The Colorado Rockies may be 5th in the NL West standings, but they are a quality offensive team. They are 2nd in the ML and 1st in the NL in batting average with .261. They are 6th in the NL and 4th in the AL in OBP at .325. So it is no easy task to stifle their bats. But that is exactly what Ryan Pepiot did on Tuesday night.
What made this game different for Pepiot? He attacked the batters. Ryan was not always efficient, but he stayed away from the walks. 15 of 19 first pitch strikes. He issued one walk, and recorded six strikeouts. He allowed four hits, three on his 4-seamer and one on his cutter. He had 4 hits considered hard hit (95+ MPH).
Below is his pitch chart for Tuesday night.
He has a hellacious changeup. It doesn’t fool as many ML batters as MiLB batters, but it fooled enough of them and did so timely. He got 7 swings (33%) on the change, and 5 whiffs. He had 9 whiffs overall on 40 swings (23%).
What was also impressive for me was the number of cutters he threw. 15% of his pitches were the cutter. His third pitch used to be a slider, but he made an adjustment, and now it acts like a cutter. 10 of the 15 cutters were strikes, with 4 being called.
His command of his 4-seamer was better on this night. He did not get as many swings and misses, but he also did not miss the plate as many times. He got 10 called strikes from the 45 four-seamers he threw. What I liked to hear from him in his post game interview, was that while he was happy about the win, he acknowledged that his job as a starter is to pitch deeper in the game to save the pen. I look for his control & command to improve even more.
Overall, Ryan Pepiot pitched a whale of a game for his first ML win. His reward? He will be put on a flight back to OKC. He has now earned the right to be considered a viable spot starter for 2022, and a true opportunity to be in the rotation discussion for 2023. Depending as to who may be retained from this year, it could be a crowded field.
Phil Bickford certainly did not dominate, but he did enough to keep the Dodgers in the lead. Evan Phillips did dominate, and has effectively moved into that max high leverage reliever role of Blake Treinen/Daniel Hudson. Like with Pepiot in the starting role, it is next man up.
Max Muncy and Justin Turner had good nights. Max with a big no doubter HR and a double, plus two walks. He scored three runs. Mookie also went deep for #18. It was fantastic to see Max go after the first pitch he saw for the HR and double. I like the high OBP, but I would rather see the XBH. JT is really getting hot. For July, he is slashing .471/.500/.647/1.147. Max has now hit 3 HRs and 2 doubles in the last 7 games. If both of those guys start to hit, the offense should be very good in the second half of the season.
Those of you who hate the running on contact with a runner on 3rd strategy, can give everyone the “I Told You So” speech. Gavin Lux hits a big triple. Mookie K’d, but Trea Turner bounced back to the pitcher and Lux broke and was caught in a rundown. The Dodgers were 2 for 6 WRISP. One of those was an oppo single by Trayce Thompson in the 8th to bring home Muncy for an insurance run.
Brusdar Graterol comes in the 9th to close it out, and he does just that. He gave up a single to Ryan McMahon that Cody Bellinger might have been thinking about his 3 Ks on the line drive. Cody Bellinger will tell you that he should have caught that line drive. He has made waaaaaaaay tougher plays. But Graterol got José Iglesias to chase a slider for strike 3 and got Yonathan Daza to bounce out 3-1 on the next pitch for out #3. If Bazooka can get that slider working, his fastball will be more lethal. Brusdar got his 2nd save in the last 10 games. Can he keep it up?
With the win and the Padres and Giants losses, the Dodgers now have a 5.5 game lead over the Padres and 10.5 over the Giants. The Giants are 2.0 games behind the final WC team (Phillies).
Tomorrow night Mitch White will start for LAD and José Ureña draws the start for Colorado. While with Miami, Ureña has pitched well against the Dodgers in the past. But he has fallen on rough times of late.
Congratulations to Ryan Pepiot for his first ML win. It will be the first of many.
