BULLET-POINT STYLE!
- The Nats released the names of the players they'll send to the Arizona Fall League: C Derek Norris, OF Michael Burgess, IF Steve Lombardozzi, LHP Sammy Solis, RHP Cole Kimball and RHP Adam Carr. Not to slight any of these players, as they all have futures in the organization, but it's somewhat of an underwhelming list. According to Nats Insider, GM Mike Rizzo said there's still a chance Bryce Harper could end up on this list though, depending on his performance in the Florida Instructional League.
- Jordan Zimmermann makes his second start tonight returning from Tommy John surgery. His velocity (93-94 on the fastball) was good his first time out against the Cardinals. He did pretty well to start, having 1-2-3 innings in the first and third, and allowing a run in the second on a ground-rule double and single with two outs. But he ran into trouble in the fourth, as his delivery got "high" -- his upper body lagged behind his lower body and hip rotation -- and he left some pitches out over the plate more than he would have liked in the five hit, four run fourth.
- MLBN's John Smoltz weighed in on Strasburg's injury (quotes courtesy of MLBN PR). Considering the future Hall of Famer had the procedure, I suppose it's appropriate. "Here’s the advantage that he has: he’s a big league pitcher even though he doesn’t have big league time. What I mean by that is that he knows how to pitch. A young guy typically doesn’t know how to pitch and he’s had success - although be it brief – he will be able to know that when he comes back and throws pain-free, that he can be successful and be successful even more so now as a pitcher and not just a guy who has a 95, 98 mile-an-hour fastball."
- Finally, Happy 75th Birthday to Frank Robinson. We'll have more on this in Off the Field later this afternoon, but wanted to give a shout-out to one of the toughest S.O.B.s to play, manage and administrate this game has ever seen. And that was said with respect and admiration.
isn't today Tuesday?
Cole and Kimball are the interesting names. Cole and Kimball over Milone and Peacock is interesting to me. Innings limit issues for Milone and or Peacock?
@mjr: thanks. got ahead of myself.
@soul: i think probably on Milone and Peacock. tough to send starters with a full minor league season to AFL. excited to see what Solis has though.
hate it when that happens :-)
looking forward to JZim's 2nd start tonight. I went to a spring training game this year against the Yankees when we sent our B team and the Yankees fielded their A team. Poor Michael Burgess came up in the 9th...to face Mariano Rivera. Poor kid!