Chacin Headed to Denver
Jhoulys Chacin will join the Rockies where he will pitch out of the bullpen, at least initially.
The Venezuelan pitching prospect was pulled from his start Wednesday at Double-A Tulsa after one inning. Indications are that was a planned move just be sure Chacin, 21, checked out fine on the mound and was not a reaction to the news that reliever Manuel Corpas will undergo surgery Friday to remove floating bone chips from his elbow.
Chacin is expected to add depth to a bullpen that has lost Corpas and left-hander Alan Embree (broken right tibia) due to injuries and includes Ryan Speier, who hasn’t pitched for the Rockies since April 18. He replaced struggling Joel Peralta in the bullpen and rejoined the team Tuesday when his 30-day rehab assignment was winding down.
Chacin is 8-6 with a 3.14 ERA at Tulsa. He went 3-2 with a 3.31 ERA in five June starts, but six of the 12 earned runs he allowed in that month came in his final June start. After participating in the Futures Game on July 12 at St. Louis, Chacin made one start for the Drillers on July 17 and allowed three hits in eight scoreless innings.
Rolando Fernandez, the Rockies director of international operations, and Jhonathan Leyba, who directs the team’s operations in the Dominican Republic, traveled from Denver to Tulsa to watch Chacin in his brief outing Wednesday and send him off. They were in Denver on Tuesday with Dominican shortstop prospect Rosell Herrera, 16, who worked out at Coors Field.
Chacin is expected to break into the big leagues pitching in relief, something general manager Dan O’Dowd said was possible as far back as last winter. There is a chance the Rockies could need a starter next week. Jason Marquis’ start Friday against the Giants was pushed back to Tuesday at New York because of a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.
The promotion of Chacin will open a spot in the Tulsa rotation. Left-hander Christian Friedrich, who began the year at low Class A Asheville, is a candidate to move up from high Class A Modesto. Assistant general manager Bill Geivett is scheduled to see Friedrich’s next start, which is scheduled for Friday at Stockton.
Friedrich is 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA in five starts for Modesto with nine walks and 30 strikeouts and 21 hits allowed in 31 1/3 innings. After missing a month with left elbow soreness, he returned July 13 and in two starts has allowed one run and five hits in 11 1/3 innings.
The biggest part of this news is Friedrich moving up to Tulsa (maybe). He seems to be on a fast track to Denver, and has really improved since he was first drafted, and was projected as another soft-throwing lefty.
It seems pretty likely at this point that Chacin, Rogers and Friedrich are going to converge on Denver at some point in the next season or so. If Casey Weathers and/or Greg Reynolds could come back healthy as well the Rockies will actually be looking at a lot of live arms on their staff.
Don’t forget Deduno, Roe, Lindsey, and Escalona. All could be with the Rockies next year (or this year)
But I don’t see Greg Reynolds being a Rockie. His stuff isn’t that good, and he’s going to get passed over by a lot of other talented prospects.
Needless to say, these next few weeks are going to be fun and fascinating to watch develop.
As for Reynolds. If he hasn’t pitched himself on to the Rockies roster by Opening Day 2010, he’s a bust. That’s what I wrote before the season and I’m sticking to that.
MLB.com is reporting that a trade for a right-handed reliever is imminent. The day just gets more interesting.
Also don’t forget Reynolds in Tulsa as a possible left handed relief arm. I am starting to really like him and his power arm. I also wonder who would take Friedrich’s spot in Modesto? Is Billings ready to come back or could we see Nicasio get moved up a level?
Off topic, but does anyone know when Brothers will make his 1st appearance?
What’s the prognosis on Greg Reynolds? He hasn’t pitched since opening day. Is he coming back at all this season or is it a totally lost season of development for him?
Tracy, do you have any insight on this one that Townie is referring to? Is it going to be Baez or someone else entirely? Fun Thursday thats for sure.
I just read the MLB.com posting. I wonder who we are getting and what we are giving up. I love bringing up Chacin for a bullpen role. Our pen is lacking a power arm (I assume he can bring the heat).
Seems like it’s Betancourt. And we’re just waiting to pull the trigger because the Indians might need him for today’s game.
Sounds like we’re getting confirmation of just that Dylan.
It appears we got Betancourt for Class A pitcher Connor Graham according to this blog: http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/
A friend at work read on some site that it’s for Connor Graham.
I’m very proud of Chacín, becaue is a great Venezuelan player that born in my homestate Zulia, and also belongs to the two baseball teams I most care about, The “Leones del Caracas” in Venezuela, and the Colorado Rockies in the MLB. Good luck J. Chacín!!!
GO ROCKIES!!!
I think bringing him up is great but I have a funny (actually not funny at all) feeling that they might have to put Marquis on the Disabled list. With his start on Friday being pushed back to next week, they may just wait another week and see if his blister heels. It looks like the wrong Jason will be pitching for awhile, Hammel instead of Marquis. Hopefully I’m wrong.
I agree with Bill; I have a feeling that Marquis is headed for the DL. But, he did pitch well last time out so maybe it really is just a precaution.
Jason:
Chacin doesn’t really ‘bring the heat’ but he is still a strike-out pitcher. He is one of those rare groundball pitchers who has high strike out rates as well.
He has command of a lively fastball in the low 90s (89-92 is usually what I see quoted) and an extremely good change-up. His curve is still a work in progress though there are multiple reports of it being a potential plus pitch (and even reports of it currently being a plus pitch when he is throwing it well).
He is a strike throwing machine with a good feel for pitching who doesn’t seem to throw anything straight and whom hitters seem to be very uncomfortable facing. Some fan videotaped one of his complete games last season and posted it to the internet and it was really fun watching hitters (especially left-handers it seemed) either being fooled completely or fouling balls off of their feet/ankles and even falling down in several instances.
He doesn’t blow the ball by people like Ubaldo Jimenez or a younger Franklin Morales but hitters seem unable to square up any pitch that he throws and they swing and miss on a significant number as well.