I had never heard of Stu Pomeranz before I saw him pitch for the Orioles in Spring Training this year. I came away relatively impressed, thinking Pomeranz would be able to contribute to the O's bullpen at some point during the season.
Injuries kept him out for much of the season, but Pomeranz did get into three games in Baltimore in May, pitching 6 innings with 3 K's, a walk, and 7 hits (including a two-run home run) allowed. His minor league numbers - split between Double-A and Triple-A - were slightly more impressive; 23.1 IP, and 35 strike-outs to just 3 walks. And a 0.00 ERA.
A tall guy who averaged 94 mph with his fastball in the Majors, Pomeranz also got a little bit of sink on some of his heaters which helped him keep the ball on the ground pretty well (59% groundball rate). The curve doesn't seem like a knockout offering, but it isn't the worst complement to the fastball (it can at least make the latter look better).
Already 27 years old, there's probably not much upside left with Pomeranz. I certainly wouldn't feel less comfortable going to him in the middle innings than to Kevin Gregg though, and if he sticks around with the O's for 2013 I wouldn't be surprised if he did a fine job in middle relief for the team.
4 comments:
By my Calculus, barring major injuries or trades of pitching for position players, we don't have room for Pomeranz. He'd be choice number 15, 16 or 17 when the staff may comprise about 12 pitchers. Think about who is not on, if he is on.
Given the paucity of available FAs, you guys should devote some discussion to possible-and reasonable-trade pieces.
The Os have a lot of solid pitching and should be able to turn some of it into some good infielders.
Just a thought.
Pomeranz was a stud while healthy last year and I like him going forward. He was a second round pick with good genes so he doesn't strike me as someone who simply dominated AAA as a 27 year old and got luck with a SSS in the big leagues. He annihilated AAA hitters, many of whom have seen big league pitching.
He might not make the team out of spring training but people forget how lucky we were this year with bullpen injuries (although part of that was due to Buck's management). He's an extremely high quality depth guy and would be amongst my first call ups if someone went down or was ineffective.
@Boss61: As far as I can tell, Pomeranz has options left, so he should start the year at Norfolk.
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