Checkout Baseball Monster

Tim Dierkes, the man behind two of my favorite sites, mlbtraderumors.com and RotoAuthority, recently featured a website called Baseball Monster. The site features a slew of tools for fantasy baseball players, including the functionality to provide a list of statistical leaders from a specific date. This definitely beats the traditional split stats most of us use. Head on over to RotoAuthority to see how Tim incorporated this tool into his blog. Then, I suggest linking to Baseball Monster to try it out for yourself.

Who is Ryan Sadowski?

There is no doubt that the box score vultures are zeroing in on San Francisco Giants starter, Ryan Sadowski. Let them have him. This 26-year-old right-hander’s path to the majors reminds us a lot of Lucas French, who we profiled just yesterday. The difference being is that Sadowski is generation a little bit of buzz by his performance over his first two starts:

6/28	@Mil	6 IP	4 H	0 ER	3 BB	2 SO
7/3	Hou	7 IP	3 H	0 ER	1 BB	4 SO
Total	2 GS	13 IP	7 H	0 ER	4 BB	6 SO

Surely, 0 earned runs over 2 starts is going to garner some attention. However, you should be paying more attention to what his statistics looked like before he got here.

In 6 minor league seasons, Sadowski has a 4.67 ERA in 153 G, of which he started 69. His career SO/BB ratio is just over 2.0. Looking over his career, he has been bounced back and forth from starter to reliever, settling in as a starter this year. Competing in the Pacific Coast League since the start of the season, we have to admit that Ryan has performed admirably in a renowned hitter’s league, keeping his number of hits allowed to an impressive 65 in 72.1 IP. Giants manager Bruce Bochy, in the San Franciso Chronicle on June 28, “…described Sadowski as a fastball-slider-changeup pitcher who throws about 90 mph. Sadowski attracted interest from a team in Japan this season, but vice president of baseball operations Bobby Evans said the Giants rebuffed the Japanese request to buy his contract.” That’s all well and good Bruce, but we can’t ignore that Sadowski’s arrival to majors had more to do with San Fran’s need for a started on June 28 due to Jonathan Sanchez’s demotion to the bullpen. The club has no interest in rushing uberprospects Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson, both of whom were just promoted to Double-A Connecticut in May. In fact, as MLB.com beat writer Chris Haft reported on June 24, “Sadowski has been outperformed at Triple-A by right-hander Kevin Pucetas … But Pucetas last pitched on Thursday, so returning on Sunday would give him just two days' rest, half of his usual complement.”

It looks to us that the Giants were looking to (A) get Sanchez out of the rotation, and (B) fill Sanchez’s spot until they could come up with a plan. That plan probably featured Pucetas, who represented the USA in the 2008 All-Star Futures Game. This year, the 24-year-old has made the leap from A-Adv to AAA with enormous success by going 8 and 2 with a 3.17 ERA in 96.2 innings. But you know what they say about the best laid plans? Ryan Sadowski certainly does.

At this point, the Giants have to stick with Sadowski until they know what it is they have, exactly. Eventually, Sadowski will give up an earned run in a game. Our guess, he’ll give up a lot of them.

Tigers Giving French A Shot

The Detroit Tigers will be giving the ball to lefty Lucas French tonight as the 23-year-old makes his first Major League start against the Twins. This will be his second stint with the Tigers after giving the club 3 scoreless innings out of the pen in May. He was sent down then as Nate Robertson came off the DL on May 21. Ironically, French will be attempting to hold down Robertson's spot in the rotation after Alfredo Figaro didn't look so hot against Houston this past Saturday. Robertson is expected to be out about a month after having minor elbow surgery, if there is such a thing. Therefore, if French looks good tonight, he may have a chance to stick.

According to Jason Beck, who covers the Tigers for MLB.com, "French has been on an absolute tear recently, basically for the last month. He has given up four earned runs on 16 hits with 26 strikeouts over 23 innings in his last three starts, though he hasn't won any of them. Further back than that, he has lasted at least 6 2/3 innings with two earned runs or less in five of his last six starts, bringing down his ERA for the year to 2.98."

Looking over his career, this 6 foot 4 inch, 240 pounder seems to have a great sense of timing. French is having his best year since his Rookie League season in 2004. From the time he was drafted, he has steadily made his way through the organization with average numbers:

Year	Lg	Level	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	BB	SO
2004	GULF	Rook	2.74	11	10	49	43	19	49
2005	3 Lgs	A/A-Adv/Rook	5.45	12	12	67	87	23	50
2006	MIDW	A	3.72	26	26	157	156	44	94
2007	FLOR	A-Adv	4.05	27	27	149	172	47	93
2008	EL	AA	4.02	27	26	170	195	60	88
2009	IL	AAA	2.98	13	13	81	71	20	72

By all accounts, French has a pedestrian skill-set, but keeps the ball on the ground and has good command. Our opinion is that he could get by for a handful of starts, but once the league starts to build a book on him, it will be tough going for French.

