bleedspeed177 wrote:And the Kohl Stewart era has begun. I didn't even know he got called up until seeing post game boxscore.
I watched much of his performance, Bleed, and I would say he pitched better than his results. Four scoreless innings, and then allowed the Tigers to chip away with 3 runs in the 5th. I had given up on Stewart, but apparently he has learned to command his 4-seamer this year, and compiled a very good ground ball rate. He doesn't have swing and miss stuff, but may be talented enough tomake it as a back of the rotation starter.
Stewart has been difficult to cheer for in the past and had a reputation as a world class jerk (jester...any insight on that?). But there are even some signs that he has grown up a little and developed a little humility...a few years riding the bus in the minors can do that to a guy.
I only watched the condensed game but I agree with what've LST said. He was a ground ball machine. A few people mentioned on Twitter he seemed pretty loose not amped up. I kinda agree with those observations and thought he looked like he belonged. Plenty of people were questioning why he was called up but he was plenty solid. He turns 24 in October so he ain't old yet. 4-5 starters that are under team control for years have value... we will see what happens.
Just had lunch with a long time friend and he said the reason why Stewart is getting his opportunity is because of his hard work and attitude adjustment this year. Take that for what it's worth. I also thought he pitch very well and if Adrianza doesn't make that bonehead play he probably has a even better outing. He kind of reminds of Nick Blackburn Idk if that's a good thing or not lol
bleedspeed177 wrote:Jester - Good stuff. Hopefully that Dakota kid gets his head on straight because he looks to have some serious talent.
I saw an article where Alston really talked up his high end talent. He said something like he could be an organization altering talent if he puts it all together. Alston was the roving pitching coordinator and did work with him when he enter the A's organization after being drafted. Levine talked about their thinking overall on the trade and Kohl Stewart on Wolfson's latest podcast.
I will check that out. It would be awesome to pull a rabbit out of the hat with Dakota. He might not be top line starter, but his stuff would be certainly closer material if he can get control of his pitches, stay injury free, and not mess it up for himself.
Jester1534 wrote:Just had lunch with a long time friend and he said the reason why Stewart is getting his opportunity is because of his hard work and attitude adjustment this year. Take that for what it's worth. I also thought he pitch very well and if Adrianza doesn't make that bonehead play he probably has a even better outing. He kind of reminds of Nick Blackburn Idk if that's a good thing or not lol
Thanks for the info Jester. What I remember about Blackburn (that's been a while ago lol) was he was effective when healthy but also seemed after some of the injuries to not have it mentally either. Lavine on Wolfson's podcast actually talked about Kohl as sort of a throwback Twins pitcher with the pitch to contact thing. He said there was a chance he still gets more swings and misses but he said his defense should enjoy playing behind him because they will be engaged. =)
Jester1534 wrote:Just had lunch with a long time friend and he said the reason why Stewart is getting his opportunity is because of his hard work and attitude adjustment this year. Take that for what it's worth. I also thought he pitch very well and if Adrianza doesn't make that bonehead play he probably has a even better outing. He kind of reminds of Nick Blackburn Idk if that's a good thing or not lol
Thanks for the info Jester. What I remember about Blackburn (that's been a while ago lol) was he was effective when healthy but also seemed after some of the injuries to not have it mentally either. Lavine on Wolfson's podcast actually talked about Kohl as sort of a throwback Twins pitcher with the pitch to contact thing. He said there was a chance he still gets more swings and misses but he said his defense should enjoy playing behind him because they will be engaged. =)
I get the Blackburn comparison because neither of them has classic swing and miss stuff. Kohl can touch 95 with his fastball though, and I don't believe Nick ever could.
Jester1534 wrote:Just had lunch with a long time friend and he said the reason why Stewart is getting his opportunity is because of his hard work and attitude adjustment this year. Take that for what it's worth. I also thought he pitch very well and if Adrianza doesn't make that bonehead play he probably has a even better outing. He kind of reminds of Nick Blackburn Idk if that's a good thing or not lol
Thanks for the info Jester. What I remember about Blackburn (that's been a while ago lol) was he was effective when healthy but also seemed after some of the injuries to not have it mentally either. Lavine on Wolfson's podcast actually talked about Kohl as sort of a throwback Twins pitcher with the pitch to contact thing. He said there was a chance he still gets more swings and misses but he said his defense should enjoy playing behind him because they will be engaged. =)
I get the Blackburn comparison because neither of them has classic swing and miss stuff. Kohl can touch 95 with his fastball though, and I don't believe Nick ever could.
I think bringing up the idea of Blackburn is how a guy can be pretty successful doing that type of thing getting ground balls and getting through innings. Like you said Kohl clearly has better stuff. For example the most strikeouts Blackburn ever had in in a season at any level was the year he pitched 205 innings and amassed 98 TOTAL strikeouts. lol Kohl had 101 in the minors already this year. Blackburn also had a lower walk rate.
That podcast hit on this briefly. Kohl has been striking out about 6 an inning this year and was 8+ before this. They said the exposing him in draft and nobody picking him really got his attention and changed his attitude.
