Ray’s Ramblings: Bregman & Hurlers

WHY IS BREGMAN NOT PLAYING THIRD BASE?

Alex Bregman has been promoted to Triple-A after crushing pitchers at Double-A (he had a .975 OPS at Double-A before posting a 1.338 OPS mark in seven games at Triple-A). That promotion has folks salivating at the potential of Bregman being on the cusp of being called up to the big leagues to play third base for the Astros. So why is it that Bregman isn’t playing third base, but shortstop, at Triple-A? Here is what Astros GM Jeff Luhnow had to say. "I want him to get comfortable offensively at the new level, and it's a lot easier to do if you're not also trying to learn a position. So for a period of time - undefined at this point, shortening as we speak - he's going to play shortstop. As soon as we're comfortable that he's handled the transition, which appears to be the case, we'll start moving him around a little bit."

This brings up the obvious question. Are the Astros really close to promoting Bregman? If the team feels that when promoting a player, even one as talented as Bregman, that keeping that player as comfortable as possible is a goal, how can they call up Bregman to the big leagues to make him uncomfortable by playing him at third base? The Astros have Jose Altuve at second base and Carlos Correa at shortstop. The Astros are not going to call up Bregman to play second base or shortstop. So when will they call up a guy who has played third base just 11 times in his professional career? "In a perfect world we'd like to see him get enough reps there where he's fully comfortable and we get good reports (from Class AAA),” Luhnow said. “But I'm fairly confident he's going to do well no matter where we put him defensively because he has all of the skills to do it."
 

Of course, he then said the following as well. “I mean the Cubs stick their catcher in left field without much preparation. So I think sometimes if we feel like the bat is necessary and a key component of what we're trying to do this year, the fact that he's played a premium position will allow him to play other positions.”

So in total, I expect Bregman will be up at some point this season. He will likely play third base for the Astros. Not really sure when that will happen, but I will say this. If the Astros are reluctant to use Bregman at third base at the moment it stands to reason that we won’t be seeing him at the big league level, to play third base, in the immediate future. At least that’s how I read the situation.

THE HURLERS

Patrick Corbin has a 6.60 ERA on the road this season, the worst mark amongst qualifiers in all of baseball. He’s been solid on the road though with a 3.46 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. OK, I’m stretching. He’s just not pitching well.

Tyler Glasnow makes his big league debut today. If you missed it, here are my thoughts on the uber-talented righty of the Pirates.

Matt Harvey could be done for the year if he does indeed have thoracic outlet syndrome.

Kyle Hendricks, my “Breakout Pitcher of the Year” before the season started has done just that; break out. Hendricks has a 1.73 ERA at home, the fourth best mark in baseball as he’s posted a 2.61 ERA overall through 16 starts. Additionally, Hendricks has an elite 1.04 WHIP with 7.91 strikeouts per nine innings. He’s also continuing the 51 percent ground ball rate he posted last season. He’s been fantastic, even if he’s only 7-6 for the second best team in baseball. Oh yeah, in case you missed it, the Giants have the best winning percentage in baseball, .621 to the Cubs’ .619 mark.

Hin-Jin Ryu returns to the hill for the Dodgers. I don’t know why anyone is excited about that fact. Ryu didn’t throw a pitch that mattered last season. He’s yet to throw a big league pitch this season. That means Ryu has missed an entire year and a half of action. He also threw just 152 innings in 2014 before injuries ruined his season. His big league performance has been impressive with a 3.17 ERA and 1.20 WHIP (3.76 K/BB ratio), but how can you have any confidence that he will be healthy, and/or that he will be able to pitch at that level given how much time he has missed? Exactly.

Hector Santiago, as I write this sentence, has thrown 15 scoreless innings. He’s walked nine men in that time. That’s really hard to do.

Blake Snell completed six innings Thursday allowing just two runs. He allowed just two walks, a nice total for the oft wild one, with six strikeouts and four hits allowed. He’s still got a tremendous arm, but he’s not a finished product yet.

Jordan Zimmermann is on the disabled list with a neck issue. The team doesn’t believe the situation is severe, but they also believe the muscle strain will keep him out longer than 15-days. Hopefully he can get right after allowing 19 runs in a brutal run his last four starts.

Here is a list of hurlers with the biggest difference between their actual ERA and their FIP. You should therefore express some caution with all the names on this list as they haven’t actually earned their ERA.

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).