Loved how Pepiot attacked the strike zone. He still has a weird tendency to have his fastballs fade away from lefties (way out of the zone), almost like he is afraid he is going to hit the batter; but what we saw last night was orders of magnitude better than his nervous first couple of starts. Love to see homegrown talent work its way onto the roster.
There was only one game last night in MiLB. So I thought that I would include it in the comment section.
Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 8 – OKC Dodgers 3
The OKC Dodgers were running out of starting pitching. Ryan Pepiot was summoned to LA for a spot start, Michael Grove is on the IL, and Andre Jackson was placed on the Development List to see if the pitching gurus can figure out what is ailing him. That leaves Beau Burrows, Robbie Erlin, Sam Gaviglio, and Jon Duplantier as the OKC Dodger rotation. That is what is left of the LAD starting pitching depth.
Last night it was Jon Duplantier’s turn on the bump. Duplantier did not pitch poorly. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk with 7 strikeouts. Mark Washington came into the game with a spotless 0.00 ERA (6 games 5.2 IP) and left with a 3.86 ERA in 1.1 IP. In the 6th, he left with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, and Justin Bruihl coming in. Bruihl immediately surrendered a 2-run scoring single, both runs charged to Washington. Bruihl went on to pitch 1.2 innings with no runs, so his ERA was intact. But did he do his job?
In the 8th, the duo of Bobby Wahl and Yadier Alvarez performed the same situation with the same results. Wahl allowed a double and 3 walks to force in a run before Alvarez came in to relieve. He immediately allowed a 2-run scoring single, both charged to Wahl. Yadi would finish the 8th with no further runs scored, and a scoreless 9th.
Thus, relief pitching with no offense and Duplantier’s effort was rewarded with a loss.
The offense was largely from a 9th inning 1-out 2 run HR from Zach McKinstry. Miguel Vargas continued to show a hot bat with a pair of hits, with an RBI. McKinstry and Vargas both had two hits on the night.
One other note, Pedro Baez is on a rehab assignment in the ACL.
For Bum, STB, or anyone else who is into trade comparison: What would be a decent return for a package of Bellinger and Ferguson?
This is why smart organizations wait until after the All Star Break to get into serious negotiations on trades.
The price for Luis Castillo just got higher. The cost for Jose Quintana and Martin Perez also just got higher.
And to remind everyone that Luis Castillo was out the first month due to shoulder issues as well.
MLB.com just updated their Top 100 Prospect list. We have 6 of the 100, as follows:
Cartaya – 15
Miller – 28
Busch – 44
Pages – 49
Vargas – 73
Pepiot – 78
I’m a bit surprised that Busch and Pages are as high as they are and Vargas is so low.
STB commented that AF might be best to concentrate on relief help. What might LAD fans expect. Let’s look at prior trade deadline relievers acquired at trade deadline:
2015 – Luis Avilan and Jim Johnson
2016 – Josh Fields and Jesse Chavez
2017 – Tony Watson, Tony Cingrani, and Luke Farrell
2018 –
2019 – Adam Kolarek
2020 –
2021 – Danny Duffy
The two Tony’s were having down years. There have been a lot of relievers that have been moved over the many deadlines, but AF seems to not want to spend prospect capital on any of the high leverage relievers.
What does that mean for potential trade targets in relievers.
Rentals
Andrew Chafin (Tigers)
Michael Fulmer (Tigers)
Anthony Bass (Marlins)
Steve Cishek (Nationals)
David Robertson (Cubs)
Mychal Givens (Cubs)
Matt Moore (Rangers)
One year Arbitration Remaining
Amir Garrett (KC)
Chris Martin (Cubs)
I would not expect any lock down closers or high leverage setup relievers.
CT3 on IL. Zach McKinstry activated off IL to replace him. Ryan Pepiot optioned to OKC. Caleb Ferguson activated off IL to replace him.