A s minor league notebook Lugnuts pitchers putting up impressive numbers Lazaro Armenteros is red hot in Stockton
A s minor-league notebook Lugnuts pitchers putting up impressive numbers Lazaro Armenteros is red-hot in Stockton - The Athletic
1. You have to be ready for the hesi leg kick.
2. You have to be ready for the breaking stuff. Ryan January wasn't ready. — Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) The A’s are also high on the potential of left-hander Brady Basso, who was a reliever at Oklahoma State but has moved into a starter’s role with the A’s. A rough outing on Wednesday pumped his ERA up to 4.61, but Basso has pitched better than that number thus far, striking out 16 and walking just two in 13 2/3 innings. A tall southpaw with a smooth delivery reminiscent of former A’s starter Mark Mulder’s, Basso has three above-average offerings with his two-seam fastball, curveball and cutter. The focus for him this season, in addition to getting used to starting, is to improve his changeup. Advertisement “Then he’d have a great four-pitch mix at the major-league level,” Schulze said. “And if starting doesn’t work out, how many guys that you’ve seen over the years where you’ve got a guy that has that good four-pitch mix and you always say, if anything he can go to the bullpen if it doesn’t work out. But in the meantime, we’re going to get him as many innings as we possibly can to get him that experience so that he can get to the big-league level as quickly as possible.” Right-hander Shohei Tomioka came in after Basso on Wednesday. Making his U.S. professional debut after signing out of Japan before the 2020 season, Tomioka has been impressive thus far, with a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings. He’s struck out only seven but has walked just two with a fastball-cutter-curveball-changeup pitch mix. One of the few pitchers on the Lugnuts’ staff with previous experience throwing more than 100 innings in a season is Reid Birlingmair, who threw 123 innings for Schulze’s Beloit team in 2019. He’s averaged a tick more than five innings a start thus far and has a 3.54 ERA and a 15:8 K:BB in 20 1/3 innings. Rafael Kelly, who split the 2019 season between Low A and High A, is another starter who has been allowed to go five innings in two outings already. He has a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with a 15:6 K:BB. The A’s spent three of their five draft picks in 2020 on college pitchers. They traded one (Dane Acker) over the winter and sent the other two (Jeff Criswell and Stevie Emanuels) to Lansing to begin their pro careers. Criswell went down with a shoulder injury after his first start and is back in Arizona rehabbing, but Emanuels is off to a solid start to his pro career. His four runs allowed in four innings on Sunday bumped his ERA to 4.32, but he has 19 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings and opposing batters are hitting .203 against him. Emanuels, the A’s fifth-round pick, has tinkered with his arsenal since leaving the University of Washington. According to Schulze, Emanuels added a curveball. “(It) is a brand new pitch for him and I think he came up with something like a 2,900 spin rate on that thing. It’s become a really nice wipeout for him,” Schulze said. With the addition of Emanuels’ new breaking ball, the A’s are toying with the idea of having him change his slider into a cut-fastball that will compliment his two-seam fastball. He also throws a four-seam fastball and is working on a changeup. Emanuels has added a few ticks of velocity since college, as well. “He throws the ball pretty good. He’s 92-95,” Schulze said. “If he can get a little back-and-forth going with that changeup, once that happens, he’ll be able to go through the system.” Right-hander Colin Peluse has a 5.51 ERA in 16 1/3 innings, but nearly all of that damage came in one outing on May 22 when he allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings. In his other three outings, he’s allowed two earned runs in 10 innings. The A’s like the potential of the big right-hander, who can touch 98 mph with his fastball and has a swing-and-miss slider. The Lugnuts’ bullpen has been dominant, thanks in large part to the quartet of Jack Weisenburger, Aiden McIntyre, Charlie Hall and Bryce Nightengale. Weisenburger is emerging as one of the A’s top relief prospects. The Michigan alum has an 0.93 ERA in 9 2/3 innings and a ridiculous 22:2 K:BB. He’s allowed just eight baserunners in total all season and has two saves. Since his pro debut season in 2019, Weisenburger has added an effective changeup to go along with his mid-90s fastball, sharp slider and big breaking curveball. “He’s got a three- or four-miles an hour off his slider with his curveball, so he can go ahead and attack a guy, get ahead with any pitch he wants to, and if he falls behind, he can throw the changeup, and if he wants to he can go ahead show him a fastball and show him a curveball and then use this wipeout slider that he has off of his curveball and not have to show it so early. Heck, he’s got four major-league pitches,” Schulze said. McIntyre was a starter in 2019 on Schulze’s Beloit staff. He led the Midwest League in strikeouts but also walked 76 in 112 2/3 innings. Schulze says McIntyre has become more of a pitcher rather than just a thrower this season out of the bullpen, and the results have been impressive. He allowed his first earned run of the season on Saturday in his 10th outing and has an 0.69 ERA in 13 innings with a 21:3 K:BB. His best pitch is his fastball, which sits 93-95 and has a high vertical break, but he’s swapped his split-finger for an effective changeup and has developed a swing-and-miss curveball. “He’s really come into his own this year. I think he’s taken some ownership of being in the bullpen,” Schulze said. Hall, who set an NCAA Division II record by striking out 22 batters in a game for Tusculum in 2019, has a 2.60 ERA and a 20:4 K:BB in 17 1/3 innings, while Nightengale has a 1.88 ERA in 14 1/3 innings with a 20:5 K:BB. Right-hander Michael Danielak is also off to a solid start with a 3.55 ERA and a 14:3 K:BB in 12 2/3 innings. Left-hander Dalton Sawyer is another weapon out of the Lansing bullpen. The 27-year-old hadn’t pitched in a game since 2017 thanks to an elbow injury that cost him all of the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He allowed four runs in his first three innings but has allowed just one run since and has a 3.86 ERA and a 19:4 K:BB in 11 2/3 innings. Schulze says Sawyer is back to throwing in the 92-94 mph range with a good changeup and the plus slider that was always his best pitch.
