In just three of his last 10 games has Seth Blair walked fewer than 4 batters and he’s yet to make it out of the 6th inning in those 10 starts. He’ll take the mound for a QC team on the road today.
Memphis @ Reno, 9:05pm: Adam Ottavino
Springfield @ Arkansas, 7:10pm: Michael Blazek
Palm Beach @ Chattanooga, 6:30pm: Tyler Lyons
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids, 6:35pm: Seth Blair
Batavia @ Hudson Valley, 7:05pm: Todd McInnis
Johnson City @ Bristol, 7:00pm: Ben Freeman
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Was not a fan of the Blair pick. Always saw him as a future reliever. But man, has he been bad this year. You just got to wonder if he has been 100% healthy this year.
The Blair witch project has been one of the few pitchers to disappoint in the farm system this year.
Great point, ICF. How many hurlers have raised their stock this season, versus lowered? It’s actually pretty remarkable how extreme is the imbalance—in a good way, of course.
Number one farm system in baseball!
I’d say Joe Kelly’s taken a slight step back. The walks are creeping up as he moves up the ladder and he’s looking more like a long reliever. Other than him, Hooker and obviously Blair, however, it’s all been good news.
Pretty sure we’re in the top 10!
Blair with another horrible and short outing. Would love to hear Luhnow/Vuch explain what might be going on there.
I have no clue whats going on with him. I always knew he wasn’t as “safe” as people thought he was. He has electric stuff if he can put it together but when I saw him his fastball command and control was dreadful. I’m willing to bet that his fastball control is still his issue now.
He was never a safe pick. Always more along the lines of Gary Daley than Lance Lynn. I can’t imagine anyone thought he would have this degree of control problems, but he was always considered more of a project pitcher than the standard safe major college type.
Still, you do have to wonder if there’s something physically going on with him. He had control issues in college, but never anything to this extent. It’s positively Neighborgallian. Or Ankielian. (Sad face)
RB – i remain unclear on why the cards drafted him as a supp rounder. looking back at the scouting, he had a ton of velocity and generated some groundballs, but lots of teams were looking at him as a reliever, and he didn’t seem to have much in the way of a major league repertoire in pitches.
i didn’t understand the pick then, and i don’t now.
i wonder if you’re on the right track about injury; looking back at the reports, several describe his control as average to a tick above.
I think velocity reports from Blair were either overstated or he’s lost some mph. He’s not sitting mid 90s or touching 98. If you read the reports of his secondary stuff, it usually has one pitch projecting as plus but everything be currently average. They’ve always read to me like a pitcher with a bunch of middling pitches and no out pitches.
I’m betting yips on the control problems (like Gary Daley) though I’ve nothing to substantiate that.
Funny thing is I saw Blair as the starter and Swagerty as the reliever! I still think Swagerty ends up a reliever but I never thought he would be as good as he has shown as a starter this year…so who knows.
That was the thing with Blair, as I recall at the time of the draft. There were questions/risks associated with him.
I dunno, I’d almost rather see the Cardinals draft high schoolers more frequently, even with all the attendant signability and risks involved. Seems like drafting a college arm with doubts/risk/questions defeats some of the purpose. In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess is what I’m trying to say.