Prospect of the Day: Michael Pineda

by John Sickels on Apr 4, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

Prospect of the Day: Michael Pineda
Named this week as Seattle's fifth starter, Mariners prospect Michael Pineda won the job honestly with a 2.12 ERA and a 15/6 K/BB ratio in 17 spring training innings. He posted a 4.76 ERA in 62 Triple-A innings last year, but with an excellent 76/17 K/BB ratio and raves from scouts regarding his 92-98 MPH fastball and strong slider. His biggest weakness has been an erratic changeup but he's made a lot of progress with it. Like all young pitchers, Pineda carries risk, but he has the upside of a genuine ace. The main weakness in his profile is a a sore elbow that cost him half ot the 2009 season, but he didn't have an ill-effects last year, increasing his velocity as a matter of fact, and has thrown great this spring. On my pre-season list, I ranked Pineda as the Number Five pitching prospect in baseball, with a Grade A rating.

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He will make his first major league start tomorrow against the Rangers in Arlington.

The poor bastard…

Fans are typically idiots.

by The Typical Idiot Fan on Apr 4, 2011 4:16 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs

lol

by Yankees10 on Apr 4, 2011 10:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Tough opening act

Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

by Matt0330 on Apr 5, 2011 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions

platoon splits?

Dave Cameron has commented several times about Pineda’s struggles with lefties. John, do you have confidence that he’ll be able to get lefties out soon? Do you think he’ll struggle this season but get there eventually?

by Ben Hall on Apr 4, 2011 10:48 PM EDT reply actions

lefties

I regard this as a short-term issue. I think he’s shown enough aptitude to learn what he needs to learn, but we’ll see.

by John Sickels on Apr 5, 2011 12:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Michael Pineda

I’m with you, John – the change may not be there yet but his mix of FB/SL should help keep him afloat in the here & now.

PS – Different strokes for different folks, but apparently Mr. Cameron has never seen an episode of the Simpsons in over 20 years & ‘an episode or two’ of Seinfeld on reruns.

He has some interesting baseball ideas from time to time, but man I can’t imagine he’d get a lot of references at a party..

by Matt0330 on Apr 5, 2011 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Pineda's problems.

His changeup is coming along, but it’s not an effective weapon yet. Once that happens, he should be able to hold his own against lefties.

As for Cameron, I haven’t watched an episode of the Simpsons in a long time either and hated Seinfeld.

Fans are typically idiots.

by The Typical Idiot Fan on Apr 5, 2011 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

the Simpsons this year

have made a huge comeback, much better writing and it shows. They’re also pushing the content towards a bit more adult audience (the end of the Katy Perry episode).

by sloffy on Apr 6, 2011 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions