Inside Pitch

He seems more suspect than prospect currently -- which is why I thought the Angels picking him where they did was a good call. He COULD rebound and reestablish his former prospect status but until he does, he's someone that has to be considered much higher risk than reward.

Anything that would help him induce more GBs would likely be beneficial to him.

Remember all those posts we used to team up on about pitcher abuse and career length? The struggle is real.

I think the real issue is that you can never have too many pitchers and that pitching depth is an illusion.

Pitch values are a thing, they measure how good or bad a pitcher's offerings are based on the success they have with individual pitches in relation to the league... Morin's change up had a weighted pitch value of 6.4 in 2014 -- in 2015 it was 6.. So, no, people weren't teeing off on his change -- however hitters had greater success off of his FB, this despite it having ticked up a little bit in velocity. As previously stated, his FB does in fact tend to flatten out, and I have little doubt that can make it easier for hitters to hit him, but the BABIP issues are really just bad luck. When a guy is walking fewer people, striking out more people... he's not really pitching any worse -- those are the things he actually has control over... You're fixating on ERA but in this case the ERA isn't really telling you anything about how well or poorly the guy was pitching, it's simply measuring the number of runs that scored. http://www.fangraphs.com/library/pitching/babip/

Relievers are famously volatile and because of their IP totals the sample sizes can make a guy look worse than he really did, particularly if he's a tad unlucky. This was true of Morin in 2015. The 2014 version of Morin put up a K/9 rate of 9.0, in 15 he sat at 10.44 -- a slight improvement. The 2014 version of Morin put up a BB/9 of 2.90, in 2015 he lowered it to 2.29 -- again, a slight improvement. Yes his HR rate rose from 0.46 to 0.76 but as a whole he really wasn't that different and yet his ERA skyrocketed from 2.90 to 6.57... Why? because of bad luck -- his BABIP went from .287 to .344... Basically, balls found holes. His FIP meanwhile improved from 3.08 to 2.85... He's officially been worse this year -- but as a whole he's been better than his ERA would lead us to believe, but being asked to pitch in higher leverage situation pitcher tends to magnify those oopsies... I really wish Morin would try to add a sinker of some kind - with his changeup being as good as it is and his FB's tendency to flatten out, anything with a little sink might really make a huge difference for him.

I like that they aren't playing him when he isn't 100%.. Better to get him healed, send him to the instructs, and then let him loose next season. Mostly, I'm glad they are thinking long term and didn't punt on the guy.

Not 1.000 but still about 130 points above the AL average OPS overall, and 100 points above AL DH/1B. He's a shell of himself but if he can manage to pull out an OPS+ of 115 for a few more years I think the Angels would be cool with it.

How is Claude's wife's grammar?

Your mail must be comedy gold at times.

He's not been having a lot of success getting AA hitters out of late. But sure, tell yourself he could possibly make a difference. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=656794#/career/R/pitching/2016/ALL And in case you're wondering -- Chris Ellis has been a disaster in AAA. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=595939#/career/R/pitching/2016/ALL ERA near 9.00 in a pitcher's park and in the International league.

Nope... He's started a total of 24 games above AA, and 41 above High A. If they bring him up for a few games in September -- great. But I'd rather they not put too many innings on his arm this season so he's fresh next year.

I see a teammate of Branyans.... Richie Sexson -- same elevated K totals. If the gap between his Ks and BBs got smaller... Troy Glaus...

Coors.... he hits moonshots....

At least they have a promising draft for the first time in nearly a decade...

yup.... http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/los-angeles-angels-of-anaheim/tyler-skaggs/

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/17090496/cleveland-indians-sacrificial-ceremony-struggling-yan-gomes Only in baseball....

I think this is the first time.... System didnt have penalties before the recent changes.. But I believe we left money on the table in each of the previous seasons -- we also sold international dollars off every year. It would be nice to see us spend all those dollars as well. As Blarg said previously -- nice job by the front office getting as many guys signed as they did. Good luck to all of them.

He really made out pretty well as a guy who went the CC route before going to a 4 year school. Hopefully the bat pans out -- Angels need as much talent as possible. Was nice to see them go into the penalty dollars in hopes of adding talent. Hopefully it's a sign the team is back to thinking the farm system matters.... More baby steps.

"Thanks Jerry!" -- Dodger fans.

Yup.. he's a smallish guy -- this is why teams always fawn over the 6'5' 235+ pound pitchers....

The Orioles gave up Arrieta and Pedro Strop for half a season of Scott Feldman -- there is always one team that gets desperate at the deadline.

Someone's inner nerd is on full display... That being said, I'd like to see the Halos add some liquid cooling to their rig.

They want to see him go more than three starts before having issues... He's been shut down twice this season, both times after developing stiffness or fatigue after his second or third appearance. To date he's thrown all of 33 innings in the minors this season and only once has he gone more than 5 innings. He's pitched as many as 5 innings in a start three times. His usage to date should be a hint and a half as to what's going on.

Taylor Blake Ward ‏@TaylorBlakeWard 2h2 hours ago #Angels prospect @Matt_Thaiss leads all 2016 first-round picks in runs (20), hits (28), 2B (10), BA (.341), OBP (.400), SLG (.561) & TB (46)