ChiSoxFanMike recently (today) called for Hagen Smith to be called up. James Fox did as well. Do you think it is time yet? He's had some big problems with BBs so far. Do we call him up or does he need to continue to work on things?

Edited Monday at 06:33 AM4 days by ron883

He would get eaten alive due to his walk issues.

4 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

He would get eaten alive due to his walk issues.

White Sox already Top 5 in walks and taxing the bullpen.

Edited Monday at 04:07 AM4 days by caulfield12

https://insidethepen.com/bullpen-era-rankings.html

26th in bullpen ERA

He probably should, but he isn't getting deep into any games in Charlotte. I'm sure most of that strategy is probably by design, but I just can't see him being all that valuable to the MLB team at the moment if he is failing to get through 5 innings. It's really confusing how they are handling him.

5 minutes ago, CWSpalehoseCWS said:

He probably should, but he isn't getting deep into any games in Charlotte. I'm sure most of that strategy is probably by design, but I just can't see him being all that valuable to the MLB team at the moment if he is failing to get through 5 innings. It's really confusing how they are handling him.

I kind of get it, he isn’t spotting it and giving up a lot of walks. IMO they are simply forcing him to be more efficient to stay in games longer instead of letting him work through it and pile up pitches on his arm

Guy is averaging like 3 ip per start, and 6+ walks per 9.

How is he ready for anything but maybe a bullpen.

13 minutes ago, DoUEvenShift said:

It may be by design, but the guy is averaging 19 pitches per inning thrown. So maybe he could be averaging 4 innings instead of 3, in AAA!

What are we even arguing here. He's avg 6.45 BB/9 in the minors. When Alek Manoah and Michael Kopech had mental collapses leading to being unplayable as starters they were averaging 6.32 and 6.08 walks per 9.

In the last 25 years, there hasn't been a single qualified starter with 6+ BB/9 and that's in the big leagues. Smith's walk rate would project to be worse in the big leagues. I'll say his strike % is better than the walk rate but that's added a ton by chasing as less than 50% of his pitches are in the zone!

Edited Monday at 07:54 PM3 days by Look at Ray Ray Run

In a world full of trolls, this is 3rd rate, at best.

4 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

In a world full of trolls, this is 3rd rate, at best.

So is James Fox trolling as well? Checkmate, son.

13 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It may be by design, but the guy is averaging 19 pitches per inning thrown. So maybe he could be averaging 4 innings instead of 3, in AAA!

What are we even arguing here. He's avg 6.45 BB/9 in the minors. When Alek Manoah and Michael Kopech had mental collapses leading to being unplayable as starters they were averaging 6.32 and 6.08 walks per 9.

In the last 25 years, there hasn't been a single qualified starter with 6+ BB/9 and that's in the big leagues. Smith's walk rate would project to be worse in the big leagues. I'll say his strike % is better than the walk rate but that's added a ton by chasing as less than 50% of his pitches are in the zone!

You think you know better ChiSoxFanMike?

14 minutes ago, ron883 said:

So is James Fox trolling as well? Checkmate, son.

He's not pitching deep into games, and he's walking 2 batter every three innings. It is a dumb idea setting Hagen up to fail.

Watching Hagen's starts has been pretty concerning for me.

There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to baseball prospects, but I would have said this about Noah Schultz: this is a guy who is not going to implode. Maybe he ends up unsuccessful, but it would likely be due to just giving up too much hard contact (or injury). That said, I'll admit I was feeling dumb after seeing his first MLB inning! But I think that's still basically right for Noah.

Hagen is very different. Of course, he's very talented so he may be successful. But the floor for Hagen would be a major shitshow. Walking everybody while mixing in the occasional blast. Javy Vasquez's worst innings, basically. So from him I want to see more at the AAA level where he doesn't look like the kind of guy who has that kind of downside. Instead, he looks exactly that way every time out, like he's on a knife's edge with his control where it could fall apart at any moment.

Even worse, Hagen's velo is lower than expected and he's shown a notable drop in velo within each outing. He was averaging around 91mph in his last inning in his most recent outing. And mind you, it wasn't like the Sox were really pushing his pitch count! I don't know if he's intentionally dialing it back to try to throw strikes, if he's getting tired, or if he's hurt, but I don't really like any of those explanations.

I cant imagine anyone who watched Hagen's outing yesterday saying "this is a guy we should call up ASAP!"

3 hours ago, DoUEvenShift said:

I guess I dont get the snarkiness of this tweet when on the podcast they are certainly giving their opinion on it lol. The FS crew certainly doesnt seem to like it.

Just now, Buehrle>Wood said:

I guess I dont get the snarkiness of this tweet when on the podcast they are certainly giving their opinion on it lol. The FS crew certainly doesnt seem to like it.

The tone has gotten less objective information, more if you disagree you hate the Sox.

I’m sure they would prefer strikes, but they likely just want him to throw his pitches building up his arm without too much concern about refinements. That being said, he could use another field trip

No.

3 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

I’m sure they would prefer strikes, but they likely just want him to throw his pitches building up his arm without too much concern about refinements. That being said, he could use another field trip

74 walks in 105 pro innings show otherwise.

27 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

74 walks in 105 pro innings show otherwise.

I meant, back to the house of pain 😮

I know getting to see mediocre baseball is exciting compared to the last 2 seasons, but there’s a lot of people getting ahead of themselves. There’s no reason to start rushing prospects to the majors in early May.

5 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

He's not pitching deep into games, and he's walking 2 batter every three innings. It is a dumb idea setting Hagen up to fail.

Mr. Big Shot over here thinks he knows more about prospects than the FutureSox guys. That's rich.

5 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

He's not pitching deep into games, and he's walking 2 batter every three innings. It is a dumb idea setting Hagen up to fail.

Yeah I don't understand Jimmy's logic. Hagen isn't anywhere near ready. The command is still very awful.

5 hours ago, Jake said:

Watching Hagen's starts has been pretty concerning for me.

There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to baseball prospects, but I would have said this about Noah Schultz: this is a guy who is not going to implode. Maybe he ends up unsuccessful, but it would likely be due to just giving up too much hard contact (or injury). That said, I'll admit I was feeling dumb after seeing his first MLB inning! But I think that's still basically right for Noah.

Hagen is very different. Of course, he's very talented so he may be successful. But the floor for Hagen would be a major shitshow. Walking everybody while mixing in the occasional blast. Javy Vasquez's worst innings, basically. So from him I want to see more at the AAA level where he doesn't look like the kind of guy who has that kind of downside. Instead, he looks exactly that way every time out, like he's on a knife's edge with his control where it could fall apart at any moment.

Even worse, Hagen's velo is lower than expected and he's shown a notable drop in velo within each outing. He was averaging around 91mph in his last inning in his most recent outing. And mind you, it wasn't like the Sox were really pushing his pitch count! I don't know if he's intentionally dialing it back to try to throw strikes, if he's getting tired, or if he's hurt, but I don't really like any of those explanations.

Good post. And if he's dialing it back to improve control, it's not working so they need to try something else or have him spend some time in a pitching lab with Bannister.

It doesn't benefit us for him to go out there and give up 3-4 runs in 3 IP with 4 walks. It doesn't accomplish anything of value.