PHOENIX -- With left-hander Joe Saunders landing on the disabled list Saturday with shoulder inflammation, the Diamondbacks might turn to pitching prospect Trevor Bauer to take his turn in the rotation Thursday in Atlanta.
Then again, they might not.
With an off day Monday, the Diamondbacks have the luxury of taking their time before making a decision, and manager Kirk Gibson indicated before Saturday's game that was what he planned to do.
So, who had more hype - Bauer or Scherzer? Bauer has been popular from the draft, but I remember everyone pretty excited to see what Scherzer could do - and he didn't disappoint.
Did well enough to keep the interest-level very high! Only pitched 4 innings as he threw 75 pitches over those 4 innings. The ump was crazy bad though - for both teams... Bauer was throwing great and hitting spots all over the strike-zone, but the ump wasn't being consistent at all... He had 3 BB's, 3 K's, 5 Hits and 2 runs over the 4 innings... Kept the team in the game and of course, they pulled out the W in the 9th.
Bauer has been pitching with a groin injury which he said flared up during his Major League debut. He said it affected half of his sixteen Minor League starts this year, but he doesn't expect to miss his next start with the D'backs.
If I were in his position, I would have told management. Better to shut it down for awhile and enter the Major Leagues at my best rather than begin as just another highly touted rookie disappointment.
Went back and watched his stuff on At Bat. Some thoughts:
1. His fastball is fantastic. He can really spot it well and it feels even faster than the 93-95 he throws it because of his release. He's going to get a lot of pop-ups and weak fly balls on that pitch alone.
2. Change up is interesting. It moves into a right-hander like a two-seamer. Delivery is perfect -- looks just like his fastball. If he stuck with these two pitches, he's got a quality start right there.
3. He has two curveballs, but it's the 12-6 curve that's breathtaking. It's nastiest 12-6 I've seen in awhile. It has a super tight rotation and starts above the head and finishes sometimes in the dirt. But he has almost no control over it. Actually, he gave up on it because he couldn't keep it out of the dirt early on. So he went to the traditional curve, which is the pitch the Braves knocked around. It's not very impressive, and it's probably a negative pitch for him at this point. He needs to work on that 12-6, because it's going to be his Get Out of Jail Free Card -- instant double-play ball.
4. I get the Lincecum comparisons, but this kid really looks like Roy Oswalt's little brother, right down to the way he sets up on the far left of the rubber. It's a mix of Lincecum delivery, Oswalt set-up and build, and he has that little Orel Hershiser left-leg curl in his wind up (rather than a straight bend) that keeps him low to the ground and balanced. I wonder if he throws a Hershiser sinker ... he probably throws too hard to make it effective.