A s minor-league notebook Lugnuts pitchers putting up impressive numbers Lazaro Armenteros is red-hot in Stockton
May 31, 2021 In an age where pitching has become less philosophical and more scientific, the A’s organizational mantra for their pitchers is straightforward — throw strikes early in the count, don’t issue walks and avoid damage. Fastball command is still the organization’s biggest focus for their pitchers, followed by developing a good “back-and-forth” game by pairing that well-commanded fastball with an effective offspeed pitch, often a changeup. Advertisement One month into the 2021 season, the High-A Lansing Lugnuts staff is executing that philosophy extremely effectively. The staff, coached by longtime A’s minor-league pitching coach Don Schulze, currently sits at the top of the High-A Central league with a 3.14 team ERA. They also lead the league in strikeouts (256 in 211 innings pitched) and have the second-fewest walks (71). Their 1.23 WHIP is also best in the league. “These guys have done a great job with that. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Schulze said over the phone on Thursday. Schulze, who joined the A’s player development staff in 2006, spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons as the A’s Low-A pitching coach in the Midwest League. Most of the teams that make up what is now known as the High-A Central were part of the Midwest League. While the level is theoretically one rung higher on the development chart, Schulze says the quality of play has been more along the lines of what he saw in 2019 in the Midwest League thus far. That said, he says he’s been impressed with how well prepared his pitchers were in returning from the missed 2020 season. “They did a really good job in their offseason for a whole year,” he said. “I think they really worked hard. They had some areas that they needed to work and I think they really got after it and improved, whether it be just the fastball command or, for a certain percentage of these guys, the weight training. Some guys pumped up their velocities.” One of those pitchers who saw velocity gains was right-hander Seth Shuman, the A’s sixth-round pick in 2019. Shuman has a 1.69 ERA in 10 2/3 innings with an 18:3 K:BB in four outings thus far. “He used to be a 91-92, but now he’s 91-95 now,” Schulze said. “He used to be a fastball-slider, let’s work on the changeup guy. All of a sudden, he came up with a really good curveball too. His slider’s gotten sharper, he’s come up with a really good 12-6 curveball and his changeup is quality as well. Advertisement “I think he was a real pleasant surprise in spring training. He came out and everybody noticed right away. His command was really good and then his slider got better. It went from an average major-league slider to a real wipeout pitch. He’s put himself in a really good position.” Shuman is part of a six-man starting rotation that also includes two piggyback “starters” who come out of the bullpen on assigned days for longer appearances. The expanded rotation is meant to manage the inning loads for a staff that didn’t pitch in 2020 due to the canceled minor-league season. Shuman’s piggyback partner on Thursday was right-hander Richard Guasch, whom the A’s signed out of Cuba in July 2018. He spent the rest of the 2018 season in the Dominican Summer League and then pitched most of 2019 with Schulze on the Low-A Beloit staff. He flashed an above-average fastball/slider combination, but the A’s felt he was missing a true offspeed pitch. He’s been working on a changeup that Schulze says is showing promise. “All three of (his pitches) can be major-league pitches at any time,” Schulze said. “I think the changeup just needs to be more consistent. Once he gets that pitch going, he should move through the system really quick.” That upward movement could come as soon as midseason. Guasch is in a piggyback starter’s role and has an 0.63 ERA in 14 1/3 innings over four outings thus far. He has walked nine, but he’s struck out 19 and has allowed just nine hits. He mixes in some deception with his delivery to mess with hitters’ timing, as well. How do you prepare to face Richard Guasch?1. You have to be ready for the hesi leg kick.
