![]() ![]() ![]() Just a hunch, but the big Reds shortstop prospect has been red hot lately, having homers in three straight games, including a dominant performance Tuesday. There was an error processing your subscription.Įlly De La Cruz didn't make Scott's most recent Prospects Report column, but I think he might crack the list this week. I'd like to not drop him, but I can't start him right now. You can still thrive in the majors that way – Shane Bieber is one example of a pitcher who overcomes getting hit hard by doing everything else at an elite level – but Pfaadt has to prove he can do that. The stuff here is good, but perhaps not elite, and it might give him a relatively slim margin for error. I'm not writing Pfaadt off at all, but maybe the 1.5 HR/9 he allowed in the minors wasn't just the result of pitching in some tough environments. Especially not after allowing 13 runs on six homers in his first two starts. Pfaadt came to the majors with plenty of hype, but he's unproven above Triple-A, so he doesn't get that benefit of the doubt. It's a lot easier to have a long rope for the likes of Scherzer and Manoah, who have pitched at an incredibly high level in the majors before. I do believe he will, so I'm trying to buy low, but he certainly can't be ranked as a top-25 SP right now. Right now, Manoah just looks broken, and I can't tell you when he'll fix it. I've seen it suggested that Manoah is struggling with the pitch clock, and that might be part of it – and that's actually an explanation I'd like to be true, because it would suggest a somewhat straightforward path to fixing him. Manoah's velocity is down 1.2 mph from last season and he's giving up a lot of loud contact with all of his pitches, so there really isn't even an obvious culprit there. Tuesday, he gave up three earned runs in 4.2 innings of work, with four walks to just one strikeout – the fifth time he's had at least four walks this season, the same number he had all last season. His 4.83 ERA is ugly enough, but his 6.70 expected ERA suggests he's actually been lucky to get the results he's had. To be clear, there's nothing in Manoah's numbers that suggest better days are ahead. I'm not going to write Scherzer off anytime soon – we've done this, "Is this the end for Max Scherzer?" dance before and he's bounced back, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried right now. Scherzer's velocity is down about 1 mph from last season, and his whiff rate is down on pretty much all of his pitches. He was scratched from Wednesday's scheduled start due to neck spasms, and has also talked about how he is still dealing with lingering issues from the scapula injury that cost him a start back in April. But how could you not be concerned about Scherzer at this point. This doesn't mean I'm saying you should drop Scherzer. Things aren't perfect – he's whiffed on half his swings against offspeed pitches, an alarming mark – but there aren't enough red flags here for me to jump off a first-round caliber player. He's hitting the ball about as hard as he did last season, with a similar batted-ball profile, and his expected wOBA on contact is actually slightly higher than it was last year. But I don't really see too much in his profile to be concerned about. He's not a zero on the meter, because we don't have that long of a track record of him playing at an elite level. I'll be honest: I'm not too worried about Rodriguez. ![]() "Can you put Julio Rodriguez on Wednesday's Worry-O-Meter?" In fact, we got an email from listener Chris on Tuesday night that read, simply: In fact, I know we're well past that point for many of you, because we're hearing it from you.Ībout Trea Turner, to name one, and Julio Rodriguez, for another. We're at the point of the season where it might be getting harder for you to stomach "it's still early" as an explanation for why your superstar players are struggling. We'll get to that and the rest of what you need to know about from around the league. I'm Chris Towers, filling in for Dan Schneier this week on the FBT newsletter, and I have a few pitchers I am genuinely worried about today.
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