Cool Waters
If you've figured out Chris Waters -- and that's where you would differ from the Los Angeles Angels and Toronto Blue Jays -- perhaps you can make some sense out of all this. The guy flies to California and holds the winningest team in baseball to just one hit over eight innings in his major league debut and last night pitches a four-hit shutout against the Jays at Rogers Centre.
In between, he made seven starts and gave up 30 runs (28 earned) over 36 innings, which works out to a fairly unspectacular 7.00 ERA.
This Jeckyl and Hyde performance is symptomatic of a young pitcher who needs perfect command to be effective in the major leagues. He has had that twice in nine starts, but has not been consistent locating his pitches the rest of the time. That doesn't make him a bad pitcher...just an inconsistent one. The guy reminds me a little bit of Jamie Moyer during his formative years, which weren't always pretty. Of course, Waters throws harder than Moyer, but so do you.
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Comments
Hey. let's all tip our hat to Waters. Just shows that if you can get the ball over, you can win, even if you don't throw hard.
Pete-what's the word on Safrate? Looks like he's another hurler with a sore wing.
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Pete's reply: He's apparently been pitching all year with a collarbone problem. They're sorting it out now.
Posted by: TerryP | September 17, 2008 7:51 AM
Could everyone please stop with any comparisons to Jamie Moyer? Could we instead note the several hundred pitchers who at some point found their names in a sentence with Jamie Moyer because they were lefty, didn't throw too hard, and relied on control? Despite that very large number, there's still only one Jamie Moyer. Cut out the middle man and just say "He reminds me of Eric Dubose."
Posted by: sheets | September 17, 2008 8:19 AM
The scary thing is it also reminds me of Daniel Cabrera, who looked pretty impressive for a 4 or 5 game stretch early in the season and now couldn't put the ball over the plate if he walked up to it and handed it to the catcher.
I do have more hopes for Waters though, and in general I think the O's can look forward to a better rotation next year, but they defintely need to pick up at least one, consistent veteran starter.
Posted by: Roy | September 17, 2008 8:39 AM
That was a great performance from Water's last night. Trembly even let him stay in after he gave up a walk with two outs in the ninth.
So does last night's performance and the game against the Angels give us an idea of how good Waters might become? I had not considered Waters a top of the order pitcher, but if he can become more consistent, is his stuff really as good as it has looked in those two games?
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Pete's reply: I think the Orioles would be thrilled if he developed into a No. 4.
Posted by: O's Fan in Nebraska | September 17, 2008 9:05 AM
So, Pete, what are people saying? Does Waters have a shot at Moyer-like success?
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Pete's reply: That's a lot to ask of him. Moyer is a special case. I think the O's just want him to develop some consistency.
Posted by: Greg | September 17, 2008 9:40 AM