Bleacher Bums Forum

He has been almost exclusively a reliever (7 starts in 8 years).  But injuries and call ups have decimated Iowa's starting staff. 

What the heck.  It will be interested how much his velocity of 100 mph decreases as a starter.  He is the polar opposite of Hoyt Wilhelm, who never started a game until he was 30.  His knuckleball couldn't break a window.

Wilhelm started 8 games when he was 19 in low minors and was mostly a starter at AAA level.

He didn’t get to majors until he was 29, in part because of the war years.

Wilhelm didn’t start his career at age 26.

Wilhelm played in 1942 at age 19 in Class D North Carolina State League. That league shut down during the war years and resumed in 1946 and Wilhelm pitched for the same club in that league at age 23. Ditto the next season at age 24.

He was a starting pitcher almost exclusively each season, in his twenties, during his entire minor league career—until he reached the majors at age 29.

Obviously, he was a Hall of Fame reliever as a major leaguer.

Herz was due for a bad start and tonight's certainly qualifies.

South bend no-hit though not shut out.

https://www.milb.com/gameday/timber-rattlers-vs-cubs/2021/06/10/643970#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=643970


Tennessee loses to the best nickname in sport, the Trash Pandas:

https://www.milb.com/gameday/trash-pandas-vs-smokies/2021/06/10/643008#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=643008


Leeper: 2-0-1-1-1-4, HB

https://www.milb.com/gameday/clippers-vs-cubs/2021/06/10/649789#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=649789


Herz: 2-2/3 -4-9-9-3-2, 3 HB, WP

https://www.milb.com/gameday/pelicans-vs-greenjackets/2021/06/10/649595#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=649595


Verdugo: 0-4, BB, 4 K

https://www.milb.com/gameday/pelicans-vs-greenjackets/2021/06/10/649558#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=649558

Not the guys that got moved up to the Cubs.

The 25Player               POS Age  Lev  AB  avg  2B 3B HR SB BB SO  OBP  ISO  OPS
 *pinango, yohendrick,L   19   A- 118 0.280  8  1  2  2 11 18 0.346 0.135 0.761 B
      davis, brennen,CF      21  T76  54 0.259  4  0  2  2 10 16 0.375 0.185 0.819 B-
   velazquez, nelson,RF     22   A+  91 0.297  2  1  6  3  5 38 0.330 0.241 0.868 B-
      *byrd, grayson,1B     25  T75 105 0.238 11  0  1  1 13 30 0.322 0.133 0.693 D-
      strumpf, chase,2B     23  T76  92 0.272  7  0  1  3 11 29 0.350 0.109 0.730 C-
        jordan, levi,3B        25   AA  76 0.263  5  0  2  0  7 20 0.333 0.145 0.741 D+
  morel, christopher,SS    22   AA 118 0.186  2  3  4  3 14 32 0.272 0.170 0.628 C-
        amaya, miguel,C    22   AA  79 0.215  4  0  1  2 21 22 0.406 0.089 0.710 C
   
       *hill, darius,LF   23  T75 136 0.338  6  0  2  1  7 26 0.371 0.088 0.797 C
     *roederer, cole,CF   21   A+  70 0.229  5  0  0  4 12 20 0.345 0.071 0.645 D+
  #perlaza, yonathan,RF   22   A+ 100 0.250  7  1  1  0 10 25 0.324 0.120 0.694 D+
       aliendo, pablo,C   20   A-  76 0.289  5  0  0  0  5 25 0.379 0.066 0.734 C
        *weber, andy,SS   23   AA  69 0.232  8  1  0  0  6 23 0.312 0.145 0.689 C-
 
Pitcher                 Age Lev  G  IP     H  BB  SO  WHIP  K/IP  ERA   W  L Sv      HR9
         Thoresen, Sam  22  A-   7  23.0  14  17  36  1.35  1.57  3.13  0  2  0 C+  0.00
          Abbott, Cory  25 AAA   5  25.1  28  14  41  1.66  1.63  6.39  1  3  0 C+  2.15
          Sanders, Cam  24  AA   7  33.1  25  14  41  1.17  1.24  4.59  0  2  0 C   1.36
      Espinoza, Manuel  20  A-   7  33.1  36   7  33  1.29  1.00  3.51  1  3  0 C-  1.09
             Herz, DJ  20  A-   6  18.2   7  10  31  0.91  1.70  4.82  0  1  0 B+  0.49
         Jensen, Ryan  23  A+   6  21.2  12   9  26  0.97  1.23  4.15  2  2  0 D+  1.70
     Gallardo, Richard  19  A-   6  21.1  23   8  18  1.45  0.85  5.48  0  2  0 D+  0.43

           Leeper, Ben  24 T87  12  17.1   9   5  27  0.82  1.58  1.58  1  2  1 A-  0.00
        Carraway, Burl  22  A+  11  10.2   3  15  19  1.69  1.86  5.06  2  0  1 B   0.00
          Kobos, Scott  23 T65  11  15.1   8   7  26  0.99  1.72  0.00  2  0  3 B   0.00
        Roberts, Ethan  23  AA  11  15.0   9   6  20  1.00  1.33  3.00  1  0  0 C+  0.60
        Ueckert, Cayne  25 T76  11  14.2   4   5  20  0.63  1.41  1.27  1  0  2 C+  0.63

Would be cool if Gallardo progressed and became a strike-throwing rotation guy. 

Gallardo was the Cubs #11 prospect entering 2019, #18 prospect entering 2020, and unranked entering 2021.  His 89-93 FB when signed is still a 89-93 FB.  He could be a fine pitcher down the line but he no longer projects to have a plus FB.  Of course if he rears back and touches 96 with a pitch that lands nowhere near the catcher's glove - he'll be back on the national radar.