Cuban Sensation Aroldis Chapman Defects

Great work by mlbtraderumors.com today as they have every angle regarding the news that 21-year-old Ardolis Chapman defected from Cuba. If the recent history of high-profile, international pitchers holds true, there will be an epic bidding war for his services once he establishes his residency. Chapman could earn himself significantly more than the $32 million fellow countryman Jose Contreras received in 2003. Somewhere, Stephen Strasburg is cursing the MLB Draft.

Most of the hype spawns from his 100 MPH heater. MLB scouts witnessed his stuff firsthand as Chapman was a member of the disappointing Cuban team at the World Baseball Classic. His statistics were lackluster with a 5.68 ERA in 6.1 IP, scattering 6 hits to go with 8 SO and 4 BB. However, most of the runs he gave up came during Cuba's first of two losses against Japan, the eventual winner of the WBC.

Baseball America's John Manual received the following report from a veteran international scout, "He was unreal in Mexico City and just OK in San Diego," the scout said. "There were rumors heading into Mexico that he wouldn’t be there because they were afraid he would defect, but he was there and was lights out. If you are looking for more than that in a pitcher, you’ll be searching your whole life. He was so much fun to watch. If he’s 21 like he’s listed, the sky’s the limit. You’ve got honestly just one or two tweaks that could be made but he could go straight to the top of a big league rotation. He’s got a great body, definitely has high pockets, absolutely. He’s on top of the hitter, his release has extension, he’s got the ball coming out of there at 100 mph. He’s absolutely electric."

All reports indicate that Chapman will be signed, sealed, and delivered to some team by Spring Training. Our guess is this guy will be sporting black pinstripes by February/March.

The following is video from his dazzling Mexico City performance that the scout referred to above (can anyone tell us what language the announcers are speaking?).

Name You Should Know: Brad Holt

If you are a Mets fan or you were paying attention to the Mark DeRosa sweepstakes, you already know the name Brad Holt. Today, John Heyman, renowned baseball writer for SI.com, tweeted (http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman) that the Indians wanted Brad Holt or Bobby Parnell PLUS for Mark DeRosa. Subsequently, DeRosa was dealt to the Cards for Chris Perez, a reliever with a lot of upside. So then, who is Brad Holt?

Holt was drafted in the 1st Round (33rd overall) out of UNC-Wilmington by the Mets in last year's MLB Draft. This season, he has pitched his way through the Florida State League (A-Advanced) and onto the roster of Birmingham Mets of the Eastern League (AA). Though roughed up in his second start with Birmingham (after missing 2 weeks with an ankle season), Holt still has a combined 3.96 ERA in 50 innings pitched. I know...not exactly the dominating ERA most would like to see from a prospect of this caliber. What makes him impressive is that he has only given up 39 hits in those 50 IP along with striking out 57 batters against 18 BB, over a 3 to 1 SO to BB ratio. No doubt that Holt has shown the stuff that led Baseball America to rate him as the Mets 4th best prospect heading into this season.

At 6'4" and close to 200 lbs., the 22-year-old can throw the ball hard. According to RealGM Baseball's Prospect Report (http://tinyurl.com/realgm-bradholt), Holt hits the mid 90's on the radar gun with good command. If he's going to make it as a starter, Brad needs to work on secondary pitches to go with his fastball. His improved curve is one of the reasons Holt earned such an early promotion to Double-A.

Surely, if Brad Holt can master a second and third pitch, he could himself a spot in the Mets rotation heading into 2011. Another scenario, perhaps more likely, is that Holt's fastball and a refined curveball gets earns him a spot in the Mets bullpen by the end of 2010.

Check out some footage of Holt in action.

Baseball America Features Rangers' Yoon-He Nam

Baseball America had an interesting piece in their Prospect Blog today on Korean pitcher, Yoon-He Nam. Signed by the Rangers in 2006, Nam is dazzling hitters for the Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League (Low-A). The 21-year-old, working primarily out of the bullpen (19 G, 4 GS), has a 1.73 ERA while racking up 57 SO against 17 BB in 52 innings pitched. Per Nam's pitching coach, "He throws four pitches—fastball, curveball, slider, changeup. He commands them all. He disrupts timing." Certainly looks like a player to tabs on.