Anderson Espinoza
- Thread starter Detts
- Start date
http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/game-report-anderson-espinoza/#MyT0B8q6x64gjf0X.97
On Monday against a Hickory team stacked with talent, Espinoza showed exactly why he’s deserving of such high accolades at such a young age.
Restricted to five innings or 80 pitches—whichever came first—Espinoza cut through the Crawdads with efficiency and ease. He used his traditional three-pitch mix of fastball, changeup and curveball to hold the opposition to one run on three hits. He whiffed seven and walked two.
A few pitches later, he ended the threat with a 97 mph heater in on the hands of Hickory second baseman Andy Ibanez—a 23-year-old Cuban import who is off to a .439 start—that resulted in an easy grounder to second base.
He eventually sat in the mid-90s and used his changeup and curveball effectively. He got swings and misses with all three pitches.
His final strikeout, of Hickory center fielder Eric Jenkins, came on a 76 mph curve that dove down and in at the last moment. He showed the ability to both cut and run his fastball to both sides of the plate.
the only blemishes on his record Monday came from an inability to consistently hit the outside corner with his fastball against lefthanders and wavering command of his breaking ball.
On Monday against a Hickory team stacked with talent, Espinoza showed exactly why he’s deserving of such high accolades at such a young age.
Restricted to five innings or 80 pitches—whichever came first—Espinoza cut through the Crawdads with efficiency and ease. He used his traditional three-pitch mix of fastball, changeup and curveball to hold the opposition to one run on three hits. He whiffed seven and walked two.
A few pitches later, he ended the threat with a 97 mph heater in on the hands of Hickory second baseman Andy Ibanez—a 23-year-old Cuban import who is off to a .439 start—that resulted in an easy grounder to second base.
He eventually sat in the mid-90s and used his changeup and curveball effectively. He got swings and misses with all three pitches.
His final strikeout, of Hickory center fielder Eric Jenkins, came on a 76 mph curve that dove down and in at the last moment. He showed the ability to both cut and run his fastball to both sides of the plate.
the only blemishes on his record Monday came from an inability to consistently hit the outside corner with his fastball against lefthanders and wavering command of his breaking ball.
Overall good read but I have a hard time with someone assigning a ceiling of #2 starter to a 17yo kid in his second year of pro ball.
I'm sure we are all too bullish on him around here but how do you deem someone at best a #2 starter after 50+ professional innings?
You don't. And applying "# starter" to a prospect, and really any player, is just so lazy.
This isn't damning with faint praise, and is really rather common when you hear analysts talk about prospects. Extremely few pitching prospects get the #1 starter label because it's nuts to assign that level of performance to any pitcher who hasn't done it at the major league level. Ceiling isn't absolute ceiling, it's more like a 75-85th percentile outcome--a reasonable ceiling. Players will top it occasionally, and rarely still do so by a significant margin, but it's not really worthwhile to talk about shoot-for-the-moon level of projection, because it's so infrequent.
You also have to realize that #1 starter is a weird label because maybe a half to two-thirds of the teams in the league have a #1, instead of just a guy who starts on opening day. Fangraphs put the cutoff point between #1 and #2 as the split between Adam Wainwright (bottom #1) and Stephen Strasburg (top #2).
And he struck out 11 in the game prior to that.
He's 18. He had a bad game. It happens.
This is one of the dangers of following prospects too closely. Remember, this is baseball and failure is part of the game. That goes doubly or triply so for prospects. The fact that he's 18, as Detts mentioned, simply magnifies that. There are going to be bumps in the road, he just needs to take the coaching he receives and make the necessary adjustments to keep improving so he can climb the ladder.
I mean, not just struck out 11 guys -- struck out 11 guys in five innings.
If anyone is near the panic button they need a prescription.
So I watched Espinoza's start the other day on milb and man, he seems far pretty far away. I haven't watched a lot of lower minors pitching lately so take it for what it's worth, but he was not hitting his targets at all. His line looked fine - 5 IP/0 runs/1 H/4 BB/4 K - but a more disciplined team would have eaten him alive.
His delivery looks super low effort, and he's got an amazing fastball, but I'm not sure he knows what to do with it yet. Command is hard. Exciting talent, though.
His delivery looks super low effort, and he's got an amazing fastball, but I'm not sure he knows what to do with it yet. Command is hard. Exciting talent, though.
Hold on just a minute. You're telling me a 18 year old in A-ball is far away from the majors?! Well, shucks. Color me shocked, surprised, and mortified at the uselessness of Espinoza.
Trade him for CC Sabathia ASAP.
I mean, he's just reporting what he saw. I welcome first hand accounts. He needs to work on his command within the strike zone, that's all he's saying.
Yeah, as well, I think the point is that he's probably not the guy who's going to have a Jose Fernandez like rise through the minors, which some were hoping for and some were even starting to expect.
