Diehl Called Up to Rockies

Called up June 20th, pitching the ninth for the Rockies tonight (June 21st)

Tough first outing, gives up a double on a ground ball up the middle, then gets an F7 and K, then sawed off single to right allowing a run, then a walk, followed by another jam shot to center scoring another run, then F8 to finish it out.

Good news is nothing was hit hard, bad news is his ERA is 18.00 and WHIP is 4.00, ouch...

Diehl back at it in spring training, looking good in a small sample size:

1.2 IP 4 K 0 R 0 H 0 BB 0.00 ERA 0.00 WHIP

Making lefties look especially bad. Watched him against the Giants last night. That slider is unhittable for a lefty. Hoping he makes the opening day roster as a lefty specialist.

3.1 ip 7 k 0 r 1 h 0 bb 0.00 era 0.30 whip

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rlirette

Hoping he makes the opening day roster as a lefty specialist.

---

Harder to do that now with the 3 batter minimum or end-of-inning rule. Not that he can’t be, but he’s going to have to also be effective against righties if he wants to stick. The days of the LOOGY are all but over.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dowty

Harder to do that now with the 3 batter minimum or end-of-inning rule. Not that he can’t be, but he’s going to have to also be effective against righties if he wants to stick. The days of the LOOGY are all but over.

---

I heard that rule for the first time after I posted it. That’s a strange rule. Somehow the logic is the game will be faster and thus more interesting? Seems dumb, likely a change by a higher up who never played baseball.

Special!!

4.1 ip 9 k 0 r 1 h 0 bb 0.00 era 0.23 whip

If he keeps anything close to this up, it would be incredible if he doesn’t make the roster.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rlirette

I heard that rule for the first time after I posted it. That’s a strange rule. Somehow the logic is the game will be faster and thus more interesting? Seems dumb, likely a change by a higher up who never played baseball.

---

Yes, the idea is that pace of play will speed up a bit since managers can't swap pitchers in and out for a single matchup like they could before. I understand their logic, and I really don't mind the idea of forcing pitchers to be good at pitching to hitters on both sides of the plate. It also forces the managers to strategize a bit more. Of all the potential rule changes being thrown around baseball lately, this is one of the few I can understand the reasoning for.

The downside is you may see the occasional pitcher get pulled for "injury" in order to bring a new one in for a special matchup with 2 outs.