Louisville finishes last night's game that was rain suspended. Bats have to score and hold, in that order.
Game Two will feature Randy Wynne. Wynne's ERA stands at 3.76. That's pretty solid. Nonexistent K rate, but a decent BB rate. Allows too many hits too. Wynne's the prototypical AAA soft-tosser, at first glance. His overall numbers look slightly different though. 7.5 K rate is average at best, but the 0.9 BB rate is beyond elite. His 2022 1.291 WHiP is slightly higher than his career average of 1.164, which is well above average for a starter. He allows way too much contact, likely as a result of several decent pitches rather than one plus or above average offering. Nice guy to have at the back-end of a minor league staff, I'm guessing.
Chattanooga starts Carson Spiers. Spiers is fascinating to me. He's apparently got tons of pitches and is willing to throw any and all of them at any time. That's phenomenal. What's more, except for his fastball, they all grade out as solid to above average. And it's not like his fastball is bad. It plays currently at a mph or two below major league average. 91-93 with movement. He's exactly the type of pitcher who should move fast. This year has been a bit of a chore, however. Only 12 innings-- he's certainly got some room to improve. Might be a cheap BOR guy for a few years. One to watch.
Dayton tries the Proctorcologist again. James Proctor has about the same stuff, interestingly, as Carson Spiers, but not as many pitches. All of them dance. He throws a low 90s cutter primarily, then works a slow curve and a tight slider as well. Not much of a changeup probably means he'll struggle against LH hitting. But he induces ground balls. That makes sense, with the cutter. That has some real value, as does his K rate. But the issue is that he can't throw strikes consistently. He's constantly nibbling. That's why I think he'll be a solid two- or three-inning relief arm who can pitch three times in a week. Again, that has real value. We'll see as he moves up the ladder.
Daytona has Tanner Cooper toe the rubber. Cooper's been lights out so far this year-- a 10+ K/9 with 2.3 BB rate and an 8.4 H rate indicate he misses bats and throws enough strikes. HR rate's been solid through 79 professional innings. 1.69 ERA this year is much better than previous struggles in Daytona last year. That augers well for promotion. He was also really solid offensively in community college. As a sophomore, he batted .411 with 16 doubles, nine triples and eight home runs, while driving in 71 runs. I do wonder if guys who can hit and pitch equally well wonder if they could have made it further with the other tools.
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