2. You have to be ready for the breaking stuff. Ryan January wasn't ready. — Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) The A’s are also high on the potential of left-hander Brady Basso, who was a reliever at Oklahoma State but has moved into a starter’s role with the A’s. A rough outing on Wednesday pumped his ERA up to 4.61, but Basso has pitched better than that number thus far, striking out 16 and walking just two in 13 2/3 innings. A tall southpaw with a smooth delivery reminiscent of former A’s starter Mark Mulder’s, Basso has three above-average offerings with his two-seam fastball, curveball and cutter. The focus for him this season, in addition to getting used to starting, is to improve his changeup. Advertisement “Then he’d have a great four-pitch mix at the major-league level,” Schulze said. “And if starting doesn’t work out, how many guys that you’ve seen over the years where you’ve got a guy that has that good four-pitch mix and you always say, if anything he can go to the bullpen if it doesn’t work out. But in the meantime, we’re going to get him as many innings as we possibly can to get him that experience so that he can get to the big-league level as quickly as possible.” Right-hander Shohei Tomioka came in after Basso on Wednesday. Making his U.S. professional debut after signing out of Japan before the 2020 season, Tomioka has been impressive thus far, with a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings. He’s struck out only seven but has walked just two with a fastball-cutter-curveball-changeup pitch mix. One of the few pitchers on the Lugnuts’ staff with previous experience throwing more than 100 innings in a season is Reid Birlingmair, who threw 123 innings for Schulze’s Beloit team in 2019. He’s averaged a tick more than five innings a start thus far and has a 3.54 ERA and a 15:8 K:BB in 20 1/3 innings. Rafael Kelly, who split the 2019 season between Low A and High A, is another starter who has been allowed to go five innings in two outings already. He has a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with a 15:6 K:BB. The A’s spent three of their five draft picks in 2020 on college pitchers. They traded one (Dane Acker) over the winter and sent the other two (Jeff Criswell and Stevie Emanuels) to Lansing to begin their pro careers. Criswell went down with a shoulder injury after his first start and is back in Arizona rehabbing, but Emanuels is off to a solid start to his pro career. His four runs allowed in four innings on Sunday bumped his ERA to 4.32, but he has 19 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings and opposing batters are hitting .203 against him. Emanuels, the A’s fifth-round pick, has tinkered with his arsenal since leaving the University of Washington. According to Schulze, Emanuels added a curveball. “(It) is a brand new pitch for him and I think he came up with something like a 2,900 spin rate on that thing. It’s become a really nice wipeout for him,” Schulze said. With the addition of Emanuels’ new breaking ball, the A’s are toying with the idea of having him change his slider into a cut-fastball that will compliment his two-seam fastball. He also throws a four-seam fastball and is working on a changeup. Emanuels has added a few ticks of velocity since college, as well. “He throws the ball pretty good. He’s 92-95,” Schulze said. “If he can get a little back-and-forth going with that changeup, once that happens, he’ll be able to go through the system.” Right-hander Colin Peluse has a 5.51 ERA in 16 1/3 innings, but nearly all of that damage came in one outing on May 22 when he allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings. In his other three outings, he’s allowed two earned runs in 10 innings. The A’s like the potential of the big right-hander, who can touch 98 mph with his fastball and has a swing-and-miss slider. The Lugnuts’ bullpen has been dominant, thanks in large part to the quartet of Jack Weisenburger, Aiden McIntyre, Charlie Hall and Bryce Nightengale. Weisenburger is emerging as one of the A’s top relief prospects. The Michigan alum has an 0.93 ERA in 9 2/3 innings and a ridiculous 22:2 K:BB. He’s allowed just eight baserunners in total all season and has two saves. Since his pro debut season in 2019, Weisenburger has added an effective changeup to go along with his mid-90s fastball, sharp slider and big breaking curveball. “He’s got a three- or four-miles an hour off his slider with his curveball, so he can go ahead and attack a guy, get ahead with any pitch he wants to, and if he falls behind, he can throw the changeup, and if he wants to he can go ahead show him a fastball and show him a curveball and then use this wipeout slider that he has off of his curveball and not have to show it so early. Heck, he’s got four major-league pitches,” Schulze said. McIntyre was a starter in 2019 on Schulze’s Beloit staff. He led the Midwest League in strikeouts but also walked 76 in 112 2/3 innings. Schulze says McIntyre has become more of a pitcher rather than just a thrower this season out of the bullpen, and the results have been impressive. He allowed his first earned run of the season on Saturday in his 10th outing and has an 0.69 ERA in 13 innings with a 21:3 K:BB. His best pitch is his fastball, which sits 93-95 and has a high vertical break, but he’s swapped his split-finger for an effective changeup and has developed a swing-and-miss curveball. “He’s really come into his own this year. I think he’s taken some ownership of being in the bullpen,” Schulze said. Hall, who set an NCAA Division II record by striking out 22 batters in a game for Tusculum in 2019, has a 2.60 ERA and a 20:4 K:BB in 17 1/3 innings, while Nightengale has a 1.88 ERA in 14 1/3 innings with a 20:5 K:BB. Right-hander Michael Danielak is also off to a solid start with a 3.55 ERA and a 14:3 K:BB in 12 2/3 innings. Left-hander Dalton Sawyer is another weapon out of the Lansing bullpen. The 27-year-old hadn’t pitched in a game since 2017 thanks to an elbow injury that cost him all of the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He allowed four runs in his first three innings but has allowed just one run since and has a 3.86 ERA and a 19:4 K:BB in 11 2/3 innings. Schulze says Sawyer is back to throwing in the 92-94 mph range with a good changeup and the plus slider that was always his best pitch.