(OTOH, of course, Livan Hernandez, Tom Glavine, and many others suffer from the same “problem” -g- )

Also, interestingly, you must admit, it seems odd that a guy who “gets by on command and guile” can rack up 37K’s in the first 36 innings he pitched.

Nevertheless, I look forward to, some day, seeing what he (and the other top pitchers in Vermon) can do in Potomac.

(And I hope we don’t have to wait too long!)

And thanks, Alan, for your discussion that SWMo might be considered like A ball. A nice insight.

But, I think, my question remains: isn’t there only one sure-fire way to tell whether Alaniz has the good for higher competition? When a guy has a sub 1.00 ERA for long enough, and he’s already 23, bump him up to see what he can do. I still don’t understand why nobody seems to be even contemplating doing that.

Ian Snell was a 26th round pick by the Pirates while Jon Van Benschoten was a 1st round pick (8th overall) for th Bucs. Over time, Snell proved himself to be the better pitcher, and he is now a solid MLB starter while Benschoten is struggling to prove that he is a MLB pitcher. While Detwiler will get promoted first, if other pitchers, like Alaniz, prove to be better those other pitchers will get their shot.

While I don’t know baseball as well as hockey, I imagine there are some similarities in scouting players. One thing I know for sure is both Alainiz and Detwiler have had a very small sampling of pro ball. My guess is Detwiler has much better inherent skill(read pitches) than Alainiz and therefore more is expected. Higher picks/ players with more natural skill are going to get the benefit of the doubt, especially this early.

I will say that I have seen(in hockey) less skilled players that ultimately outperformed higher picks. However, this early in their careers, I’m not surprised to see the higher pick fast tracked. Perhaps in time Alainiz will prove better. Time will tell.

There’s no doubt that money is part of the equation, but if it were a significant part then there would not be so many first rounders and bonus babies who never even sniffed the high minors, much less the major leagues. Call me naive, but I believe performance and the perceived ability to perform has a lot to do with promotions.

I’ve always thought that these kinds of player development decisions are the real “inside baseball” that even the most dedicated of fans can’t follow. In the case of Detwiler, I’m under the impression that he is considered to have pitched in the equivalent of a high minor league program because of the college he attended (SW Missouri State) and the conference he pitched in. I used to work with a fellow who played at SW Mo State when the Oakland A’s actually threw money their way as an experiment in formalizing some sort of developmental system that included college programs as well as minor leagues. So, Detwiler pitched in a high level baseball conference against known caliber competition, making him easier to evaluate. On the other hand, Zimmermann (don’t know about Alaniz) pitched at U. Wisconsin Stephens Point (or similar), in baseball obscurity. Don’t know that he was ever even mentioned by BA or played in one of the summer wooden bat leagues. At Vermont, those pitchers are throwing against mostly recently out of high school talent just getting used to wood bats and that’s yet to be weeded out . Probably, one difference between Detwiler and the others is the comfort with evaluating their success versus the talent they have faced and are now facing.

A few points:

• Louis: I did see Marrero, right at, apparently, where he begun his 0-16 streak (including striking out 5 times in a game) . . . I’m not saying he’s not good, but he’s still a bit raw.

• Brian: I don’t understand what “projects well” means as compared to “performs extroadinarily well”. OK, so Deitwiler has the tools. But Alaniz (just using him as a textbook example here) must have something going, too, no? He just has his worst game (thanks for the update John!), but still has a record of 6-0 with an ERA still under 1.00, and a WHIP even lower. Before today’s game: 36K’s and just 4 BBs! So, I’m not saying call him up to MLB, but let’s see what he can do. My point in this paragraph is this: at some point “peforms extraordinarily well” has to be as big as a consideration as “projects well”, don’t you think?

• Louis: it almost sounds like you’re saying that if a guy gets drafted #1 and gets a big contract, they are wedded to promoting him as fast as feasible. (We see that in football a lot: guys with high draft numbers get the breaks, and guys drafted low have to perform twice as hard to get noticed. The team has to “justify” the signing-bonus)

• So, if somebody can tell me that Alaniz is not mature, OK, then, fine. But, I’m just wondering what a guy has to do in order to get promoted (other than, retroactively, been a high draft pick). You can tell me that Ryan Zimmerman can handle major league talent — but you can’t say that’s not true of the others without giving them a chance.

Again — everybody — I’m not trying to be argumentative. I’m just trying to learn this stuff.