA next year should only help him gain confidence and get ready for a promotion to AAA. What happened to Juaquin's slider? Two years ago, BA rated it the best in the system.
ReplyDeleteYes, Joaquin seems to be hanging on by a thread right now.
ReplyDeleteStoffel? His fastball is not in the same category as Runzler or even Joaquin. 94 mph is the fastest I've seen on a stadium gun that seemed to be fairly accurate. It's not the type of fastball he can rely on as a single dominant pitch. He's going to have to put some serious secondary stuff with it. My thought would be to forget about fast tracking to the majors and put in a full season getting as many innings as possible and working on both command and secondary stuff.
My understanding is that rookie status only has to do with 50 IP, not time in any other measure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Runzler clearly the top of the three, and I like Joaquin's stuff still, so he's second for me too.
I think the Giants had 3 objectives with starting Runzler. First, give him more IP so that he can work on his control and walk less, plus he can also work on other pitches too. Second, in case we do need a starter, he would give us quality depth there. Third, I think they didn't want his MLB clock ticking, putting him in minors saves him for later when Affeldt, Ramirez, and Lopez are gone, plus you never know with the post-Wilson era, will he stay, heck, will the Giants want to keep him if he wants a boatload of dough for his free agent years (money does not seem to be a motivator for him, but you never know, being buddies with Zito; then again, the Machine took peanuts to come back).
OGC,
ReplyDeleteYup! Just looked up in BA and their criteria is still 50 IP regardless of service time. Looks like Runzler is still a prospect. Given his performance at the MLB level so far plus the impressiveness of his stuff, gotta think he deserves top 10 consideration, possibly even top 5. The only reason he is likely to start the season in the minors is the Giants pitching staff is so loaded. He would be the top lefty out of the pen on many MLB staffs right now.
BTW,
ReplyDeleteExciting write up by Baggs in BA about Jake Dunning. Also, Michael Main and Eric Surkamp both underwent arthroscopic hip surgery, which may explain a lot of things.