Lance! Great stuff as always. This time last year Jeffrey Springs was getting all the hype and he lived up to all of it until the injury. Is there someone similar to that this year? Hopefully avoiding the injury part, though ;)
Good question, I've been putting out a few names I like for this season on my YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@LanceBroz). There's not a ton of deviation on those names I've mentioned from other analysts, but I'm definitely focusing on the guys that I think are adding things which projections might not fully be considering.
I'll admit, I don't have a Springs for this season, as in, I'm not 100% in on the guys below like I am him, but I think these guys could be on that path.
-Joe Ryan (new sinker helps 4S behind to righties, harder bullet slider helps bump the grade of that pitch a lot, no longer 60%+ 4S to righties, should soar)
-Bailey Ober (cutter tweak, good underlying peripherals, has similar control+changeup approach to Springs and now maybe this cutter tweak vaults him)
-Ryan Pepiot (new curve, should use it deep count to either handedness, I think control sticks)
-Hunter Brown (cutter tweaked in 2 pitches, should help behind in count damage, I think HR rate comes down)
-Erik Fedde (still don't think he's great, but he's probably a league average starter now based on his tweaks, which is valuable)
That's probably a fair order on how much I like each too. Writing about Brown and Ryan today, will be in tomorrow's post.
Great feedback. The confidence you had in Springs last year was convincing. He was pitching lights out, so that injury was a tough one!
I asked this question with Civale in mind. I didn't know if there are any similarities between him and Springs other than the Rays working their voodoo magic- lol. The trade capital they gave up for Civale also made me a little curious.
I like Civale for this season (I tend to like most TB pitchers, for obvious reasons, still like Taj). He's talked about more whiffs to RHH. I just don't think it's the same kind of upside Springs had unfortunately.
Lance! Great stuff as always. This time last year Jeffrey Springs was getting all the hype and he lived up to all of it until the injury. Is there someone similar to that this year? Hopefully avoiding the injury part, though ;)
Thanks for the great work!
Good question, I've been putting out a few names I like for this season on my YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@LanceBroz). There's not a ton of deviation on those names I've mentioned from other analysts, but I'm definitely focusing on the guys that I think are adding things which projections might not fully be considering.
I'll admit, I don't have a Springs for this season, as in, I'm not 100% in on the guys below like I am him, but I think these guys could be on that path.
-Joe Ryan (new sinker helps 4S behind to righties, harder bullet slider helps bump the grade of that pitch a lot, no longer 60%+ 4S to righties, should soar)
-Bailey Ober (cutter tweak, good underlying peripherals, has similar control+changeup approach to Springs and now maybe this cutter tweak vaults him)
-Ryan Pepiot (new curve, should use it deep count to either handedness, I think control sticks)
-Hunter Brown (cutter tweaked in 2 pitches, should help behind in count damage, I think HR rate comes down)
-Erik Fedde (still don't think he's great, but he's probably a league average starter now based on his tweaks, which is valuable)
That's probably a fair order on how much I like each too. Writing about Brown and Ryan today, will be in tomorrow's post.
Great feedback. The confidence you had in Springs last year was convincing. He was pitching lights out, so that injury was a tough one!
I asked this question with Civale in mind. I didn't know if there are any similarities between him and Springs other than the Rays working their voodoo magic- lol. The trade capital they gave up for Civale also made me a little curious.
Thanks, again!
I like Civale for this season (I tend to like most TB pitchers, for obvious reasons, still like Taj). He's talked about more whiffs to RHH. I just don't think it's the same kind of upside Springs had unfortunately.