Why is everybody so down on Broadway anyway? Garza wasnt even supposed to go in the first round, most tems would have passed on him. Broadway has a great curve and is putting up great numbers in AA. A level a lot of first round picks haven't reached yet. Everybody complains about his strikeout rate (which is a legit complaint) but Lumsden's strikeout rate was worse and everybody loved him. I would love to see the Sox take more high upsied guys, but I don't get the Broadway hate.

Everybody talks about Lump's K rate....but he was told to try pitching to contact.

2.2 IP, 7 ER in debut.

2.2 IP, 7 ER in debut.

Somewher, Flash is smiling.

Why is everybody so down on Broadway anyway? Garza wasnt even supposed to go in the first round, most tems would have passed on him. Broadway has a great curve and is putting up great numbers in AA. A level a lot of first round picks haven't reached yet. Everybody complains about his strikeout rate (which is a legit complaint) but Lumsden's strikeout rate was worse and everybody loved him. I would love to see the Sox take more high upsied guys, but I don't get the Broadway hate.

 

Because Broadway does not have outstanding stuff. Good stuff, no doubt, but not ace stuff. More hits than innings pitched is never a good sign either. Then again, seeing as how he was in the same rotation as Tyler Lumsden, the same Lumsden who most would agree has better stuff than Broadway(FWIW, and it's probably worth a metric s***ton in this argument, I am basing all this on scouting reports, random hearsay, and stats), he too was probably told to pitch to contact too, and seeing as how he has a respectable, though not great, K/9 ratio, and that his K/BB is a very respectable 3, and(again, considering he is probably pitching to contact), his H/9 of >9 is probably not the worst thing in the world

 

Everybody talks about Lump's K rate....but he was told to try pitching to contact.

 

That doesn't surprise me at all. I was looking up his stats tonight, and noticed he has 8 walks in 12.2 IP in Wichita, but has 9 Ks. Even though that's just a very short time period, it's nothing even close to his stats on the year. I had a hunch that he was looking more for the strikeout in KC, whereas he was looking for contact in Chicago. Different philosophies for different teams.

 

2.2 IP, 7 ER in debut.

 

Didn't see the game, though the dad said his stuff looked good. There was apparently a ball hit by Lyle Overbay that Hunter dogged a little bit and let slip under his glove, bringing in 2 runs, and ruining any confidence the kid had going into the game. He was also a bit wild up in the zone, and he had just a little too much faith in the 97 MPH fastball that he could blow my minor leaguers, but couldn't blow by the Jays #9 hitter. Major leaguers can hit 102 MPH fastballs if they know it's coming, and they can hit it hard as hell if they know where it's coming. Ask Zumaya about his attempt to blow a fastball by Justin Morneau on Thursday.

 

EDIT: Saw the Overbay hit. It wasn't as badly as my dad had described it to me, but that's a ball that Hunter can get to when he's 100%.

Edited August 12, 200619 yr by witesoxfan

It was nice to see that the kid is human, and that he'll at least go through a month or 2 of growing pains. Still, he looks like a good bet going forward.

Lummy was pitching to contact because the Sox wanted him to not screw around and put up ridiculous pitch counts on his return path from the injury. When he needed to he could get the K.

 

I have no idea if now that he's in KC he's not being harped about it as much and instead is trying to finish everyone else on his own.

 

However, I can't speak of what they are telling Lance Broadway so we can't make assumptions that he's throwing to contact (however, I think most pitching coaches preach pitchers being aggressive and attacking the hitters; the key is for that guy to ocassionally be able to get the big K when you really need it).