Quote from MrPadre19 on May 4, 2022, 4:13 am

What has gotten in to Esteury?

What a start to the season!

Do we know if he made some changes to his approach or is this just small sample size or?

I know he’s had some good stretches in the past and shown his skills…..but this is something else altogether.

 

Quote from fenn68 on May 4, 2022, 5:05 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on May 4, 2022, 4:13 am

What has gotten in to Esteury?

What a start to the season!

Do we know if he made some changes to his approach or is this just small sample size or?

I know he’s had some good stretches in the past and shown his skills…..but this is something else altogether.

 

Probably a bit of both (only 22 games) but there was a report that he has changed his approach. He always had the very quick bat offensively and elite speed (basestealing). Now it seems the Padres are locking him in CF and that should increase his ML potential with the Padres. He has just turned 23, so still in the prospect / development zone.

Have to really hope he has turned the corner and retains enough of his current success to be a future factor (maybe 2023) with the Padres … even in a bench role. Padres … if he remains hot … likely will move him to EP mid-season to get him closer. Plus that could facilitate Hassell’s promotion to SA.

Quote from Randy Manese on May 4, 2022, 12:07 pm

By far the best effort by Ryan Weathers this year.  Didn't start out that way with a double to dead center in the 1st and then a HR in the 2nd inning given up, but after that he kept the ball down with virtually all his pitches and got through 7 innings.  When he has his stuff down rather than belt to letters high, he is much more effective.  He bounced a few around the plate but that is much better than the ball bouncing against the outfield wall.

Also, Campy looked good at the plate.  He always seems to overswing when he gets to the majors but he got two line drive singles in this game before he looked like he tried to hit one out in his last appearance and struck out.  When he stays under control, he is a very good hitter.

Quote from MrPadre19 on May 5, 2022, 6:18 pm

Probably because we’ve traded so many prospects away but suddenly I have all these questions about prospects I know very little about.

I keep pretty good tabs on our prospects….but this year we’ve already had some good starts by a few pitchers I am not very familiar with.

Todays topic…..Noel Vela.

28th round pick and 23 years old in High A,but man….is he dominating this year.

He’s been pretty good each year since drafted…..but 2022 is crazy.

Today he went 5 innings giving up 3 hits with zero walks and 10 K’s against a good team…..I’d say that will work.

Who’s got the scoop on this guy…… Randy?

 

Quote from MrPadre19 on May 5, 2022, 7:53 pm

Great start for Baez today down on the Farm.

But the line of the day is from Esteury Ruiz.

0 for 1 with 5 runs scored!😳

 

Quote from Randy Manese on May 6, 2022, 9:28 am

Didn't get a chance to watch Vela yesterday, but I'll go back and check out why he was so effective on MiLB.  I was watching Baez and he did have a decent outing.  He got 5 K's on 9 swings/misses and also had 7 called strikes and 4 foul ball strikes.  Seems like batters were having trouble getting the barrel on the ball when it comes downhill from that 6:08 plane.  There were, however, 3 hard hit ball - 2 off the right field wall and one in the left centerfield gap.  Baez didn't give up anything out of the infield his last time.  I don't think he can be a starter, but he can give us some long relief in time.  Probably needs to be built up so he can go every 3rd day as the long man - he has much better stuff than Crismatt.  He has also not given up a walk yet, which shows me his command is solid going into the next few times on the mound.  Maybe early June?

Quote from Randy Manese on May 6, 2022, 12:11 pm

Reviewed the Ft. Wayne game and Vela's outing.  Very atypical in that Vela normally has problems with command as evidenced by averaging almost 6 walks per 9 innings over his minor league career.  Yesterday, didn't walk anyone and I believe he fell behind in the count only 2-3 times in 5 innings.  What has different may be that he was very heavy on breaking pitches, curveballs and change-ups - seemed like 75-80% of the time.  His fastball velocity is probably in the low 90's and when he tried to reach back and get a little extra it usually sailed high.

Another unusual aspect of this game was that he had more called strikes (16) than swing/miss strikes (15); he also had 12 foul ball strikes.  6 of his K's came on swing/miss while 4 were on called strikes.  He spotted his fastball well on the corners and that's where many of the curveball and change-ups also landed, down and away.  Not hit hard all day.  Since this game was so different from his history as a pitcher, need to see if he can repeat it before getting too excited about yesterday.

Quote from Randy Manese on May 7, 2022, 10:11 am

I'm getting more excited about an early Jose Castillo appearance in the majors.  He gave up one unearned run yesterday, but the quality of the outing should be noted.  One of the hits was a seeing eye single that got between the 3rd baseman and shortstop - major league players would have made that play.  The other hit was a bloop that just hung up long enough to get over the infield.  All his outs were easy grounders to the infield and the error that eventually allowed the run was also an easy grounder to 3rd that was thrown away.

Castillo was very effective with his breaking stuff and was never behind in the count.  His fastball looked like it was around 94-95 but he used it sparingly, probably because he didn't need it, or just to set up his breaking balls.  It seems like he's very close and going more than 1 inning yesterday indicates to me that he might be ready to replace Hill sooner than later.

Quote from LynchMob on May 10, 2022, 5:35 pm

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/hot-sheet-chat-51022/

HansQ (Shanghai):

Came across a familiar but under-the-radar name, what caused the sudden breakout of Esteury Ruiz? Is it a true breakout or mixed with good luck and age advantage?

Geoff Pontes: It looks legit, I mentioned it this weekend in my fantasy article but he's cut his chase rate (rate of pitches he swings at outside the zone) by 30%. That's a very real change, not sure he's an everyday guy for a contender but a solid regular for a second division team if he hits.